**The Asus Fold 17: A Unique Android Tablet with Performance Inconsistencies**

The Asus Fold 17 is a unique device that combines the features of an iPad and a laptop, with a foldable display that can be used in multiple modes. The device's performance is described as "a bit inconsistent" by the reviewer, who notes that it breezes through tasks like browsing the web or watching Netflix, but struggles with more demanding activities like writing scripts or editing videos.

One of the biggest issues with the Fold 17 is its lack of power under the hood. It comes equipped with a U-series chip, which is not as powerful as some other Android devices on the market. However, this is largely due to the device's unique form factor and the need for more materials to support the foldable display. The reviewer notes that while the Fold 17 is not the most powerful device available, it is still capable of delivering a smooth user experience in many cases.

Despite its limitations, the Asus Fold 17 is a highly unique device that is sure to generate interest among tech enthusiasts and Android fans. Its foldable design allows for a range of creative possibilities, from using it as a large touchscreen display to converting it into a compact laptop mode. However, the reviewer notes that this uniqueness comes at a cost in terms of performance, battery life, and software optimization.

**Performance: A Mixed Bag**

The Fold 17's performance is a mixed bag, with some tasks delivering smooth results while others are slower and more choppy. The reviewer notes that using it for light office work, watching movies, or browsing the web can be a great experience, but more demanding activities like writing scripts or editing videos can be sluggish. This inconsistency in performance makes it difficult to recommend the Fold 17 as a must-have device.

However, the reviewer does note that some software features are not well-optimized for touchscreens or unique form factors. For example, the device's stylus support is limited, and proper styluses may scratch the screen. Additionally, the lack of inductive charging means that users will need to separately charge the device while using it.

**Battery Life: Solid but Not Exceptional**

The Fold 17's battery life is described as solid, with the reviewer getting between six and seven hours of use on a single charge. However, this is not exceptional, and users may find themselves needing to recharge the device more frequently than they would with other Android devices.

One positive aspect of the Fold 17's battery life is the bundled power adapter, which provides a convenient way to charge the device on the go. The reviewer notes that the device comes with a Type-C connector and a Thunderbolt 4 port, making it easy to transfer files or connect peripherals.

**Design and Engineering: A Strength**

Despite its limitations, the Asus Fold 17 is an engineering marvel that showcases the company's expertise in designing and building innovative devices. The device's foldable display is cleverly designed, with a hinge mechanism that allows for smooth operation and minimal wear on the screen.

The reviewer notes that the Fold 17's materials are sturdy and well-constructed, but that this comes at the cost of added weight and reduced portability. The device also lacks some features, such as ports or a headphone jack, which may be frustrating for users who require these amenities.

**Conclusion: A Curiosity Worth Considering**

While the Asus Fold 17 is not without its flaws, it is still a unique and intriguing device that is worth considering for users looking to explore new form factors. Its performance inconsistencies may make it less appealing to some users, but its potential as a creative tool or content consumption device makes it an interesting option.

Ultimately, the reviewer concludes that the Fold 17's limitations are largely due to Windows 11's poor optimization for touchscreens and unique form factors. However, they note that Asus has done a great job engineering the device, despite these challenges. As a result, the reviewer recommends considering the Fold 17 carefully before making a purchase decision.

