Lenovo's new concept laptop has a rotating screen, and we have questions
Lenovo loves to get a little freaky with laptop form factors, and its latest concept has a screen that can rotate.
Unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin a week after it leaked on X, the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is a 14-inch Windows PC with a "rotation display system" that lets it swivel into portrait mode — it's the perfect laptop for people who really love TikTok.
From a design standpoint, it's similar to Samsung's Sero TVs, which also rotate from landscape to portrait. So far, the Sero has failed to move past its novelty act reputation.
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The ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is still just a concept, as its name implies, so it's unclear whether it will ever come to market. At big trade shows like CES and IFA, companies sometimes debut vaporware — futuristic concept devices that will never actually hit the market.
Lenovo's laptop with a rolling display, the $3,499 ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, is a rare example of one such prototype that you can actually now buy.... two years after it was first introduced.
This also means we know very little about the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept beyond the fact that it has a cool party trick. In a press release, Lenovo notes that it has a 14-inch screen and a sleek design that measures 0.7 inches thin and 3.06 pounds, making it slightly thicker but a touch lighter than Apple's latest 15-inch MacBook Air.
When the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is in vertical mode, Lenovo adds, users can pair it with Android smartphones using the Lenovo Smart Connect app "for transferring files and phone mirroring."
Lenovo provided one picture of the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept, which reveals an island-style keyboard, a large trackpad, a raised notch containing the webcam, and a port setup that includes HDMI, two Thunderbolt ports, and a microSD card slot on the left-hand side.
Otherwise, the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept's specs are a complete mystery. What kind of screen does it have? What sort of processor is hiding in there? How many rotation cycles can that system withstand? And how much will this thing cost?
We don't know, and we might not ever know — but at the very least, we now have confirmation that it exists in some form.
Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what’s actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.
