Can this alleged transparent laptop from Lenovo steal the show at MWC 2024?
A clear vision of the future
Lenovo is known for its catalog of laptops, some more groundbreaking than others. At this year's CES 2024, we saw Lenovo showcase the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid — a clever, if not unconventional, fusing of tablet and laptop that saw an independent Windows laptop deck paired with a stand-alone Android tablet. If you saw that, you'd no doubt pegged it as one of the weirdest laptops we're likely to see in 2024, and you were wrong.
Another thing being showcased at this year's CES was the OLED T technology powering LG's impressive transparent TVs, and I know they were impressive because it seems Lenovo was dazzled by them enough that it's now ready to reveal some transparent tech of its own. That's what these leaked images sourced by WindowsReport suggest, anyway.
If this laptop seems a little too future-tech to be true, that's because it's no doubt a concept model, ready to be showcased at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain later this month.
Manufacturers love having something spell-binding to enthrall attendees as they show off the limits of their imaginations at tech shows like this, and it would seem that Lenovo has transparency in mind when it comes to the future of the laptop.
It's hard to judge the size and scale of this prototype laptop from the images shared, but what is apparent is the stunning transparent lid that delivers a holographic-like image while remaining clear enough to see through.
The transparent TVs on show at CES 2024 showcased an impressive ability to remove the backgrounds of media to allow the main subject to be the only visible element on-screen.
That's a little tougher to manage than simply deciding which elements should be shown on a laptop screen, giving this form factor a genuinely believable level of functionality in the real world.
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This futuristic display is paired with a glass panel touch capacitive keyboard, illuminated from below with a dazzling neon backlight. Most surprising is the fact that I'd be far more likely to suggest the transparent display would catch on more than this ultra-smooth deck, as nothing quite beats the tactile feedback delivered by the press of a physical key.
According to WindowsReport, the deck is also transparent, with a single frame running around the outside of the device leading to the rear of the laptop where all of the internal components are housed within an opaque alcove.
It's a dazzling marvel of engineering, though we doubt it'll be something you can place money down on any time soon, with Lenovo's primary focus reportedly being consumed by its more traditional offerings with refreshes planned for its ThinkBook, ThinkPad, and ThinkVision lineups being next on the card.
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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.