You might think you know what a folding PC is, but if it looks anything like a laptop, you’re barking up the wrong semiconductor facility. Lenovo released the first ‘folding PC’ when it dropped the ThinkPad X1 Fold but South Africa never got the chance to play with that one. Asus launched a version that you can buy here and now it’s time for HP and LG to get in on the action.
The only catch is that the new LG Gram Fold, as the device is known, may not launch here in South Africa. That’s perhaps not surprising. Even the company’s non-experimental Gram notebooks are hard to find in SA but that’s not the only reason the Gram Fold might remain a phantom. So far the 17in foldable display is only confirmed for South Korea, so it may be nothing personal.
Forever folding PCs
LG’s Korea-only folding PC features a collection of the usual notebook specs. It’ll arrive with an Intel Core i5-1335U processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of NVMe storage, and a 72Wh battery. The unusual bits are the hinge and the 12in (folded)/17in (unfolded) 2,560 x 1,920 OLED display. As with the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold, users can type on a virtual keyboard on one side of the screen or lay a Bluetooth keyboard over that area when they’re not making use of the full display in some other manner.
HP has something similar on the way according to arstechnica, though it has yet to launch in any country. It’s known as the Spectre Foldable PC and also features a 17in foldable OLED touchscreen display. The foldable screen includes a kickstand, in case you’d like to operate it like the world’s largest smartphone (maybe you watch TikTok for a living). An Intel Core i7-1250U, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and the standard notebook bells and whistles are all present. What’s also present is a monster price.
How much is the HP Spectre Foldable PC? It’ll start at R95,000 and that’s before you factor in any South African price increases like import tax, regular tax, retailer markup… that sort of thing. HP reckons the internal design, increased battery size, and hinge design all factor into that price. We reckon we’ll have to try it out first before making a call on a R100,000 notebook, folding or not, thanks.