ASUS and Lenovo took the wraps off their shiny new foldable laptop offerings during IFA 2022. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and the Thinkpad X1 Fold have already taken the laptop industry by storm, and if you want to get your hands on one, you won’t have to wait much longer. Both companies confirmed that the foldables will go on sale sometime later this year.
Although Lenovo showcased a similar concept a couple of years back, that device never made it to production. That makes these the first foldable display laptops on the market and you’ll certainly have to pay a premium to own either one. There will be a few first-gen caveats, but the convenience of being able to fold a big laptop into a compact form factor might just make up for that.
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED might just be the most interesting foldable laptop of the two. It comes with a massive 17.3-inch OLED display which is around 12.5-inch when folded. ASUS bundles in an external keyboard (Bluetooth Keyboard with Trackpad built-in) that can be placed on top of half of the display which converts it to a tiny laptop, but it is also usable separately when the display is unfolded at its 17-inch monstrosity.
It is powered by the latest 12th Gen i7-1250U, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 1TB of PCIe Gen 4.0 storage. The foldable OLED panel comes with QHD resolution (2560 x 1920, 4:3), 500 nits of peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, and Pantone validation. The 73Wh battery is rated for around 9.5 hours of FHD (offline) video playback.
As far as Inputs are concerned, you only get two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. For wireless, you do get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5. There is also a 5MP camera that can make 1080P video calls. It also has an IR sensor to accommodate Windows Hello, but here you do get a separate Fingerprint Reader on the external keyboard to go with it.
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold
Lenovo achieved a huge generational leap with the Thinkpad X1 Fold and the 16.3-inch foldable OLED display is the real showstopper here. It is slightly (about 1-inch) smaller than the Zenbook, but it still closes at around 12-inches. It also comes with an external keyboard, but you cant use it as a mini laptop like the Zenbook.
The Thinkpad X1 Fold is also powered by 12th Gen Intel Processors and you can choose from an i5 or an i7 based on how much power you need. However, Lenovo is offering up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM which is double what ASUS is offering, alongside a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD. The OLED display has a resolution of 2560 x 2024 and peaks at 600 nits. It comes with a 48 Wh battery, but you can get a 64 Wh cell with the higher configuration.
It also comes with two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports alongside another USB 3.2 Type-C port. For wireless connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and an optional 5G (sub-6) cellular option. There’s a 5MP 1080P webcam with Windows Hello support as well.
Pricing and Availability for ASUS and Lenovo’s Foldable Laptop Offerings
As I’ve mentioned earlier, you’ll be paying a premium if you choose to get one of these foldable laptop delicacies. The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED will cost you a massive amount of $3499 while the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold is going to start at $2499 (price for the i5 variant, the i7 variant will cost more). Both laptops will be available sometime in Q4 2022, and of course, they are coming to the US and other major countries around the world.
