The World's First Foldable PC Is Now Available To Order From Lenovo

Last year at its Accelerate 2019 event in Orlando, Lenovo teased "the world's first foldable PC." They didn't unveil the name, price tag, or ship date -- just that it would be part of Lenovo's flagship ThinkPad X1 line and that it would arrive in 2020. Today, the company formally unveiled the device it's calling the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which is available for preorder now, starting at $2,499. The Verge reports: The idea is that you can use the Fold like a large tablet when it's fully unfolded (or divide the screen into two adjacent displays). You can prop the Fold up horizontally to use it like a full 13-inch notebook, with an optional detachable keyboard and easel stand. You can fold the thing up 90 degrees, turn it vertically, and use it like a miniature laptop (a touchscreen keyboard pops up on the bottom half). You can turn it horizontally and use it like a book, with an optional stylus. Or you can fold the whole thing up, and easily carry it around without it taking up much space in your bag. In terms of other specs, the production Fold comes with Intel's Lakefield processors, two USB-C ports and a SIM-card slot, 8GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage, and a 50Wh battery. It weighs 2.2 pounds and can come with 5G support. Lenovo also announced a bunch of Linux ThinkPads and ThinkStation PCs.

$2500 to beta test a gimmick

[GustovVonSteinberg]

a fool and his money

First foldable PC?

[fox171171]

I've been folding mine for about 20 years now. Laptop seems to be an odd name, I rarely use it on my lap. I do fold it a lot though.

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[Joce640k]

Let's just hope the 'optional' keyboard and stand are foldable, too!

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[The123king]

This is why i don't get tablets. Why should you need an often optional stand to prop up your $1000 computer. My $800 laptop doesn't need a stand, or an optional keyboard, and it even support touchscreen like those crappy tablet things.

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[thsths]

Yeah, my laptop is folding pretty well, considering that it does not exist according to Lenovo... :-)

foldable table, more accurate

[phantomfive]

The technology of the folding screen is really cool, but the design of this device is not stylish, and not useful.

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[The123king]

The old saying "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" really applies here

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[phantomfive]

Or even, "If you do it, do it well."

wtf is that?

[awwshit]

They should call that thing a ThinkBook. 'Pad' is not a word that comes to mind when I look at it. More like eww.

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[samwichse]

So their notebooks will be called a "Thinkpad" and their tablet will be called a "Thinkbook?"

That would be hilarious!

WTF, Home & End keys on the top row?

[schwit1]

Is Stevie Wonder doing the keyboard designs?

Re:WTF, Home & End keys on the top row?

[Ronin441]

I would think the opposite — that blind people would want keys to stay in their expected places.

Big Screen

[rtb61]

Do you know ubiquitous computing is not in portable devices at all, never has been. It is in walls the bigger the screen the better and how you generate interaction between you and that wall. Everyone loved in in TVs and movies, is was always about interacting with the wall and you left largely alone. You can fake it with glasses, where only you see that wall in motion interacting with it and look weird as you gyrate and chat with the device or someone else. I think the shift over time will be to more the way I currently go. You connected to the world and the world most definitely NOT connected to you - PRIVACY mode will be a big thing and people will pay for it. Access to devices and not devices accessing you, it's being human and NOT being part of the machine, it's an 'EWW' thing, a generational shift, class and style, expression of ego. I am an individual human being, not a part of the machine. Only a tiny minority want to be a part of the machine, most do not and it really will be seen as quite classless, quite inhumane, rejecting humanity for the machine. The logical psychological counter reaction to the current digital invasion of privacy and individually targeted propaganda. I don't want to carry the tech to access it and i want my home stuff to be separate from my public stuff and my work stuff, in or out.

Let Others Test Them

[BrendaEM]

Has anyone really made a folding screen device that is reliable?

More gimmics

[sjames]

Could we just get back to computers with decent specs?

Personally, I'd just like to be able to select that I want an AMD tower without ground effects, tempered glass cases and a little disco ball inside.

Question

[locater16]

But... why though?

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[imidan]

My mod points expired, or I would have modded you up.

But... why though?

Why, indeed. Show me the killer app. Who are the market for this? Who bought the $2000 Samsung "foldable" phone? Does anyone want this?

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[AmiMoJo]

Apparently laptop/tablet hybrids have been selling well for quite some time now. Lenovo's Yoga line is a good example. So I guess they think this might sell too.

One of the advantages of the Yoga type laptop/tablet hybrid is that you got a real keyboard when you needed to type. This only has a touch keyboard, unless you use a Bluetooth or USB one. That might work for some people.

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[Radical Moderate]

Because...no device with a 13" screen folds up as small as this, 6"x 9". Not worth a $2000 premium to me, but eventually the tech will get cheaper, and I'll be happy to have a computer the size of a small hard back book with a screen that's actually useful.

Definite market here.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

As is well known; people buy Thinkpads because they hate decent laptop keyboards, think trackpoints are terrible; and resent understated designs that emphasize durability and serviceability.

This seems like a surefire winner.

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[MancunianMaskMan]

Yes, that.

I am a bit of a Thinkpad fanboi an I don't even object to some of the more recent "aberrations" like the 6-row keyboard. I got used to the Fn key being where Ctrl key should be. I forgive a multitude of sins! But yes, it's getting harder to choose "the right" thinkpad nowadays. My T560 is beginning to show sign of wear as well, after just 4 short years, what's going on?

I have to ask

[FudRucker]

will it run Linux???
i wont buy one until i can install slackware on it

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[ZiggyZiggyZig]

It only runs Foldora!

Hmmm

[DarkRookie2]

I have a compaq lappy from the 90s that folds in half
My current laptop also folds in half.

Fold line.

[kryliss]

With these new folding screens on phones/tablets/computers, I wonder how long before they develop a noticeable fold wear line.