Lenovo’s new concept laptop has a rotating screen that’s perfect for doomscrolling

This is what going 90 looks similar connected a laptop.

Lenovo has made laptop screens that roll, flip, and go transparent, and present for IFA 2025 it’s announcing a caller conception with a surface that tin rotate into representation mode. The Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is simply a beauteous standard-looking 14-inch productivity laptop, but if you nudge the screen’s borderline from its top-right corner, the full show rotates 90 degrees wrong its chassis, realigning itself into a amended presumption for documents, coding, oregon doomscrolling.

That’s it. That’s its full trick. It’s some utterly delightful and a interaction mundane — overmuch simpler than other, wilder Lenovo concepts. There isn’t immoderate fancy flexible OLED display oregon whirring motor built into the chassis — conscionable a clever, pivoting way strategy hidden down its screen. It’s 1 of the astir down-to-earth Lenovo concepts yet, which means it’s got a bully accidental of turning into a existent product.

I got to spot the conception laptop successful idiosyncratic during an aboriginal preview successful New York City up of its IFA debut successful Berlin. As with different Lenovo concepts, I recovered it charming, and the institution reps had an anxious aerial of “Do you deliberation this is chill too?” 

And, well, it is beauteous cool. If you’re similar maine and you often plug your laptop into a large show and usage the laptop surface arsenic a secondary display, being capable to usage it successful a vertical predisposition is beauteous nifty.

The surface was casual capable to rotate vertically with 1 hand. I felt obligated to beryllium gentle with it and clasp the laptop platform down with my different manus to forestall the full happening toppling over, but it was sturdy capable that that wasn’t necessary. Once the surface is turned, the laptop lid has conscionable capable country connected either broadside to remainder a telephone beside it, the amended for utilizing Lenovo’s Smart Connect app to transportation files and power your Android telephone with your rodent — though it wasn’t afloat moving successful my little demo.

There isn’t overmuch other to the VertiFlex conception laptop itself. Lenovo isn’t talking afloat specs, but the 1 I saw had 2 Thunderbolt (presumably Thunderbolt 4) ports, 1 USB-A port, HDMI, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The 14-inch conception laptop is not particularly bladed oregon peculiarly light, astatine 17.9mm / 0.7 inches heavy and 1.39kg / 3.06 pounds. It’s a small thinner and two-thirds of a lb lighter than the rollable ThinkBook Plus, but inactive thicker and heavier than a accepted laptop similar the ThinkPad X9.

I was excited past twelvemonth by the ThinkBook Flip concept, which took the flexible OLED from the rollable and turned it into a somewhat simpler folding-screen setup. With a modular non-flexible sheet and less moving parts similar motors, the VertiFlex is adjacent simpler. I’m not rather arsenic stoked by a regular aged rotating surface arsenic I americium by ones that fold oregon flip, but it inactive seems amusive and perchance utile — and apt to beryllium a batch cheaper than the $3,300 ThinkPad Plus Gen 6 rollable. Lenovo reps told maine that the VertiFlex conception could besides beryllium easy scaled to antithetic laptop sizes. Do radical privation their laptop screens to rotate into representation mode? I person nary idea. I surely wouldn’t caput it, for the close price. But I emotion quirky devices, and I’m blessed to spot Lenovo propulsion much ideas astatine the partition and spot what sticks.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge