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Hardware IT

The First Foldable PC Era is Unfolding (arstechnica.com) 47

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Lenovo launched the first foldable laptop in 2020, but the first real era of foldable PCs is only starting to unfold now. From a report: Today, LG became the latest OEM to announce a foldable-screen laptop, right after HP announced its first attempt, the Spectre Foldable PC, earlier this month. LG only announced the Gram Fold in South Korea thus far. A Google translation of LG's Korean announcement said the laptop is 9.4-mm (0.37-inches) thick when unfolded and used like a 17-inch tablet. Alternatively, the OLED PC can be folded in half to use like an approximately 12.2-inch laptop. In the latter form, a virtual keyboard can appear on the bottom screen, and you can dock a Bluetooth keyboard to the bottom screen or pair a keyboard with the system wirelessly. The screen has 1920Ã--2560 pixels for a pixel density of 188.2 pixels per inch.

One draw of foldable PCs is supposed to be portability. The Gram Fold weighs 2.76 pounds (1,250g), which is even lighter than LG's latest Gram clamshell laptop (2.9 pounds). According to Android Authority, LG's laptop will have an Intel Core i5-1335U, which has 8 Efficient cores (E-cores) at up to 3.4 GHz, two Performance cores (P-cores) at up to 4.6 GHz, 12 threads, and 12MB of cache. The PC is also supposed to have 16GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, a 72 Wh battery, Wi-Fi 6E, and two USB-C ports. LG is claiming 99.5 percent DCI-P3 color coverage with the laptop.

[...] It's also possible we'll see similar designs from other laptop brands, as panel supplier LG Display announced today that it will start mass production of 17-inch foldable OLED laptop panels. The foldable OLED is made with what LG Display calls a Tandem OLED structure, using two-stack OLED technology, "which adds an extra organic emitting layer to deliver brighter screens while effectively dispersing energy across OLED components for optimal stability and longer lifespans," LG Display's announcement said. LG Display first entered mass production of foldable (13.3-inch) laptop panels in 2020. However, foldable PCs didn't immediately take off then, despite the panel being used in Lenovo's 2020 ThinkPad X1 Fold. Foldable PCs lacked the software support that Windows 11 now affords with its Snap windows layouts that make organizing windows across dual or folded screens more intuitive.
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The First Foldable PC Era is Unfolding More

The First Foldable PC Era is Unfolding

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  • When is the Second Foldable PC Era?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      I'm going to guess it's some time after the first one unfolds.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xack ( 5304745 )
      It's just a giant Nintendo DS, Nintendo already got bored of the form factor and went back to single screen with the Switch.

  • It's not like anyone puts that shit away.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      Probably to stuff it into a laptop bag, if I had to guess. (The phone one, the only reason I can think it would make sense would be to protect the screen while stowed.)

  • Do not want (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brett Buck ( 811747 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:16PM (#63876337)

    Why is this supposed to be such a great idea? Yes, you can fold it, exciting new technology, oooh shiny! But you can be ontologically and metaphysically uncertain that, eventually (but probably sooner than later) it will start cracking at the fold, and then, be even less possible to replace of fix it.

          I am no hippy/liberal/environmentalist, but I don't want system design with built-in failure modes. that will have to be discarded in a few years.

    • Because due to the consumer accepting a visible defect on the screen, the bubbled up folded area, from pretty much the get go, they can now ship garbage quality, cheaply manufactured screens and call it "innovation"

    • If they can make it as replaceable as laptop batteries (e.g. easy in traditional format ones vs the impossible on some 2in1 Surface style) then it wouldn't be too bad.

    • I don't want system design with built-in failure modes. that will have to be discarded in a few years.

      From a 2-year factory warranty at best to planned obsolescence. It's practically cute you assuming you don't already.

    • Why do you think all the companies are so gung-ho to make these devices? They can sell them for a premium and they know that most won't last more than three years guaranteeing a future sale because there's no fixing a broken folding display in the same way you could repair other hardware failures. As long as it survives the warranty period, it's free money.

    • For a small laptop in the 12-13 inch range, being able to fold out more screen real estate is a big bonus. However, the way it is implemented means that one has to detach one part, open the screen all the way, and either use the screen as a separate monitor.

      What would have been nice is to have the screen fold out like a tryptych, so the laptop doesn't have to be taken apart. Although it might cause damage to the screen if it is put away without being folded again.

      Some progress is better than nothing (even

      • Depends.

        I was a, but fan of my eee900 back in the day. It had a pretty small screen to the point that I did sometimes need to adapt my work style a bit (I used folding editors), but the advantage was I could use it on the road where space was limited. It folded out to full usability on a seatback train table on a train or even economy on a plane.

        The usability will depend a, lot on how good it is with the screen folded, I suspect.

    • My wife has a laptop with a little screen above the keyboard, and then a regular screen above the fold. Most times I've looked, she'd got nothing but the background picture on the little one, but hey...

      I guess if you have such a screen, then having it "seamlessly" join up with the main laptop screen could be considered useful. I'm fairly sure my OCD would kick in when windows extended beyond the fold, but maybe that's just me, or maybe I'd get used to it.

