There’s only one thing I want to see at CES this year, and that’s a really weird laptop
We’re currently filling out our CES 2025 prediction bingo cards at Ny Breaking, and I’m going to lose – because mine only has 25 boxes that all say “new Lenovo ThinkBook Twist.”
Yep, I probably won’t get what I want from Santa for CESmas this year, which is the return of Lenovo’s boldest (and weirdest) laptop design, the “swiveling” ThinkBook. What that basically means is that the display hinge is mounted right in the middle of the panel base and can rotate on an axis, allowing you to rotate the screen around and ‘close’ the lid to turn it into a tablet.
We reviewed the old one ThinkBookTwist way back in 2013 and thought it was pretty decent, even though the form factor has been effectively made redundant these days by 360 degree hinges for an easier and more intuitive switch to ‘tablet mode’. But that’s not the one I really want, no: I want a new and improved version of the award-winning one ThinkBook Plus Twist I saw it at MWC 2023 where there were displays both sides of the lid: a conventional OLED touchscreen and a full-color E-Ink panel on the back.
Bizarre and wonderful
I know, at first glance this is an extremely stupid design for a laptop. I’m not here to dispute that; It was a bizarre experience to see Windows 11 running at about four frames per second on an E-Ink screen, even though it was technically functioning fine.
But E-Ink has fantastic potential as an alternative to more energy-consuming (and therefore less environmentally harmful) screen types. It’s also gentler on the eyes and works great for any activity that doesn’t require a high refresh rate; Lenovo calls rotating the screen around to use the E-Ink panel as the primary display “typewriter mode,” which as a writer I find strangely endearing.
Of course, a more practical use for these types of external E-Ink displays is to display information while the laptop is in sleep mode with the lid down; Because E-Paper panels only require electricity when they change what appears on the screen, it can show you the time, battery life, local weather, notifications and more without you even having to open the laptop – all while you work virtually no power.
The future of e-ink
In ‘standard mode’, with the lid open and the OLED screen facing you, the ThinkBook Plus Twist just feels like a regular – albeit fairly premium – Lenovo laptop, capable of everything you’d expect. But when put into typewriter mode, that power-hungry OLED panel turns off, significantly extending battery life for long writing sessions away from a wall socket.
I want to see more laptop brands – and the tech industry as a whole – become more committed to the electronic paper format. E-Ink was revolutionary, but since its debut it has stagnated somewhat and been largely relegated to overpriced Kindles.
Yet it has such potential: I can imagine many use cases beyond simple wearables. Every time I drive into a certain nearby town after dark, I’m positively flashed by a huge LED billboard that I loathe with a deep, fiery passion. But if that billboard were made using E-Paper, it would not only be less dazzling (making the road safer And reducing local light pollution), but it would also use less electricity. If more technology companies take the time and effort to invest in improving this technology, this could become a reality.