In the past, Lenovo already had two device generations of the ThinkBook Plus, which brought an additional energy-efficient e-ink display on the outside of the lid. Then it got wild: With the third generation, which was unveiled a year ago, the concept changed radically. The omission of the e-ink screen is now being reversed: the ThinkBook Plus Twist has a lid with an OLED panel and an e-ink panel.
Lenovo has corrected two previous points of criticism in the new edition. The e-ink panel on the ThinkBook Plus Twist is no longer monochrome, but can also display colors. In addition, it runs at up to 12 Hertz, which at least allows something similar to reasonably smooth scrolling – at least compared to previous e-ink displays.
Above all, the e-ink panel can no longer only be used when the lid has been closed. Instead, there’s a central pivot hinge, as was formerly common on Windows XP-era tablet PCs. This means that you can always select the panel that better suits the work at hand – regardless of whether it is done with the lid folded up with a keyboard and touchpad or closed with a pen. Since the e-ink screen only consumes energy when its image content changes, it is the better choice for static content – although we doubt that you will get the battery life of up to 18 months(!) that Lenovo promises in everyday use .
With the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Twist, you can decide whether you want to work with an OLED or E-Ink screen, both in notebook and tablet mode.
Lenovo wants to sell the ThinkBook Plus Twist from June at prices starting at 1700 euros. The inner workings are determined by a U processor of the 13th Core i generation, which is supported by up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory and SSDs of up to 1 TB.
Charging without a plug
As an additional special feature, the feet of the ThinkBook Plus Twist contain metal contacts: If you place it on a separately sold charging mat, you can charge the notebook without plugging it into a socket. Lenovo has been selling the technology as a generic upgrade kit for some time, and it’s also in the feet of the ThinkBook 13x Gen 2, which was announced a year ago. This notebook was supposed to be released last summer, but hasn’t made it to retail until today.
(mue)