      Having said all that, with working from home what it

  • Who wants this? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wakeboarder ( 2695839 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:18PM (#63876343)
    I'm sure there are people that want this. All I see is something that is ready to break. I don't see why we should get so excited about a fold-able screen. A laptop still needs a keyboard. Yeah I could see this being useful for tablets, but is it really that hard to carry a tablet around? I don't get it.

  • Check the pictures (Score:5, Insightful)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:19PM (#63876345)

    You will notice that all images of those products go out of their way to hide the fucking CREASE IN THE MIDDLE.
    The devices are either:
    1. Semi-folded (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/listing-640x544.jpg)
    2. Open, but with a specially crafted background image to hide the crease (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/final-640x490.jpg)
    3. Almost open, but with the picture taken at an angle which hides the crease (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tall-640x853.jpg)

    I have a giant pet peeve regarding that crease, I saw it immediately when looking at foldable phones in showrooms and hated it right there.
    To be honest, a roll-able device would be much, MUCH cooler. Not a lot more useful, but at least it would have a cool factor.

    • You will notice that all images of those products go out of their way to hide the fucking CREASE IN THE MIDDLE.
      The devices are either:
      1. Semi-folded (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/listing-640x544.jpg)
      2. Open, but with a specially crafted background image to hide the crease (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/final-640x490.jpg)
      3. Almost open, but with the picture taken at an angle which hides the crease (https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tall-640x853.jpg)

      I have a giant pet peeve regarding that crease, I saw it immediately when looking at foldable phones in showrooms and hated it right there.
      To be honest, a roll-able device would be much, MUCH cooler. Not a lot more useful, but at least it would have a cool factor.

      Like the "Globals" in Earth: Final Conflict.

      I always thought those looked semi-practical.

      Here's the "Real Thing":

      https://earthfinalconflict.fan... [fandom.com]

      Here's a Fan-Replica:

      https://www.therpf.com/forums/... [therpf.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I think it makes a lot less sense on a PC - because laptops have been folding for 50+ years now and I see little reason to need a continuous screen that go through the fold.

      I mean, having a continuous screen go across the fold isn't terribly useful since the screen rarely lies flat, and I don't see much benefit being able to have a window go across the crease as being a highly useful feature.

      Multiple screens, sure, and many laptops have done that - from Lenovo's funky screen the pops out the side of the reg

    • Yep, the old style two screen with hinge worked fine ... ....foldable screens are a gimmick ... nothing more

  • That's not a foldable PC (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:20PM (#63876355)
    it's a tablet. If there's no keyboard then no, it's not a PC. Virtual keyboards don't count. They're a nightmare to type on because you don't have any tactile.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      There is nothing saying a tablet can't be a PC, folding or not. The lack of a permanently attached keyboard is not a deciding factor. If it was, most home computers wouldn't qualify as a PC. There is nothing stopping you from plugging in a keyboard/mouse, or using bluetooth.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dargaud ( 518470 )
        A PC (with Windows or Linux, I don't know about the Mac) is perfectly usable with only a keyboard for most tasks (no photoshop, okay). You don't need a mouse, a touchpad or a touchscreen when you know all the little shortcut keys. There's no such thing on a tablet OS. Sure you can type text but that's about it, you can't navigate the interfaces.

        • "when you know all the little shortcut keys"

          I guess we all need to spend hours learning those shortcuts for each and every app then. Computers are used by the masses now, and they aren't tech geeks who want to memorize hundreds of little tricks just to access email or work a basic spreadsheet.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Xenx ( 2211586 )
          When did I, or they, say anything about a tablet OS? They were trying to say a computer, one that runs Windows in this case, was a tablet and not a PC because it didn't have a keyboard.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Misagon ( 1135 )

      Agree about the laptop-sized ones. But I can't shut up about my Lenovo Yoga Tab 2 8" from 2015.

      Takes no space in my bag. It can actually be used with a proper wireless keyboard when I need one instead of a crappy built-in chiclet that would only waste space.

      16:10 275 PPI screen, SD-card reader, pen, built-in kickstand. Cost $200 when I bought it, which is.. eh. $250 today?
      And yeah, it runs a real operating system, not Android.
      Has worked well for eight years, until the WiFi failed two weeks ago. I'm going to

  • This simply won't become a thing because the form factor doesn't provide any usefulness at all. It may very well do a "3DTV" in that some companies will really push it hard, hoping it will catch on, but it will die soon after. The idea needs way more refinement. Foldable tablets, might be worth a look as they currently lack any kind of real protection of the screen that laptops have with the lid, but a laptop with a foldable screen just doesn't make much sense in the forms presented in the article.

  • Not any lighter (Score:3)

    by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:28PM (#63876389)

    I had a 13" laptop at work 10 years ago that weighed about the same, maybe a little less, including the keyboard.

    They give you a 12" screen and virtual keyboard for similar weight as a real laptop and I'm gunna guess that new tech costs more.

    I don't see the point.

