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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom of Tech Chap and this is a Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 and if you love the
00:05idea of one of these, then you may also love the idea of one of these.
00:09This is the new ASUS ZenBook Fold 17 OLED.
00:15I love this thing.
00:16I really do.
00:17I wouldn't buy one, at least not yet, because this is a first generation device and in many
00:22ways it feels like it, but it is undoubtedly very cool and I also think there is a lot
00:28of potential here.
00:30It does work and it is by far the best folding laptop you can buy, granted there are only
00:36about two.
00:38So ASUS may not be the first to market with a folding laptop, but this is not a concept.
00:43You will be able to buy this and it is a big step forward compared to what we've seen before.
00:47And you know what?
00:48Whether you love the idea of this or you think it's just a gimmicky stupid toy that's going
00:52to be too expensive, either way you have to tip your hat to ASUS and some of the other
00:55brands out there for genuinely innovating and trying something a bit different.
01:00This kind of tech really brings a smile to my face.
01:06Now this does have some fundamental problems, which I'll come back to in a second.
01:10It's not perfect as I'm sure you can imagine, but whenever I show this to people at a few
01:14friends around the weekend and I got this out and there's always this kind of three
01:18stage reaction.
01:19The first one is, oh wow, look at that.
01:21What is it?
01:22But then the second part is always, but why?
01:24Why wouldn't I just get a laptop or a tablet?
01:26Fair enough.
01:27But then the third stage, usually after a couple of minutes is, ooh, actually that could
01:31be good for this or this.
01:33It takes people a couple of minutes to realize just how this might actually work for them.
01:38But what is this actually good for and how do you use it?
01:41Well, let me give you a bit of a rough idea.
01:43So you get this nice little carry case in the box with it.
01:46So you can have this under your arm like you're a nice professional or a creative sort, whatever
01:51you like.
01:52So when you walk into the office, you think, okay, let me set up my laptop here at your
01:55hot desk or you're about to give a presentation, get rid of that.
01:59And it's got a bit of a sort of notepad book vibe to it.
02:02It feels quite classy actually.
02:04So you'll plunk this down.
02:05I do have the keyboard in here, which by default does come bundled in it, but separately.
02:10But the important thing is that you can store it in there.
02:13But let's put the keyboard to one side for a second.
02:15You've got your 17 inch folding tablet, two in one laptop thing.
02:20There you go.
02:21So how do you use this?
02:23You can just use it as a big old 17 inch OLED tablet, if you like.
02:27Hold it in one hand.
02:28You could use it a bit like a book, maybe read some documents, check your presentation,
02:31that sort of thing.
02:32So you can use it like that, handheld.
02:35You can also use it, well, as its own tripod, a bit like the Galaxy Fold, as they'd say
02:39in flex mode.
02:41And it will then rotate.
02:43There you go.
02:44I realize again, it's upside down.
02:46Doesn't really matter, but the cameras are up here and the keyboard will only attach
02:49to this bottom side.
02:50So you could simply use it in tablet mode like this or like that.
02:54But most of the time, I find myself using it in one of two ways, either with a keyboard
02:59popped onto here, which disables that second half of the screen, saving battery life, actually.
03:04It gives you about an extra hour, according to Asus, although it will come back to battery
03:07in a second.
03:08And then you've got yourself a pretty chunky 12 inch or so netbooky kind of thing.
03:13It's definitely not the sleekest thing I've ever seen with these quite chunky bezels.
03:17And it is a bit thick here with that keyboard on top.
03:19But it works well.
03:20And actually, for me, I've used this on the train, or you could use it on a plane as a
03:24tray table.
03:25It's small enough that you can use this in tight spaces.
03:27But I'll tell you my favorite way of using this.
03:29Pull the keyboard out, pop the kickstand out, which is on the back here, which is okay.
03:34It's a little bit flimsy, this kickstand.
03:36And I really wish we had a kickstand like the Microsoft Surface Pro.
03:39That's so much better.
03:40But it does work, particularly on a flat surface like a desk.
03:43But if you're using it in bed or on a softer surface, it can fall down a little bit.
03:47So then you've got your, essentially, 17 inch all-in-one.
03:51I guess you could call it that, your tablet.
03:53And because this is a Bluetooth keyboard, you can use this right next to it, right in
03:56front of it, if you wanted to, like a laptop, or away on a desk somewhere else, or in your
03:59bed if you're going to use this if you're watching movies or something.
04:02And it's a fairly basic keyboard.
04:03It feels good to type on, actually.
04:05The key travel's quite nice, but there's no backlight.
