Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold hands-on
Last year Lenovo showed us a prototype of a totally new type of PC. A full on Windows 10 computerwith a foldable OLED display. Now it's CES 2020, the company is telling us whatthe final shipping version of that product, it's called the ThinkPad X1 Fold. So the hardware hasn'tchanged that much from before, there's still a 13-inchOLED screen that folds, there's still a wireless keyboard that come with the whole package, and it still looks kindalike a leather-bound book when you fold it up. What has changed, is Lenovo's work on thesoftware side of things. Now the X1 Fold runs regular Windows 10 which really isn't designed for these kinds of foldable screens. So Lenovo has had to give you the ability to, for example, pin certain apps on differentsides of the screen, and there's a little icon in the taskbar that you can click to do this. If you use the device inportrait mode when it's unfolded you can click the same icon andthat gives you the option to bring up an on-screen keyboard, and then if you fold thelaptop on top of each other it's like you have a mini laptop with a touchscreen keyboard. Or you can use thewireless-Bluetooth keyboard, put it on top of the onscreen keyboard and then you have a miniature laptop with little keys. Alternatively you can unfoldthe laptop to its full screen, and use the kickstand on the back, and use the keyboard wirelessly. There's also a separate stand that'll ship a little bit later, that holds the monitor up like an easel, and you can use theBluetooth keyboard below it.
Lenovo is also planninga version of the device runs Windows 10X which might actually be a better fit. That's the version of Windowsthat Microsoft is working on, and it's designed specificallyfor dual-screen devices, and foldable devices. Microsoft has it's own SurfaceNeo coming up this year which runs Windows 10X. So that might be a betterfit for the X1 Fold. The only problem is it's not going to ship untilafter the Windows 10 version. So the X1 Fold screen isbeing made by LG Display. The two companies say they'vebeen working on this product for more than four years together, and Lenovo is really confident about the product'sdurability in particular. They spent a lot of time showing us all the complicated components that go into the hinge design. Obviously there have been somepretty high profile failures in this product category already, so there's a reason to be skeptical, but you know the companyis confident in its design. There's some neat touches too, there's a slight crease in the display when you fold it open, but it's not super visible, and although there's a gapwhen you fold it together, between the two sections of the screen that actually getsfilled up by the keyboard which is kind of a nice touch. In terms of specs, the X1 Fold is using a newtype of processor from Intel, but we can't go into detail on yet. Otherwise there's 8 gigabytes of RAM, up to a terabyte of SSD storage, and Lenovo is claiming upto 11 hours of battery life. So overall this is lookinglike a pretty cool, pretty experimental device, but (laughs) the problem withexperimental tech products is that companies charge money for them, and this one is gonna cost quite a lot. Lenovo is shipping it inthe middle of this year for around $2,500.
Which is a lot of money forany kind of laptop, or tablet, especially one that you know, has potential questions about durability and so on surrounding it. That said, we are super looking forward to spending a lot more time with it, and hopefully we should be able to do so towards the middle of the year. So yeah, this is just oneof many weird and wacky PC concepts we're gonna see this week. So stayed tuned to the TheVerge's YouTube channel all throughout CES 2020, and subscribe to us. That's youtube.com/theverge
Lenovo is also planninga version of the device runs Windows 10X which might actually be a better fit. That's the version of Windowsthat Microsoft is working on, and it's designed specificallyfor dual-screen devices, and foldable devices. Microsoft has it's own SurfaceNeo coming up this year which runs Windows 10X. So that might be a betterfit for the X1 Fold. The only problem is it's not going to ship untilafter the Windows 10 version. So the X1 Fold screen isbeing made by LG Display. The two companies say they'vebeen working on this product for more than four years together, and Lenovo is really confident about the product'sdurability in particular. They spent a lot of time showing us all the complicated components that go into the hinge design. Obviously there have been somepretty high profile failures in this product category already, so there's a reason to be skeptical, but you know the companyis confident in its design. There's some neat touches too, there's a slight crease in the display when you fold it open, but it's not super visible, and although there's a gapwhen you fold it together, between the two sections of the screen that actually getsfilled up by the keyboard which is kind of a nice touch. In terms of specs, the X1 Fold is using a newtype of processor from Intel, but we can't go into detail on yet. Otherwise there's 8 gigabytes of RAM, up to a terabyte of SSD storage, and Lenovo is claiming upto 11 hours of battery life. So overall this is lookinglike a pretty cool, pretty experimental device, but (laughs) the problem withexperimental tech products is that companies charge money for them, and this one is gonna cost quite a lot. Lenovo is shipping it inthe middle of this year for around $2,500.
Which is a lot of money forany kind of laptop, or tablet, especially one that you know, has potential questions about durability and so on surrounding it. That said, we are super looking forward to spending a lot more time with it, and hopefully we should be able to do so towards the middle of the year. So yeah, this is just oneof many weird and wacky PC concepts we're gonna see this week. So stayed tuned to the TheVerge's YouTube channel all throughout CES 2020, and subscribe to us. That's youtube.com/theverge
Post a Comment