**What Do You Think?**

The reviewer concludes by asking viewers to share their thoughts on whether or not they would buy one of these devices if available now. How do you envision using the Asus Fold 17? Let us know in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys i'm tom with techchap and this is a samsung galaxy fold 4 and if you love the idea of one of these then you may also love the idea of one of these this is the new asus zenbook fold 17 oled i love this thing i really do i wouldn't buy one at least not yet because this is a first generation device and in many ways it feels like it but it is undoubtedly very cool and i also think there is a lot of potential here it does work and it is by far the best folding laptop you can buy granted there are only about two so asus may not be the first to market with a folding laptop but this is not a concept you will be able to buy this and it is a big step forward compared to what we've seen before and you know what whether you love the idea of this or you think it's just a gimmicky stupid toy that's gonna be too expensive either way you have to tip your hat to asus and some of the other brands out there for genuinely innovating and trying something a bit different this kind of tech really brings a smile to my face now this does have some fundamental problems which i'll come back to in a second it's not perfect as i'm sure you can imagine but whenever i show this to people i had a few friends around the weekend i got this out and there's always this kind of three-stage reaction the first one is oh wow look at that what is it but then the second part is always but why why wouldn't i just get a laptop or a tablet fair enough but then the third stage usually after a couple of minutes is oh actually that could be good for this or this it takes people a couple of minutes to realize just how this might actually work for them but what is this actually good for and how do you use it well let me give you a bit of a rough idea so you get this nice little uh carry case in the box with it so you can have this under your arm like you're a nice professional or a creative sort whatever you like you come into the office you think okay let me set up my laptop your hot desk or you're about to give a presentation get rid of that and it's got a bit of a sort of notepad book vibe to it it feels quite classy actually so you'll plonk this down i do have the keyboard in here which by default does come bundled in it but separately but the important thing is that you can store it in there but let's put the keyboard to one side for a second you've got your 17-inch folding tablet two-in-one laptop thing there you go so how do you use this well you can just use it as a big old 17-inch oled tablet if you like hold it in one hand you could use it like a book maybe read some documents check your presentation that sort of thing so you can use it like that handheld you can also use it well as its own tripod a bit like the galaxy fold as they'd say in flex mode and it will then rotate there you go i've realized again it's upside down doesn't really matter but the cameras are up here and the keyboard will only attach to this bottom side so you could simply use it in tablet mode like this or you know like that but most of the time i find myself using it in one of two ways either with the keyboard popped onto here which disables that second half of the screen saving battery life actually gives you about an extra hour according to asus although we'll come out to battery in a second and then you've got yourself a pretty chunky 12 inch or so net bookie kind of thing it's definitely not the sleekest thing i've ever seen with these quite chunky bezels and it is a bit thick here with that keyboard on top but it works well and actually for me i've used this on the train or you could use it on a plane as a tray table it's small enough that you can use this in tight spaces but i'll tell you my favorite way of using this pull the keyboard out pop the kickstand out which is on the back here which is okay it's a little bit flimsy this kickstand and i really wish we had a kickstand like the microsoft surface pro that's so much better but it does work particularly on a flat surface like a desk but if you're using it in bed on a softer surface it can fall down a little bit so then you've got your essentially 17-inch all-in-one i guess you could call it that your tablet and because this is a bluetooth keyboard you can use this right next to it right in front of it if you want to do like a laptop or way on a desk somewhere else or in your bed if you're going to use this if you're watching movies or something and it's a fairly basic keyboard it feels good to type on actually the key travel is quite nice but there's no backlight the touchpad is a good size but it's a bit clacky it doesn't feel the most premium and occasionally i find the touchpad just a little bit laggy because it is a bluetooth connection but most of the time it's pretty good and actually this is a really nice setup and so while initially i had some concerns about how practical this would be to actually use once i had it in this setup and started watching some videos and doing some lightroom editing and just you know general day-to-day stuff it all started to click and then you can just enjoy this beautiful oled 17-inch display i had hoped we'd see a 4k resolution although the quad hd we get is probably a better balance anyway between sharpness and battery life i also measured 400 nits of sdr brightness and around 510 in hdr and if you want to be a bit smarter about your multitasking then click this screen expert button uh