04:07The touchpad's a good size, but it's a bit clacky.
04:10It doesn't feel the most premium.
04:11And occasionally I find the touchpad just a little bit laggy because it is a Bluetooth
04:15connection, but most of the time it's pretty good.
04:17And actually, this is a really nice setup.
04:22And so while initially I had some concerns about how practical this would be to actually
04:26use, once I had it in this setup and started watching some videos and doing some
04:30Lightroom editing and just, you know, general day-to-day stuff, it all started to click.
04:35And then you can just enjoy this beautiful OLED 17 inch display.
04:40I had hoped we'd see a 4K resolution, although the Quad HD we get is probably a better balance
04:46anyway between sharpness and battery life.
04:49I also measured 400 nits of SDR brightness and around 510 in HDR.
04:55And if you want to be a bit smarter about your multitasking, then click this Screen
04:58Expert button.
04:59This little shortcut stays on the home screen.
05:01And this gives you quick access to two or three-way split screen.
05:05You can save task groups of your favourite apps.
05:07And actually, the screen is big enough to make it worthwhile and actually comfortable
05:10to have a couple apps side by side.
05:14Although this is a plastic screen, flexible plastic, but it's not glass like we do now
05:19have on a top layer of the Folds and the Flips from Samsung.
05:23So you can sometimes see when the light hits it, it has that cheapish, reflective, shimmery
05:29plastic-y feel.
05:30And of course, we do also have this crease down the middle, which you can see when the
05:33screen is off or it's a really dark background and the light hits it just right.
05:36You can see the crease.
05:38But actually, if I put it in front of you like you'd normally be using it, you just
05:42can't tell.
05:43It really doesn't bother me at all.
05:44And unlike something like the Galaxy Flip, where you're often scrolling your finger
05:47up and down across the crease, with this, you're rarely doing this.
05:51And even if you are, it's not that noticeable.
05:53So actually, the crease is not a big deal at all.
05:56Now design-wise, this both feels kind of classy with its sort of bookish aesthetic, but it's
06:00also a bit prototyping.
06:02With those fairly chunky bezels, the thickness, also the 1.5kg weight, which isn't terrible
06:07for a 17-inch laptop, but it's pretty heavy if you're going to use it like a tablet.
06:14There's certainly room for refinement, but I could still absolutely imagine taking this
06:18into a meeting and giving a presentation on it, or using it in laptop mode to, as I say,
06:22work on a plane, and then using it full screen to watch a movie in a hotel.
06:26It is a bit showy-offy, and honestly, you could say as a tablet and a laptop, it's kind
06:31of the worst of both worlds, but I still think it has a certain charm.
06:36Now I'm shooting this on the webcam, which is on the side, or, well, the top, depending
06:41on how you're holding it.
06:42We do also get an IR sensor, so you get Windows Face Unlocking, because there isn't a fingerprint
06:46reader, so that is handy.
06:48And this is actually a pretty good quality 1080p webcam, if I stick my face right up
06:53to it.
06:54Definitely too close there.
06:55It looks pretty good.
06:56One thing I am noticing as I'm using this more and more, is it's getting quite dirty.
07:00The rubber bezels around the edge just sort of pick up hair and dust, and the plastic
07:05screen is a bit of a fingerprint magnet.
07:08I've got a microfiber cloth, I'm trying to wipe it all down, but it's not even doing
07:11that much.
07:12So very quickly, this is getting a bit grubby, which isn't ideal.
07:16Now being a first generation device, your first thought is probably about durability.
07:20Is it just going to break like the original Fold did, where you could literally peel the
07:23screen off?
07:24Although that never actually came out to consumers, that was the review samples, but it's a fair
07:28question.
07:29They do test this opening and closing operation 30,000 times for the device to test the durability,
07:35so I'm pretty confident it's not going to break.
07:38And they do also say if there are any issues with the screen, they will replace it, unless
07:41you damage it yourself.
07:42And you do also have a pretty decent warranty.
07:44In Europe you have two years, one year in America I believe, and three in China.
07:48That's sort of the legal minimums they're required to give, but actually if you buy
07:51it on a business, apparently you get a longer warranty.
07:53So if you do pick up one of these, it might be worth ordering it through a company.
07:57Let's talk performance.
07:59And inside we have an Intel 12th Gen processor.
08:02It is an i7, and it does meet Intel's requirements for their EVO certification, but it is also
08:07a U-series chip, which is their least powerful at around 12 watts.
08:11But it is still a fairly basic ultrabook level of performance.
