I’ve used a foldable laptop for a month, and I’m ready to return to a clamshell

Although foldable smartphones have been available for five years, the devices are still trying to justify themselves. And after using a foldable-screen laptop as my primary PC for about four weeks, I'm not sure they're ready for prime time.

I'm leaving my time with HP's first foldable laptop with a sense of anticipation for the future of laptops, which I think would benefit from a resurgence of creative ideas that cater to the unique ways people use their computers. But I seriously question if the benefits of having a 17-inch screen in a 12-inch laptop body are worth the trade-offs inherent in today's foldable PCs.

Early participants in the foldable laptop world have an opportunity to define the space, while consumers can decide if this is something they even want. HP's foldable is the most beefed-up option ever, and weeks of use have shown me a lot about what I want and don't want to see when the dust settles.

Ultimately, the question I'm facing regarding foldable laptops is, "Why this instead of a clamshell or 2-in-1 laptop?"

Pricing pitfalls

Like it or not, laptop makers are trying to build a market for PCs with foldable OLED screens. Asus released its first foldable PC in 2022. Lenovo's second foldable PC is available for purchase, LG announced a foldable laptop for South Korea, and now we have the HP Spectre Foldable 17. Windows 11, with Snap Layouts that work intuitively with unique and multi-screen setups, helps make these products feasible.

As of this writing (and upon first release), HP's foldable costs an eye-watering $5,000. Foldable PCs are young and flashy enough to automatically command a higher price tag than similarly specced laptops in traditional form factors, but $5,000 isn't even normal for a foldable laptop. Asus' Zenbook 17 Fold OLED debuted at $3,500, and Lenovo's 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold debuted at $2,500.

HP would certainly love it if some C-suite executives and well-endowed technology enthusiasts snagged up the Spectre Fold, but the device feels like it is less interested in pushing units and more about proving what a foldable PC can be.

This article will take a deeper look at what HP has done successfully with its landmark foldable, where it missed the mark, and how the Spectre Fold might impact the future of foldable laptops.

A 17-inch laptop in a 12-inch body

For people relying on their laptop as a primary computing device or for multitasking, a bigger screen fitted into a smaller space can be attractive. But finding a comfortably portable 17-inch laptop is challenging, especially since many laptops in this size class feature a discrete GPU. Foldable laptops promise new opportunities for laptop users dreaming of ultimate portability that doesn't sacrifice screen space.

The Spectre Fold's spine.

Credit: Scharon Harding

Foldable screens make the 17-inch form factor more portable than ever. The Spectre Fold is 10.91×7.53×0.84 inches folded and 3.58 lbs with its detachable keyboard (2.99 lbs without the keyboard). HP's 17-inch Envy laptop (with integrated graphics) is 15.68×10.20×0.77 inches and 5.49 lbs. LG's Gram 17 clamshell (also with integrated graphics) is 14.91×10.19×0.74 inches and 2.9 lbs. Foldability means you can have something that's about as easy to carry around as a Dell XPS 13—which happens to be wider (11.63 inches) and deeper (7.86 inches), with a similar weight (2.59 lbs) to HP's laptop—but with up to 26.9 percent more screen real estate.

...but still a 17-inch laptop

But the Spectre Fold is still a 17-inch laptop. Sure, moving the foldable from Point A to Point B is easier than doing so with a 17-inch clamshell. But once the system is set up for use, there isn't anything obviously better about the form factor than using a normal 17-inch laptop.

When I wanted to get the most work done on the most screen possible, I'd open the foldable, flip out its reliable kickstand to prop it up on a desk, and use the included Bluetooth keyboard alongside my own wireless mouse.

Getting as much screen as possible out of the foldable.

Credit: Scharon Harding

The experience was satisfactory, evoking memories of Microsoft's smaller Surface Pro 9. But it wasn't any better than if I were working on a regular 17-inch PC. In fact, it might even have been slightly worse due to the computer's reflective screen frequently picking up overhead lights.

Credit: Scharon Harding

There's also the crease going down the middle of the screen. It was hardly noticeable when working with documents or browsing websites with a primarily white background and black text. But when watching videos, the crease could be disruptive. It was mildly off-putting when viewing content in dark mode, too.

I folded the laptop to exaggerate the crease.

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I folded the laptop to exaggerate the crease. Scharon Harding

If you look closely, especially where it says "on sale," you can see the crease.

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If you look closely, especially where it says "on sale," you can see the crease. Scharon Harding

I folded the laptop to exaggerate the crease. Scharon Harding

If you look closely, especially where it says "on sale," you can see the crease. Scharon Harding

Foldables can really shine in some situations, such as when you're using a computer to read long documents. When propped up like a tablet, foldables also make it easy to share a screen with someone. But while foldables are generally poised to be more powerful devices than tablets, the Spectre Fold was more taxing to hold than something like Apple's 12.9-inch, 1.5-lb iPad Pro. For easier touch navigation, HP's foldable comes with the company's Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen.

