Asus has taken a device it first showed at the start of 2022 and brought it into the world: the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, a large screen that bends into tablet, laptop, or monitor shapes. In a time when people keep looking for one object that can serve many purposes, this machine stands at the edge of that impulse, asking whether a single surface can truly become many tools. Its price of $3,499 and its promised arrival near year's end place it among a small circle of buyers who can afford to try that bargain, and it will be left to daily use to show whether the shape-shifting is a real gift or a c
Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Launches as Foldable Tablet-Laptop Hybrid at $3,499
A tablet that folds into a laptop, priced at $3,499
Mark
So what actually makes this different from a normal laptop?
Mimi
The screen. It's a 17.3-inch OLED that folds, so the same device is a monitor, a tablet, or a laptop with a 12.5-inch display.
Mark
How many ways can you use it?
Mimi
Several: flat on its kickstand as a monitor, folded at 120 degrees with a Bluetooth keyboard, a virtual keyboard on the lower half, or a magnetic physical keyboard in laptop mode.
Luke
Worth noting those are the specs Asus lists. Nobody has tested the battery claim of 9.5 hours, and it's screen-on time, not a mixed-use figure.
Mark
And the hardware inside?
Mimi
Intel i7-1250U, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, charging up to 65W.
Luke
Fine, but that's a low-power chip for $3,499. The report doesn't say how it performs, so I'd hold off judging.
Mark
Is it a good tablet?
Mimi
The report says it's usable but bulky, especially in one hand, at 1.5kg.
Luke
And the date is soft: only 'by the end of the year.' No confirmed on-sale date or regions.
Il Polso
- A 17.3-inch screen that folds between three personas is now officially on the table, daring buyers to rethink what a laptop must be.
- At $3,499 and 1.5kg, the device feels heavy in the hand and heavier in the wallet, inviting hard questions about who it is truly for.
- Its Bluetooth keyboard, virtual keys, and magnetic attachment show Asus working to make each fold useful rather than merely clever.
- Shipping is set for later in the year in black only, so the machine now waits in a narrow window between announcement and proof.
Asus has taken a device it first showed at the start of 2022 and brought it into the world: the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, a large screen that bends into tablet, laptop, or monitor shapes. In a time when people keep looking for one object that can serve many purposes, this machine stands at the edge of that impulse, asking whether a single surface can truly become many tools. Its price of $3,499 and its promised arrival near year's end place it among a small circle of buyers who can afford to try that bargain, and it will be left to daily use to show whether the shape-shifting is a real gift or a costly curiosity.
Asus has officially launched the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, model UX9702, a Windows machine it first showed at CES earlier this year. It will reach customers near the end of the year at $3,499, available only in black.
The centre of the device is a folding 17.3-inch OLED panel. Opened fully, it is a 4:3 display at 2560x1920 pixels, with strong contrast, full DCI-P3 colour, and 500 nits of brightness. How it is used depends on how far it opens. Laid flat on its kickstand, it becomes a monitor. Folded to 120 degrees, it can sit above a Bluetooth keyboard, or its lower half can display a virtual keyboard. Folded for laptop use, a magnetic keyboard attaches and only a 12.5-inch section is active. As a tablet it works, though its size makes it awkward to hold with one hand.
Inside runs Windows 11 on an Intel i7-1250U, with 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD. Connectivity is sparse, with two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and a headphone jack. The battery is rated for up to 9.5 hours.
At 1.5kg the machine is heavy for a tablet yet reasonable for its screen size. Its price and weight point to a narrow audience of buyers who want one screen that changes shape, and how it performs once it ships is still to be seen.
Asus has made its foldable Windows machine official. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, model UX9702, was shown off at CES at the start of 2022 and has now been formally launched. It is expected to reach customers by the end of the year at $3,499, in black only.
The heart of the device is a folding 17.3-inch OLED panel. Fully opened, it measures 2560x1920 pixels in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Asus lists a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, full DCI-P3 colour coverage, a 0.2 ms response time, a 60 Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness.
How you use it depends on how you fold it. Opened flat, it can stand on its own kickstand and serve as a monitor, which pairs naturally with the Bluetooth keyboard for office work. Folded to 120 degrees, it can still be used with that Bluetooth keyboard while keeping the whole 17.3-inch display in play, and the bottom half of the screen can be turned into a virtual keyboard.
The third arrangement is the conventional laptop. A physical keyboard attaches magnetically, and only half the display is used: a 12.5-inch area at 1920x1280 pixels. Used purely as a tablet, it works too, though at 17.3 inches it is bulky, especially for one-handed holding.
Inside, the machine runs Windows 11 on Intel's i7-1250U, a 12th-generation hybrid chip with 2 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. It has 16GB of LPDDR5 memory, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Ports are limited: two USB-C connections, both Thunderbolt 4, supporting display output and charging up to 65W, plus a 3.5mm audio jack. The 75Whr, 4-cell battery is rated for up to nine and a half hours of screen-on time.
At 1.5kg, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is heavy by tablet standards but reasonable for a 17.3-inch device. That weight and the price point suggest a narrow audience, those who can afford it and want one screen that changes shape. What remains to be seen is how it performs once it ships near the end of the year.
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