08:15And as for graphics, we rely on the integrated Intel Xe chip with a pretty pitiful 128MB
08:21of VRAM.
08:22And that's along with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and I've also got 1TB of PCIe 4 SSD storage
08:28in here, which actually is the only component you can upgrade yourself if you're brave enough
08:32to take this thing apart.
08:34Now performance I think is best described as a bit inconsistent.
08:38Sometimes it breezes through whatever I'm doing, you know, with Chrome tabs open, a
08:42PowerPoint, some Netflix playing in the background, you know, general decent average use case
08:47stuff.
08:48But then other times even basic things like writing this script, writing my notes for
08:51this video in a Google Doc, it just started to really lag and it took a couple of seconds
08:55to actually catch up with what I was writing.
08:57And you can see these orientation changes just take ages compared to any other Android
09:02or iOS tablet.
09:04It's a bit painfully slow.
09:07Now you can change the fan profile to performance mode if you need to get the most out of it,
09:11although that does make the fans woe up to a reasonably loud level.
09:14Although most of the time outside of performance mode, this is basically silent.
09:20So yes, it's a first gen device, it's not got the most powerful chip, but I think the
09:23biggest issue really is actually not Asus' fault, it's Windows.
09:28How many years now have we been having touch and folding in 2-in-1 devices, you know, some
09:32pretty unique stuff.
09:33But Windows 11 is still just not that well optimized for touchscreens or even different
09:38unique form factors like this.
09:39I mean, take the Surface Duo, yes the second one's a lot better, the phone tablet thing
09:43from Microsoft, but it's still buggy and not many people are buying it.
09:47And they cancelled the Surface Neo.
09:48So what chance do these third party manufacturers have to make a seamless iPad laptop experience?
09:55So I wouldn't say performance is a deal breaker.
09:58It is underpowered, you do feel that choppiness sometimes and it can be a bit inconsistent,
10:01but sometimes I'd say it is smooth as butter and if you're just doing light office use,
10:05you're watching movies, you're doing some spreadsheets, some Google Docs or just browsing
10:08the web, using it as a content consumption device rather than a content creation, then
10:13I think you're going to be perfectly fine with this.
10:15It is a bit disappointing this doesn't actually support styluses, styli.
10:19You can use basic capacitive touch pens if they have a rubber point on the end like they
10:24would work with any touchscreen, but proper styluses would scratch the screen, apparently.
10:29But what about battery life?
10:31Well this is a pre-release model, so software updates could improve things and I've also
10:34only had a few days with it, but actually the 75 kilowatt cell does a decent job and
10:39I've been getting between 6 and 7 hours on average.
10:42Asus say you should be getting about 9 in tablet mode or 10 in laptop mode when the
10:46keyboard is on top of it and turns half the screen off.
10:49So battery life is solid and it should get you through a full day at the office, but
10:52it's not exceptional.
10:54Although we do get this 65 watt power adapter with a type C connector bundled in the box
10:59which is nice and that connects to one of the two Thunderbolt 4 type C ports.
11:04That's all you get on this along with a headphone jack, although there is also another type
11:07C on the keyboard, but that's just for charging this.
11:10It is a little bit disappointing there isn't some sort of connection or inductive charging
11:13they can do between the fold and the keyboard.
11:16Again maybe next year that would be nice so you wouldn't have to separately charge this,
11:19but they do also bundle a type A to type C adapter in the box.
11:23So all together, I think Asus have done a really great job from an engineering standpoint,
11:27but there's always going to be fundamental compromises when you have a form factor like
11:31this, at least for now.
11:33More materials mean more weight, the hinge mechanism leaves less room for more ports
11:37or a bigger battery, and we are limited to the lowest power U-series chips.
11:41So as I say, where this could have been a creative's dream, the lack of horsepower,
11:45the lack of star support and the lack of good Windows 11 tablet optimization, for me keeps
11:49the Fold 17 in the curiosity category rather than the must buy.
11:55So how much?
11:56Well, you knew this wasn't going to be cheap, but when it launches later this year it'll
12:00cost you around £3300.
12:04Maybe another reason to wait for Gen 2.
12:07But when you consider how far we've come even from last year's Lenovo folding laptop,
12:12and also how far we came from the original to the second Galaxy Fold, now we have this,
12:16which is legitimately quite good and certainly unique.
12:19What I'm most excited for is the second one, the Fold 17 II, next year.
12:24But what do you think?
12:25If you were to buy one of these right now, how would you use it?
12:28Let me know in the comments below.
12:29And also if you did enjoy this video, a like and subscribe would be very much appreciated.
12:32Thank you so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chap.