HP brags that the Spectre Fold can easily convert into a more space-conservative 12.3-inch laptop form (with the keyboard magnetically attached to the "deck area") or even a 14-inch laptop (if you slide the keyboard down a bit from its docked position, revealing some accessible screen north of the attached keyboard).

But HP's Spectre Foldable 17, with its two batteries and $5,000 MSRP, arrived on steroids.

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But HP's Spectre Foldable 17, with its two batteries and $5,000 MSRP, arrived on steroids. Scharon Harding

The 1.5-screen / 14-inch mode was difficult to use with the PC in my lap.

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The 1.5-screen / 14-inch mode was difficult to use with the PC in my lap. Scharon Harding

But HP's Spectre Foldable 17, with its two batteries and $5,000 MSRP, arrived on steroids. Scharon Harding

The 1.5-screen / 14-inch mode was difficult to use with the PC in my lap. Scharon Harding

Those are certainly unique parlor tricks for a 17-inch laptop, and they were helpful when using the Fold with smaller desks or in my lap (at least, when I didn't accidentally nudge the keyboard out of position). The foldable is way more accommodating of tight spaces than a typical 17-inch device, but the 12.3-inch and 14-inch form factors didn't do anything to aid my productivity.

Similar to Lenovo's dual 13.3-inch screen Yoga Book 9i.clamshell, the Spectre Fold encourages you to view apps on a small area north of the keyboard when it's docked to the PC's deck area and then slid down partially. But when it comes to additional apps, the space is only big enough for something like a chat window or viewing the weather. Looking downward to see a display was disorienting for me when using the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i but a little more tolerable on HP's device. That could be because there's no bezel to break things up. Instead, windows fell into the crease in a way that looked surprisingly natural after I got used to it. Still, it's not comfortable to look down at that area for extended periods.

Ultimately, foldables simply don't offer a new way to work that feels more helpful than what you can get with a normal laptop. This is in contrast to the Yoga Book 9i, which features much more screen than a 17-inch foldable. The Lenovo laptop is longer (11.78 inches) and wider (8.03 inches) than HP's foldable, but it's also thinner (0.63 inches), with a slightly lighter starting weight (2.95 lbs).

While HP's foldable offers a 17-inch working experience in a 12-inch form factor, Lenovo's dual-screen laptop offers fresh ways to work and multitask in a 13-inch form factor. The two designs will appeal to different users, but the dual-screen format felt more relevant to multitasking and changing how I work on an ultralight laptop.

Still, I have to shout out the versatility that the Spectre Fold has granted me over the past month. Its keyboard won't replace my mechanical keyboard, but the chiclet keys have enough travel for keypresses to feel significant and to make a gentle thudding noise, even when the keyboard is not docked to the PC. When lounging on my couch or at the kitchen table, it was easy to prop up the PC in a central location and keep the keyboard near me for changing or pausing content and adjusting volume. And despite its small frame, the computer is supremely loud. HP doesn't mention speaker wattage or max volume for the Spectre Fold, but there are four Bang & Olufsen speakers that were able to fill my narrow living room even without the speakers being set to full volume.

Built to fold

Long-term durability is critical for any foldable's success, of course. HP says the Spectre Fold's hinge is rated to last for about 25,000 cycles, which is the same as a standard HP laptop.

The laptop's hinge relies on a virtual pivot, meaning the pivot is in front of the hinge, not in it, allowing the device to lie virtually flat. But a tiny, 0.12-inch (3-mm) gap is visible when the computer is shut. The space allows room for the keyboard to charge (the laptop has an induction coil) but leaves room for potentially damaging debris.

Almost flat.

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Almost flat. Scharon Harding

You can see the gap.

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You can see the gap. Scharon Harding

Almost flat. Scharon Harding

You can see the gap. Scharon Harding

The laptop's fold.

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The laptop's fold. Scharon Harding

The hinge area with the laptop open.

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The hinge area with the laptop open. Scharon Harding

The laptop's fold. Scharon Harding

The hinge area with the laptop open. Scharon Harding

The HP foldable's display controller board is alongside one of the display panel's shorter sides (instead of on one of the display panel's longer sides, where it's typically located). HP also put the computer's touch controller board opposite the display controller board. That's all to alleviate the burden on the hinge area. It's also one reason that HP says the Spectre Fold is so expensive. It's unclear how many users my review unit went through before reaching my hands, but the laptop made a creaking noise when folded and unfolded.

Generally, though, HP's foldable felt durable and premium, just as I'd expect from the Spectre line. Similarly, brands like Lenovo and Asus have given their foldables premium laptop branding. Warranty periods are one year for foldable and non-foldable computers among these OEMs. Still, we don't yet know how well foldables will last in the long term.

My review unit covered 99.4 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, according to my colorimeter.

Credit: Scharon Harding

HP cleverly built its foldable to stand on its own two feet, so to speak. Rather than relying on a keyboard cover and/or origami-type detachable stand, HP's foldable has an integrated kickstand. That means I didn't have to remember to carry around any accessories to get the PC propped up for easy usage of the full screen.

