
Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, Asus’ first attempt at a laptop with a folding screen, is now available for $3,499.99, according to the firm. As of this writing, only Newegg appears to have the laptop available for immediate shipment, with B&H showing it as “coming soon.” Asus claims that the laptop is being sold in the US via B&H and Newegg. That is consistent with the Q4 deadline that was specified when we tested the laptop in August.

The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED costs an eye-watering $3,499.99, but my colleague Monica Chin points out that it’s the first of its kind to start living up to this revolutionary form factor’s potential. Alternatively, you can utilize the laptop with a fully extended 17.3-inch 2560 x 1920 screen with a bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. The screen may also be bent to create two 12.5-inch 1920 x 1280 monitors. For a more conventional laptop-style experience, the lower display can be covered with the magnetically connecting keyboard or utilized as a touchscreen keyboard.
That does not imply that the laptop is faultless. While using the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, Monica encountered a number of hardware and software issues, which are unacceptable for a laptop at this price point. Even though it had a respectable specification, including an Intel i7-1250U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 75Wh battery, it still had trouble running even moderately demanding software like Lightroom. Although its hinge is rated to open and close 30,000 times, there is no way of knowing how durable it will be in use once it is put through the abrasive tests of the real world.

But as a proof of concept, Asus’ product is much more impressive than earlier iterations of the form factor, such the ThinkPad X1 Fold from Lenovo, which was introduced in 2020 and sold for a little less expensive $2,499. Monica noted in August that she found it “tough to suggest this as a daily driver due to the issues I’ve run into paired with the very, very high price,” but added that “the fact that it exists and that it mainly works is a fantastic indicator for this new type of device.”