You’ve never seen a laptop like this — I guarantee it.
At IFA 2024, Lenovo showed off what might be the most fascinating laptop of the year so far — the Lenovo Auto Twist PC. It’s just a proof of concept, but it introduces some really fun ideas into the world of laptops.
For starters, the laptop can open and close its lid with a voice command, with the user simply saying “Hey Twist, open lid.” You have to be standing in front of the device, but the voice command works quite well if you do. From there, you’ll see that the “twist” aspect of the laptop comes into play, meaning that the display can rotate almost 180 degrees. Again, this can be controlled by voice by simply saying, “Hey Twist, enter tablet mode.” This would rotate the screen around and the close the lid flat.
One of the most interesting demos was the “Free Move” option, which would follow you around the room using the camera. It doesn’t currently use face tracking though, so if someone else steps into the frame, it chooses one face to follow. This seems particularly useful if you’re moving around while talking, such as in a boardroom or classroom — or perhaps even to use as a teleprompter while being able to move freely. More than that, though, it’s just neat.
Lastly, Lenovo showed off a panorama photo demo that could use the twisting hinge and webcam to take a panoramic photo, which is then stitched together using AI. It has some other interesting features such as closing the lid automatically when the device is unattended.
Yes, it’s a little gimmicky, but I came away impressed at how well the tech demos worked. The commands don’t have to match exactly, and the demo even worked in multiple languages. There are still some kinks and bugs, such as the fact that there sometimes a small gap when trying to close the lid manually. The screen itself also felt a bit wobbly on the center rotating hinge.
Lenovo is no stranger to experimentation in laptops. In fact, we’ve even seen a Lenovo laptop that can spin around in the ThinkBook Plus Twist. The swiveling hinge is reused here, but to much more impressive ends.
As this is a proof of concept, there’s no guarantee Lenovo will actually release this device. Then again, the company has a proven track record for actually bringing experimental devices to market, so here’s to hoping this isn’t the last time we see this interesting laptop.
