The device appears to pair a transparent display with a touch-sensitive keyboard, and is expected to be shown off at MWC in Barcelona later this month.
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Leaker Evan Blass has offered another look at Lenovo’s transparent laptop concept ahead of its presumed unveiling at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month. The new leaked press image shows two of the concept laptops on a desk, with one of the devices being visible through the transparent screen of another. This is our second look at the concept device, after WindowsReport published leaked press shots of it earlier this month.
See-through screens aren’t exactly a new technology. They’ve been cropping up in concept devices for over a decade, and Samsung even showed off a transparent laptop concept back at CES 2010. But 14 years later it seems like companies are ready to actually commercialize the technology. We’ve already seen trains equipped with transparent OLED window displays in China and Japan, and at CES this year LG announced a transparent Signature T television that it says will go on sale in 2024.
If it does show off the device at MWC, I’ll be very interest to hear Lenovo’s pitch for why you might need a laptop with a transparent display. I rarely want to see what’s going on behind my laptop when I’m sitting at a desk, and when I do it’s relatively easy to lean to the left or right to peek around it (this isn’t a giant TV screen we’re talking about, after all). My best guess is that a device like this could be pitched for receptionists and other front of house staff who often find themselves talking to customers or guests with a screen in the way, but even then you have to imagine there’ll be potential privacy issues if a screen’s contents are visible from the back.
Aside from its transparent screen, the leaked press images of Lenovo’s concept laptop suggest it’ll have a completely flat, touch-sensitive keyboard. There’s also a stylus visible next to one of the devices in Blass’s leaked image, so it feels safe to assume you’ll be able to doodle on its display, and the wallpaper shown on the laptop suggests we’re looking at a Windows 11 machine.
It’s worth noting that if Lenovo does decide to show the laptop concept off at MWC then there’s no guarantee it’ll actually see a commercial release. Last year the company exhibited a rollable laptop at the big tech show which allowed you to push a button and see the regular 12.7-inch landscape 4:3 display extend upwards to become a 15.3-inch portrait 8:9 screen. But since then, there’s been no talk of the laptop getting a commercial release. A part of me wonders if this new transparent laptop concept is destined to go the same route.
