A few months ago, we took a look at a prototype version of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED laptop. It’s a weird combination of a laptop whereby it’s all-screen and has a detachable keyboard, but seriously – is it upgradable? How can we service the laptop if the fan clogs up for example? Or reapply the thermal paste?
We got into a seminar with ASUS to know more about the secrets hidden within the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED – so let’s take a look.
Our general concern is always regarding its build quality when it comes to a foldable device. Luckily, that is also the concern that ASUS has and wishes to address it as soon as possible.
Since having a foldable screen means that the panel itself can be wobbly, ASUS added a sheet of metal on both sides to ensure rigidity and provide the best user experience possible.
Of course, the reason why I said “both sides” is because the middle part – where the hinge is located – will not have a metal sheet, hence the crease.
However, ASUS tried to minimize this by creating a sort of mesh to offer some support. It’s stretchy laterally but hopefully, not as stretchy vertically.
There are also sliding mechanisms on rails to ensure the device can cope with the change of length when the device folds and unfolds. From the looks of it, this seems to be a point of ingress and dust or particles like sand (not a good idea to bring your foldable devices near sand anyway) will get inside the device.
The final product will look something like this – but I think we’ll need to inspect the device closely when we get our hands on it.
I was intrigued when ASUS showed us the internals of the laptop. I didn’t expect that they will be sharing this piece of information with us. The motherboard of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is located on one side of the device, whereby the 75Wh battery takes up one side of the device.
Keep in mind that all of these things are located directly underneath the flexible display. That means if – and that is a big if – we can service it on our own, we can essentially swap out that M.2 SSD into whatever we want, clean the fans, and even reapply the thermal paste.
ASUS told us that they might publish the self-service manual and we can choose to do it on our own – but even experienced laptop reviewers like me have concerns as flexible displays are just… very fragile. Perhaps we’ll leave such tasks to the ASUS service center.
Nope. ASUS made it very clear to us that they are fully committed to this product lineup. We’re starting with the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED – and presumably, we’ll have another Zenbook 17 Fold OLED coming next year.
I don’t know about you, but I think having a different form factor for a foldable gaming laptop would be fantastic. Maybe a laptop with a 21:9 screen that folds in half?
Only time will tell how ASUS will move forward from here. Whichever the case may be, do subscribe to our YouTube channel as we’ll bring you more news when we get our hands on the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.
If you want to know more about its price and availability, click here.
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