this little shortcut stays on the home screen and this gives you quick access to two or three-way split screen you can save task groups of your favorite apps and actually the screen is big enough to make it worthwhile and actually comfortable to have a couple apps side by side although this is a plastic screen flexible plastic but it's not glass like we do now have on the top layer of the folds and the flips from samsung so you can sometimes see when the light hits it it has that cheapish reflective shimmery plasticky feel and of course we do also have this crease down the middle which you can see when the screen is off or it's a really dark background and the light hits it just right you can see the crease but actually if i put it in front of you like you'd normally be using it you just can't tell it really doesn't bother me at all and unlike something like the galaxy flip where you're often scrolling your finger up and down across the crease with this you're really doing this and even if you are it's not that noticeable so actually the crease is not a big deal at all now design wise this both feels kind of classy with its sort of bookish aesthetic but it's also a bit prototyping with those fairly chunky bezels the thickness also the one and a half kilogram weight which isn't terrible for a 17 inch laptop but it's pretty heavy if you can use it like a tablet there's certainly room for a refinement but i could still absolutely imagine taking this into a meeting and giving a presentation on it or using it in laptop mode to as i say work on a plane and then using it full screen to watch a movie in a hotel it is a bit showy offy and honestly you could say as a tablet and a laptop it's kind of the worst of both worlds but i still think it has a certain charm now i'm shooting this on the webcam which is on the side or well the top depending on how you're holding it we do also get a ir sensor so you get windows face unlocking because there isn't a fingerprint reader so that is handy and this is actually a pretty good quality 1080p webcam if i stick my face right up to it definitely too close there it looks pretty good one thing i am noticing as i'm using this more and more is it's getting quite dirty the rubber bezels around the edge just sort of pick up hair and dust and the plastic screen is a bit of a fingerprint magnet i've got a microfiber cloth i'm trying to wipe it all down but it's not even doing that much so very quickly this is getting a bit grubby which isn't ideal now being a first generation device your first thought is probably about durability is it just going to break like the original fold did where you could literally peel the screen off although that never actually came out to consumers that was the review samples but it's a fair question issues say they do test this opening closing operation 30 000 times for the device to test the durability so i'm pretty confident it's not going to break and they do also say if there are any issues with the screen they will replace it unless you damage it yourself and you do also have a pretty decent warranty in europe you have two years one year in america i believe and three in china that's all the legal minimums they're required to give but actually if you buy on a business apparently you get a longer warranty so if you do pick up one of these might be worth ordering it through a company let's talk performance and inside we have an intel 12th gen processor it is an i7 and it does meet intel's requirements for their evo certification but it is also a u-series chip which is their least powerful at around 12 watts but it is still a fairly basic ultrabook level of performance and as for graphics we rely on the integrated intel xe chip with a pretty pitiful 128 megabytes of vram but that's along with 16 gigs of lpddr5 ram and i've also got one terabyte of pcie 4 ssd storage in here which actually is the only component you can upgrade yourself if you're brave enough to take this thing apart now performance i think is best described as a bit inconsistent sometimes it breezes through whatever i'm doing you know with chrome tabs open or powerpoint some netflix playing in the background you know general decent average use case stuff uh but then other times even basic things like writing the script writing my notes for this video in a google doc it just started to really lag it took a couple of seconds to actually catch up with what i was writing and you can see these orientation changes just take ages compared to any other android or you know ios tablet it's a bit painfully slow now you can change the fan profile to performance mode if you need to get the most out of it although that does make the fans wear up to a reasonably loud level although most of the time outside of performance mode this is basically silent so yes it's a first-gen device it's not got the most powerful chip but i think the biggest issue really is actually not asus fault it's windows how many years now have we been having touch and folding and two-on-one devices you know some pretty unique stuff but windows 11 is still just not that well optimized for touch screens uh or even different unique form factors like this i mean take the surface duo yes the second one's a lot better the phone tablet thing for microsoft but it's still buggy and not many people are buying it and they cancel the surface neo so what chance do these third-party manufacturers have to make a seamless sort of ipad laptop experience so i wouldn't say performance is a deal breaker it is underpowered you do feel that choppiness sometimes and it can be a bit inconsistent but sometimes i say it is smooth as butter