The kickstand on HP's foldable.

Credit: Scharon Harding

However, this sort of kickstand doesn't allow for some angles, as it can only be so acute. I couldn't set the device to form a 90-degree angle with my desktop.

Last-gen performance with next-next-gen pricing

Foldables aren't for people looking for a PC with a favorable price-to-performance ratio. But the value proposition of the Spectre Fold is even worse than we see with other foldable laptops.

All the other foldable laptops mentioned in this article released with a current-gen CPU, but HP's foldable uses a last-gen Intel chip. Of course, this year's mobile CPUs don't offer a major boost over last-gen ultralight laptops, and I've recommended last-gen thin-and-light laptops as a viable option for people looking to save money on an unused laptop this year. But foldable PCs (especially HP's) aren't for penny pinchers. This should be a premium machine with the latest hardware.

HP's logic was to stick with a 9 W CPU to keep the device thin and extend battery life. Intel's 13th Gen mobile lineup doesn't have 9 W CPUs. HP acknowledges that its processor choice makes the PC slower with CPU-bound tasks but claims that users won't miss much when it comes to general-purpose usage when compared to the 15 W CPUs common in ultraportable laptops these days.

The Spectre Fold has an i7-1250U with two performance cores (P-cores, running at 1.1–4.7 GHz), eight efficiency cores (E-cores, running at 0.8–3.5 GHz), and 12 threads. The closest current-gen equivalent is the i7-1355U (two P-cores at up to 5 GHz / 8 E-cores at up to 3.7 GHz / 12 threads).

I ran some benchmarks on the Spectre Fold to compare it to other modern machines.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro we previously tested has a much higher MSRP than even the Spectre Fold. But with the same CPU and a drop to 36GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, you can get it for $3,499. Comparing the M3 Max to a last-gen U-series CPU looks ridiculous in the charts below but illustrates the type of mobile CPU performance you can get for over $4,000.

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Compared to Lenovo's dual-screen clamshell, for example, the Spectre Fold showed an 8.09 percent drop in single-core performance and an 11.7 percent drop in multi-core performance with Geekbench 6. That looks awful alongside a 60 percent price premium (58 percent higher if the PCs each had the same amount of storage).

The foldable's CPU also performed 36 percent worse than the dual-screen laptop's in Cinebench's 10-minute throttling test. I ran the test three consecutive times on each machine, and the third score for each is shown above.

I'll give the foldable points for staying cool, though. Even during extensive benchmarking, the system almost never got too hot to handle. The area near the webcam got warm, but the system remained comfortable enough to hold almost all of the time.

Keep the long battery life coming

If a laptop vendor was able to package the Spectre Fold's CPU performance with a much more reasonable price and the battery life you're about to see, foldables could become a serious consideration for people seeking an ultra-portable PC with a big, quality screen. The battery life numbers that HP's foldable achieved are exemplary, not just for a foldable laptop but for OLED laptops in general.

Credit: Scharon Harding

The OLED laptop was even able to keep up with computers with less power-hungry IPS displays. And despite the Yoga Book 9i having the advantage in screen space, two OLED screens are more taxing on the battery.

But hitting those battery life numbers wasn't easy—or cheap. HP fit in 93 Wh of battery power across two packs (for more even weight distribution).

What do foldable PCs bring to the table?

Compactness is a foldable's strongest asset.

Credit: Scharon Harding

The HP Spectre Foldable 17 gives us a fascinating look into what an ultimate foldable laptop could be—and where there are still serious limitations for the burgeoning foldable PC category.

Foldables look futuristic, but they still face unique design hurdles. Foldable screens target portability, but OLED tends to gobble up battery life. Foldable laptops can stand out from similarly portable tablets and smaller-screened laptops with more powerful specs and elite displays, but creating a balance between productivity performance, extreme battery life, and price remains a challenge. These challenges could perhaps be addressed by aligning foldable designs more with tablets, which are understood to be less powerful but very portable.

The foldable design didn't do anything to boost my productivity or ability to multitask. It proved suitable for watching videos and screen-sharing, but its crease was noticeable, even if it wasn't always visibly distracting.

Still, HP and other OEMs have proven that foldable PCs are ready for further exploration. Early options were hindered by even more questionable processor lineups and limited operating systems. Both the Spectre Fold and Yoga Book 9i I tested this year leverage Windows Snap layouts well, but moving and sizing multiple windows felt more fluid on the dual-screen design, and more screen space had immediate benefits to my productivity.

I can see future foldables pulling from HP's design, especially when it comes to battery life. Battery life has long been a top concern for laptop users.

There are certainly some upsides to foldable laptops; getting a 17-inch laptop in the body of a 12-inch laptop is an appealing proposition for people who want both portability and maximum screen size.

But for those seeking a laptop innovation that enables them to do something dramatically different from what they're already used to, dual-screen and detachable laptops, which are currently cheaper, remain a better bet.