Now laptop screens fold, too, with Lenovo Thinkpad
THE FOLDING-screen trend just leaped from phones to laptops.
Earlier this week, Lenovo unveiled what it’s calling the world’s first “foldable” laptop, and I got to spend a little time with a prototype in advance. This new design direction for computers may have more potential than the folding phones we’ve been hearing about lately.
Laid flat, Lenovo’s device is a 13.3-inch tablet running Microsoft Windows. Fold it halfway and you can set it upright on a table like a tiny clamshell laptop. Hold it folded in your hands and it’s like an electronic book.
Lenovo hasn’t given a name to the product yet, which will be a part of its ThinkPad line when it comes out sometime in 2020.
The folding laptop is trying to do just one thing: make a laptop less awkward to carry around. This one weighs just under two pounds, which is pretty standard for a small laptop. But it’s more convenient when it folds down to 9.3 inches (measured diagonally).
Typing poses a bit of a challenge. When the laptop is sitting upright at a 90-degree angle, you could type on the part of the screen that’s flat, but screen typing isn’t a very pleasurable experience. Lenovo plans to sell the laptop with a wireless keyboard and pen you could carry with you. It also has two USB-C ports you can use to plug it into a workstation with a standard laptop and mouse.
Lenovo says the laptop, which it has been working on for three years, uses a flexible OLED screen made by LG Display with a 2K resolution.
Lenovo says it won’t ship the laptop until it can pass ThinkPad quality control testing, and some of its design choices address the problems that emerged with Samsung’s Fold. The laptop’s back hinge is covered by leather, which keeps detritus from entering it. The edges on the screen are also sealed to keep a protective film from peeling up. The prototype laptop had a crease on the screen where it folds, but it didn’t feel as noticeable as the one on the Galaxy Fold. — Washington Post.