Lenovo has unveiled a ThinkBook concept that boasts a futuristic transparent display and combined touch keyboard/drawing pad. The concept is part of the company's new tech offerings announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
From phones to televisions to store windows, see-through display technology is moving from sci-fi movies to the real world. Lenovo is aiming to offer mobile creators a new way to look at productivity with the ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop Concept.
Up top on this impressive-looking mobile workstation is a 17.3-inch Micro-LED display panel that manages up to 55% transparency when the pixels are turned off. When the visuals are fired up, users can look forward to "high color saturation combined with exceptional contrast and 1,000-nit brightness [up to 3,000 nits peak]," according to Lenovo.
Digital artists, for example, might benefit from being able to see through the 'canvas' to scenes and objects as they produce their creations, and the concept's designers suggest that others could be treated to overlays of AI-powered digital information as they work or play, without the need for augmented-reality wearables. Onscreen resolution appears to be on the low side for such applications though, at 720p, but such things will doubtless improve as the technology advances.
Of course, being able to see through a display you're looking at is not going to suit every task or application. There is talk of being able to adjust the transparency level of the upper panel, to essentially block out the world beyond and focus on what's displayed onscreen – similar to what LG does with its Signature OLED T television. This would allow flexibility for those, like me, who spend much of their working lives generating text, while also offering opportunities for sharing visuals without needing to crowd around the front of a screen.
Perhaps future iterations could even be touch-enabled on both sides of the screen for unique mobile collaborations. At the moment though, the concept is reportedly unable to make the whole background solid so that's something for future iterations to focus on.
Most laptops also enable videochats via some sort of webcam within the bezel. This concept doesn't have an upper bezel, and there's been no mention of this functionality – though the technology exists so it could happen.
The ThinkBook concept is actually a dual-screen laptop, an evolution of the company's Yoga Book idea, with the lower display able to switch between touch keyboard and stylus drawing pad. This does of course mean a lack of physical key feel to the typing experience, though practicality is often less important to consumers than desirability for what's new and shiny.
The typing experience could easily be improved with the use of haptics, though there's no mention of that sort of thing for the current concept. There's also the issue of glare from the main screen making anything on that shiny input surface difficult to make out, but adjusting the seated position may help mitigate that to some degree.
Given it's merely a proof of concept at the moment, specs like processor, graphics, memory, storage and connectivity have not been revealed. Nor has Lenovo hinted at any future production iteration, so it stands as a quirky, interesting look at a possible future in mobile productivity. The video below has more.
Source: Lenovo