Lenovo’s Transparent Laptop Is Real, but Don’t Throw Away Your MacBook Just Yet
The concept laptop is straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Lenovo is showing off its proof-of-concept laptop called the ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop at MWC 2024. As creative as the design of the bezel-free laptop display is, there shouldn’t be any confusion here since the name spells it out. It’s a laptop that has a see-through display.
We first saw this concept through a WindowsReport leak earlier this month, but we only had images to go off of. Now that it’s confirmed, we have official details on how this transparent laptop that looks like it was pulled straight out of a sci-fi flick works. It’s cool-looking, but we’re not convinced that Lenovo’s use cases are enough for us to ditch our regular ol’ non-transparent laptops.
Are we at a point where we need transparent displays yet?
No Borders or Bezels
Even though the entire screen is meant to be see-through, Lenovo still wants us to have decent screen real estate since it packs a 17.3-inch display. You’d think a transparent display means some color distortion or murkiness, but Lenovo went with micro-LED tech, similar to the transparent TVs we saw Samsung and LG show off at CES 2024.
Lenovo carried the transparent design into the keyboard, which can double as a drawing tablet when paired with a stylus. As we predicted, the ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop is supposed to serve as a link between your digital work and the real world. At least, that’s what Lenovo is proposing.
The company says that you can see virtual info and objects as compared to actual objects you might have on your desk. We could see this type of interaction being useful for 3D animators or those in industrial design, but it might not make sense for most of us looking for a traditional work laptop.
Lenovo even addresses the privacy concerns we initially had when we saw the leaked images since everyone would be able to see what you’re working on. According to Lenovo, the laptop will have an adjustable transmittance, so you can either go with maximum transparency when you want to collaborate or more opacity when you want some privacy.
Even the laptop’s keyboard is transparent.
Too Futuristic For Now
We can’t forget that Lenovo’s wild laptop is just a proof of concept, meaning that we shouldn’t expect the company to sell or produce this exact design. Still, Lenovo did hint that this could be seen with future products since it “showcases a futuristic perspective” on its PCs. At the end of the day, Lenovo’s design could even put pressure on other companies looking into transparent displays, like Samsung and LG.
I can appreciate that Lenovo is trying new things and making one of the first working transparent laptops out there, but I’m still waiting for a compelling enough reason to need this in the first place. Maybe we’re not at a place where transparent laptops make sense quite yet.