and if you're just doing light office use you're watching movies you're you know doing some spreadsheets some google docs or just browsing the web using it as a sort of content consumption device rather than a content creation then i think you're gonna be perfectly fine with this it is a bit disappointing this doesn't actually support styluses styli you can use basic capacitive touch pens if you have a rubber point on the end like they would work with any touchscreen but proper styluses would scratch the screen apparently but what about battery life well this is a pre-release model so software updates could improve things and i've also only had a few days with it but actually the 75 kilowatt cell does a decent job and i've been getting between six and seven hours on average asus say you should be getting about nine in tablet mode or 10 in laptop mode when the keyboard is on top of it and turns half the screen off so battery life is solid and it should get you through a full day at the office but it's not exceptional although we do get this 65 watt power adapter with a type c connector bundled in the box which is nice and that connects to one of the two thunderbolt 4 type-c ports that's all you get on this along with a headphone jack although there is also another type c on the keyboard but that's just for charging this it is a little bit disappointing there isn't some sort of connection or inductive charging they can do between the fold and the keyboard again maybe next year that would be nice so you wouldn't have to separately charge this but they do also bundle a type a to type c adapter in the box so altogether i think asus have done a really great job from an engineering standpoint but there's always going to be fundamental compromises when you have a form factor like this at least for now more materials mean more weight the hinge mechanism leaves less room for more ports for a bigger battery and we are limited to the lowest power u-series chips so as i say where this could have been a creative's dream the lack of horsepower the lack of star support and the lack of good windows 11 tablet optimization for me keeps the fold 17 in the curiosity category while in the must buy so how much well you knew this wasn't going to be cheap but when it launches later this year it'll cost you around 3 300 pounds maybe another reason to wait for gen 2. but when you consider how far we've come even from last year's lenovo folding laptop and also how far we came from the original to the second galaxy fold now we have this which is legitimately quite good and certainly unique what i'm most excited for is the second one the fold 17-2 next year but what do you think if you were to buy one of these right now how would you use it let me know in the comments below and also if you did enjoy this video a like and subscribe would be very much appreciated thank you so much for watching guys and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chathey guys i'm tom with techchap and this is a samsung galaxy fold 4 and if you love the idea of one of these then you may also love the idea of one of these this is the new asus zenbook fold 17 oled i love this thing i really do i wouldn't buy one at least not yet because this is a first generation device and in many ways it feels like it but it is undoubtedly very cool and i also think there is a lot of potential here it does work and it is by far the best folding laptop you can buy granted there are only about two so asus may not be the first to market with a folding laptop but this is not a concept you will be able to buy this and it is a big step forward compared to what we've seen before and you know what whether you love the idea of this or you think it's just a gimmicky stupid toy that's gonna be too expensive either way you have to tip your hat to asus and some of the other brands out there for genuinely innovating and trying something a bit different this kind of tech really brings a smile to my face now this does have some fundamental problems which i'll come back to in a second it's not perfect as i'm sure you can imagine but whenever i show this to people i had a few friends around the weekend i got this out and there's always this kind of three-stage reaction the first one is oh wow look at that what is it but then the second part is always but why why wouldn't i just get a laptop or a tablet fair enough but then the third stage usually after a couple of minutes is oh actually that could be good for this or this it takes people a couple of minutes to realize just how this might actually work for them but what is this actually good for and how do you use it well let me give you a bit of a rough idea so you get this nice little uh carry case in the box with it so you can have this under your arm like you're a nice professional or a creative sort whatever you like you come into the office you think okay let me set up my laptop your hot desk or you're about to give a presentation get rid of that and it's got a bit of a sort of notepad book vibe to it it feels quite classy actually so you'll plonk this down i do have the keyboard in here which by default does come bundled in it but separately but the important thing is that you can store it in there but let's put the keyboard to one side for a second you've got your 17-inch folding tablet two-in-one laptop thing there you go so how do you use this well you can just use it as a big old 17-inch oled tablet if you like hold it in one hand you could use it like a book maybe read some documents check your presentation that sort of thing so you can use it like that handheld you can also use it well as its own tripod