  • You know I'll give benefit of the doubt (Score:3)

    by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:29PM (#63876393)

    Okay. I'm just going to bite my tongue on how bad an idea all of this is. I just went and looked at the pictures and. . . That one that folds up, it comically looks like an oversized folding phone. Like we might all remember the memes of the iPhone 43 being some eight foot tall four and a half inch wide device, and laughing at how comical it looked. That folding "laptop" just looks like someone looked at that meme and was like "BUT WHAT IF?!"

    I'm sure there is an audience for the devices. But it's going to be very difficult for me to see one in real life and not bust out laughing at it. It just straight up looks ridiculous, like they just eschewed all attempts to make it look like an actual computing device and was just like, "yeah take a Samsung fold phone and put it under a steamroller, that's what our final product should look like."

    I mean, you know, cool. Glad they go a neat new device out there.

  • I miss hardware gimmicks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Can'tNot ( 5553824 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @03:34PM (#63876415)
    Most of these unique hardware gimmicks were lost to me when I stopped using Windows. I like gimmicks, gimmicks can be fun, but they're useless without software support and these things are always closed and proprietary.

    I recently got a slightly unusual laptop, it has a rotary encoder on it. I'd love to play with that, but it does nothing unless I boot into Windows. All this folding stuff is much worse. There have been a bunch of folding phones for years now, not one of them is supported by LineageOS or, as far as I know, any other custom ROM. Useless.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 )

      There have been a bunch of folding phones for years now, not one of them is supported by LineageOS or, as far as I know, any other custom ROM. Useless.

      I think that is more about them coming with locked bootloaders. The Pixel Fold isn't locked, but also still relatively new. I did a quick look, and can at least find testing for GrapheneOS on the Pixel Fold. So, there is at least some work being done.

      • Well that's encouraging. I'm still not going to spend $1000 on a phone, but it's nice to have the option.
  • Folding is silly, just planned failure by design. If you could roll a screen up into something the size of an eyeglass case sort of like a pull down shade then maybe we will talk.

  • Interconnected fluid transition Smartphones, Tablets and Wallscreens are going to trump this, along with the interconnected peripherals such as input devices.

    That and those Snow Crash Metaverse goggles ... errrrm, ... sorry ... "Vision Pro" thingies coming up next.

    Foldscreen laptops I expect to remain niche. If at all.

  • For only 4.99 million, won. Might as well be dollars.

    Who wants to type on a hard, flat, surface?

    No one wants to carry around the various pieces that make up a laptop, only to assemble them when needed.

    If that thing is light enough to hold it in the middle like a magazine then the battery must be utterly useless.

  • Guess I'm in a serious minority... (Score:3)

    by bento ( 19178 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @04:37PM (#63876593) Homepage
    I've actually been looking forward to the next generation of the Lenovo X1 Fold. The main reason I've been interested in it is that it solves a very specific problem I have with my workflow. I do enough of a mix between tasks which benefit from a drawing tablet like screen and writing that having a device which can do both is valuable to me. The problem with most of the existing tables with their attached keyboards is that those are really uncomfortable to use when you're not at a desk. The kickstand design just doesn't work for me if I'm in bed, or propping the thing in my lap. But you get a nice drawing tablet. Though in the case of many of them the keyboard isn't bluetooth so if you want to use it for say keyboard short cuts while you draw... it's not so great. I also tried the Surface Book which worked better for the typing task, but still has the issue of the keyboard not being usable when detached from the display. The Lenovo looks like it might solve some of those issues since you can kind of combine things together to have a small laptop form factor when you're writing or a full drawing tablet plus attached keyboard when you want as well and that looks appealing to me. But as I said I'm probably in a serious minority here.
  • I had a foldable computer back in the early '00s. I played old DnD games on it.
    This is old tech.
  • I have yet to see a single foldable screen that didn't develop a noticeable crease within a fairly short amount of time. Owners of these devices either claim that they don't care or are in denial about how terrible it looks because they just want to be able to show off their trendy device. But ultimately, the LAST thing I want is an ugly crease right through the center of my screen...

  • This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of and these people spent hundreds of millions to billions of dollars on it.

    This is a consequence of the death of Moore's Law. It used to be that the rapid and inexorable improvement in the capacity of electronics all but forced consumers to purchase new devices every five to ten years. That presented a huge and renewable market for companies that let them grow huge. Now that the pace of improvement has slackened, people are waiting longer to upgrade; in effect, shr

  • ...The era of foldable PCs is just starting to unfold. Wake me when the hinge snaps and we go back to normal PCs.

  • The Gram Fold weighs 2.76 pounds (1,250g)

    So, 2.76 kg but that would draw attention to the misleading product name.

  • How about making a PC you can crumple up into a ball? Actually, I haven't even seen that on sci-fi. I'm patenting it.

  • Don't knock the additional display modes until you try them. Once you've used a tent mode, especially, there's no going back. The Yoga Book 9i is a lot more capable than these other offerings. Dual 2.8k screens is much more functional than even one large screen because it provides much higher resolution. The sound bar in the middle is no problem. Running two desktops is the 80% use case, the bar in the middle seems more natural.

  • ANY PC can be folded if you use enough force!

  • PCs keep getting smaller, but not much lighter. When will the first PC collapse into a black hole occur?

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