Lenovo's ThinkBook Flip Puts an Extra-Tall Folding Display On a Laptop

Speaking of some concept devices that Lenovo has unveiled, the company today teased its ThinkBook "codename Flip" AI PC Concept at Mobile World Congress, featuring a flexible 18.1-inch OLED display that can transform between three configurations: a traditional 13.1-inch clamshell, a folded 12.9-inch tablet, or a laptop with an extra-tall vertical screen.

Unlike the motorized ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 expected in June, the Flip uses the display's flexibility to fold behind itself, eliminating motors while gaining 0.4 inches of additional screen space. Users can mirror content on the rear-facing portion when folded or enjoy the full 2000x2664 resolution display in vertical orientation. The concept also features a SmartForcePad trackpad with LED-illuminated shortcut layers. While still in prototype phase, Lenovo has specs in mind: Intel Ultra 7 processor, 32GB RAM, PCIe SSD storage, and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity.

Bless their hearts

[timeOday]

Weird-screen laptops never catch on, but kudos anyways.

A laptop base just has to be a certain size to fit a keyboard good enough to justify it over a phone. If you make the base that wide, and in normal proportion, you have something close to a rectangle. So if you double that height, you get something awfully nonsquare - like this lenovo for example.

And I'm sure the suitability of this screen for today's close-pitch airline seating will be noted....

Re:

[PhantomHarlock]

It's funky, but I could see some specific use cases for it where a few people would be thrilled to have it. What I need is a laptop where a second screen folds out horizontally, so there are two normal 16X9 horizontal displays side by side, 4K each, or one super-wide horizontal display I suppose. I presently have Lenovo's huge 17" laptop as a desktop replacement as I am on the road a lot. I am considering getting a matching portable 17" external display (there are a number of them out there) for when

Re:

[timeOday]

Yes at some point simply adding nice thin add-on displays has to be the way.

I too have a relatively huge 17" Dell Precision laptop, I have a smaller one too, but if you actually have to sit down and use the peripherals and computation that the box provides, the big Precision just slaughters. Sturdy too.

Re:

[OrangeTide]

I worked on a dual screen tablet [newatlas.com] that opened like a book, nice metal frame and an innovative hinge mechanism. But it weighed over a kilogram because it turns out screens and the necessary structural support are heavy. Technical flaws aside, licensing books is what killed it. But it also wasn't going to be a very popular device in its release state.

Thinkpad Cooling Instead, Please

[BrendaEM]

I have owned a P15 Gen 2, W540, X220. We need a Mobile Workstation that can cool itself well enough for renders, instead of this flash in the pan crap.

Have they fixed the touchpad yet?

[eminencja]

I have a 2500+ $ Lenovo at work. It's a nice machine with a lot of RAM and a large disk but the touchpad is a disaster (at least under Linux). I find it almost impossible to work without a stand-alone mouse. If I forget to bring the mouse, I go to the office (rather than work from home). And most of my work happens in a terminal.

Stability?

[alispguru]

I couldn't tell from the pictures, but unless there's a hidden back leg, that thing will fall over in a stiff breeze.

I picked up a Kickstarter extra screen for laptops that attaches with magnets to the back of the screen, and can flip to be visible on the same side as the laptop screen, or on the other side for presentations. A major flaw is that it weighs about as much as my MacBook Pro, so unless you flip it veery carefully, the laptop falls over.

Ok if you are a giraffe

[ZERO1ZERO]

I can't stop picturing somebody using this laptop sitting at their desk with a really long neck. Ideal cartoon for a newspaper.

I use a LIMINK Triple Portable Monitor

[Press2ToContinue]

I attach it to my laptop when I need more screen space while travelling. https://amz.cx/3Mxs [amz.cx]

Break easily?

[antdude]

I wonder how easy they are to break though.