a bit like the galaxy fold as they'd say in flex mode and it will then rotate there you go i've realized again it's upside down doesn't really matter but the cameras are up here and the keyboard will only attach to this bottom side so you could simply use it in tablet mode like this or you know like that but most of the time i find myself using it in one of two ways either with the keyboard popped onto here which disables that second half of the screen saving battery life actually gives you about an extra hour according to asus although we'll come out to battery in a second and then you've got yourself a pretty chunky 12 inch or so net bookie kind of thing it's definitely not the sleekest thing i've ever seen with these quite chunky bezels and it is a bit thick here with that keyboard on top but it works well and actually for me i've used this on the train or you could use it on a plane as a tray table it's small enough that you can use this in tight spaces but i'll tell you my favorite way of using this pull the keyboard out pop the kickstand out which is on the back here which is okay it's a little bit flimsy this kickstand and i really wish we had a kickstand like the microsoft surface pro that's so much better but it does work particularly on a flat surface like a desk but if you're using it in bed on a softer surface it can fall down a little bit so then you've got your essentially 17-inch all-in-one i guess you could call it that your tablet and because this is a bluetooth keyboard you can use this right next to it right in front of it if you want to do like a laptop or way on a desk somewhere else or in your bed if you're going to use this if you're watching movies or something and it's a fairly basic keyboard it feels good to type on actually the key travel is quite nice but there's no backlight the touchpad is a good size but it's a bit clacky it doesn't feel the most premium and occasionally i find the touchpad just a little bit laggy because it is a bluetooth connection but most of the time it's pretty good and actually this is a really nice setup and so while initially i had some concerns about how practical this would be to actually use once i had it in this setup and started watching some videos and doing some lightroom editing and just you know general day-to-day stuff it all started to click and then you can just enjoy this beautiful oled 17-inch display i had hoped we'd see a 4k resolution although the quad hd we get is probably a better balance anyway between sharpness and battery life i also measured 400 nits of sdr brightness and around 510 in hdr and if you want to be a bit smarter about your multitasking then click this screen expert button uh this little shortcut stays on the home screen and this gives you quick access to two or three-way split screen you can save task groups of your favorite apps and actually the screen is big enough to make it worthwhile and actually comfortable to have a couple apps side by side although this is a plastic screen flexible plastic but it's not glass like we do now have on the top layer of the folds and the flips from samsung so you can sometimes see when the light hits it it has that cheapish reflective shimmery plasticky feel and of course we do also have this crease down the middle which you can see when the screen is off or it's a really dark background and the light hits it just right you can see the crease but actually if i put it in front of you like you'd normally be using it you just can't tell it really doesn't bother me at all and unlike something like the galaxy flip where you're often scrolling your finger up and down across the crease with this you're really doing this and even if you are it's not that noticeable so actually the crease is not a big deal at all now design wise this both feels kind of classy with its sort of bookish aesthetic but it's also a bit prototyping with those fairly chunky bezels the thickness also the one and a half kilogram weight which isn't terrible for a 17 inch laptop but it's pretty heavy if you can use it like a tablet there's certainly room for a refinement but i could still absolutely imagine taking this into a meeting and giving a presentation on it or using it in laptop mode to as i say work on a plane and then using it full screen to watch a movie in a hotel it is a bit showy offy and honestly you could say as a tablet and a laptop it's kind of the worst of both worlds but i still think it has a certain charm now i'm shooting this on the webcam which is on the side or well the top depending on how you're holding it we do also get a ir sensor so you get windows face unlocking because there isn't a fingerprint reader so that is handy and this is actually a pretty good quality 1080p webcam if i stick my face right up to it definitely too close there it looks pretty good one thing i am noticing as i'm using this more and more is it's getting quite dirty the rubber bezels around the edge just sort of pick up hair and dust and the plastic screen is a bit of a fingerprint magnet i've got a microfiber cloth i'm trying to wipe it all down but it's not even doing that much so very quickly this is getting a bit grubby which isn't ideal now being a first generation device your first thought is probably about durability is it just going to break like the original fold did where you could literally peel the screen off although that never actually came out to consumers that was the review samples but it's a fair question issues say they do test this opening closing operation 30 000 times for the device to test the durability so i'm pretty confident it's not going to break and they do also say if there