FEATURE: Everyone is trying to reinvent the PC, but why?

DON’T BUY INTO THE HYPE JUST YET.

This was true for both gaming devices and more staid productivity machines – Dell experimented with both the Concept UFO portable gaming PC and the Duet and Ori laptops, while Lenovo released a retail-ready foldable device with the ThinkPad X1 Fold.

Then there was the Horseshoe Bend prototype from Intel, which was basically a compact, foldable laptop that opens up to become a 17.3-inch display. But this isn't even Intel's first foray into experimental form factors – back in 2018, it trotted out Tiger Rapids, which had both an LCD and an E Ink display, and the dual LCD Copper Harbor. Horseshoe Bend has a builtin kickstand and a wireless keyboard too, not unlike the ThinkPad X1 Fold. It incorporates a bunch of cool design tricks to accommodate the fold more seamlessly as well, such as having two parallel hinges and a sliding leather cover.

But I have to ask if having an extra-large screen is really the thing that is going to improve user experience in any meaningful way? Is it really that much of a game-changer that we are going to be able to read on one screen and take notes on the other? Or drag and drop stuff between two screens? Certain creative professionals might benefit from some variant of this concept, such as ASUS' ZenBook Pro Duo machines which have two distinct screens, but that doesn't exactly seem to be what everyone else needs.

It somehow feels like PC makers are casting about for the next big thing to get people excited. PCs haven't had a great time in recent years, and increasingly powerful and capable smartphones have put a dampener on growth. And while PC shipments actually grew in 2019, a new report by Gartner projects yet another decline for 2020 and beyond. The firm says that the surge in new machines as a result of Windows 10 is already over, which means that companies that rely on sales of traditional laptops and desktops are under pressure to convince customers that there's still something new and novel to look forward to in the PC market.

BUT I HAVE TO ASK IF HAVING AN EXTRA-LARGE SCREEN IS REALLY THE THING THAT IS GOING TO IMPROVE USER EXPERIENCE IN A MEANINGFUL WAY?