Tablet, laptop or something else? At IFA in Berlin, two manufacturers showcased their latest devices which are actually tablets, but with the same form factor as a laptop, so two parts can be folded together like a book. In this case, instead of the screen and keyboard, there is a foldable OLED screen that spans both parts. If the device is placed on the table as a laptop, you can display a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen, but you also get a physical keyboard that you can place at the bottom. So it looks like you just bought a normal laptop. At the same time, you can also use the big screen as a whole, like a kind of big tablet that you can also put on the table with the help of a kickstand.
All of the above applies to the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold 16 “. They are devices with many similarities, which should take their place as a single high-end device as well. Both ASUS and Lenovo cost more than 3,600 euros including tax. Added value and both will be released in the Netherlands at the end of this year. In addition to the similarities, there are also necessary differences in the way manufacturers have developed this new concept of a hybrid tablet. Contrary to what you might expect, the foldable screen is not the same either, it has Both manufacturers shopped at different suppliers.
Lenovo can build on the experience gained with its first 13.3-inch Thinkpad X1 Fold, which was announced at CES in 2020. For ASUS, the Zenbook 17 Fold is the first tablet based on a foldable OLED display, on the Although the manufacturer takes time to master it. Where this Lenovo model was only announced at IFA, ASUS showed off the Zenbook for the first time at CES earlier this year. Moreover, ASUS has also been working on it for some time in its own way. The concept of a laptop that does not only have a screen and a keyboard, we know the manufacturer, for example, of its laptops with hinged touchpads and touchpads that are actually Monitor.
In this preview, we give our first impression of both devices and at the same time also a preliminary conclusion. Who made the best foldable laptop?