are any issues with the screen they will replace it unless you damage it yourself and you do also have a pretty decent warranty in europe you have two years one year in america i believe and three in china that's all the legal minimums they're required to give but actually if you buy on a business apparently you get a longer warranty so if you do pick up one of these might be worth ordering it through a company let's talk performance and inside we have an intel 12th gen processor it is an i7 and it does meet intel's requirements for their evo certification but it is also a u-series chip which is their least powerful at around 12 watts but it is still a fairly basic ultrabook level of performance and as for graphics we rely on the integrated intel xe chip with a pretty pitiful 128 megabytes of vram but that's along with 16 gigs of lpddr5 ram and i've also got one terabyte of pcie 4 ssd storage in here which actually is the only component you can upgrade yourself if you're brave enough to take this thing apart now performance i think is best described as a bit inconsistent sometimes it breezes through whatever i'm doing you know with chrome tabs open or powerpoint some netflix playing in the background you know general decent average use case stuff uh but then other times even basic things like writing the script writing my notes for this video in a google doc it just started to really lag it took a couple of seconds to actually catch up with what i was writing and you can see these orientation changes just take ages compared to any other android or you know ios tablet it's a bit painfully slow now you can change the fan profile to performance mode if you need to get the most out of it although that does make the fans wear up to a reasonably loud level although most of the time outside of performance mode this is basically silent so yes it's a first-gen device it's not got the most powerful chip but i think the biggest issue really is actually not asus fault it's windows how many years now have we been having touch and folding and two-on-one devices you know some pretty unique stuff but windows 11 is still just not that well optimized for touch screens uh or even different unique form factors like this i mean take the surface duo yes the second one's a lot better the phone tablet thing for microsoft but it's still buggy and not many people are buying it and they cancel the surface neo so what chance do these third-party manufacturers have to make a seamless sort of ipad laptop experience so i wouldn't say performance is a deal breaker it is underpowered you do feel that choppiness sometimes and it can be a bit inconsistent but sometimes i say it is smooth as butter and if you're just doing light office use you're watching movies you're you know doing some spreadsheets some google docs or just browsing the web using it as a sort of content consumption device rather than a content creation then i think you're gonna be perfectly fine with this it is a bit disappointing this doesn't actually support styluses styli you can use basic capacitive touch pens if you have a rubber point on the end like they would work with any touchscreen but proper styluses would scratch the screen apparently but what about battery life well this is a pre-release model so software updates could improve things and i've also only had a few days with it but actually the 75 kilowatt cell does a decent job and i've been getting between six and seven hours on average asus say you should be getting about nine in tablet mode or 10 in laptop mode when the keyboard is on top of it and turns half the screen off so battery life is solid and it should get you through a full day at the office but it's not exceptional although we do get this 65 watt power adapter with a type c connector bundled in the box which is nice and that connects to one of the two thunderbolt 4 type-c ports that's all you get on this along with a headphone jack although there is also another type c on the keyboard but that's just for charging this it is a little bit disappointing there isn't some sort of connection or inductive charging they can do between the fold and the keyboard again maybe next year that would be nice so you wouldn't have to separately charge this but they do also bundle a type a to type c adapter in the box so altogether i think asus have done a really great job from an engineering standpoint but there's always going to be fundamental compromises when you have a form factor like this at least for now more materials mean more weight the hinge mechanism leaves less room for more ports for a bigger battery and we are limited to the lowest power u-series chips so as i say where this could have been a creative's dream the lack of horsepower the lack of star support and the lack of good windows 11 tablet optimization for me keeps the fold 17 in the curiosity category while in the must buy so how much well you knew this wasn't going to be cheap but when it launches later this year it'll cost you around 3 300 pounds maybe another reason to wait for gen 2. but when you consider how far we've come even from last year's lenovo folding laptop and also how far we came from the original to the second galaxy fold now we have this which is legitimately quite good and certainly unique what i'm most excited for is the second one the fold 17-2 next year but what do you think if you were to buy one of these right now how would you use it let me know in the comments below and also if you did enjoy this video a like and subscribe would be very much appreciated thank you so much for watching guys and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chat\n"