Credit: Lenovo

Lenovo has proven again that it isn’t content with PC designs. The latest era of laptops has been focused on ultralight computers that are easy to transport, but they're hard to differentiate. However, Lenovo’s continual experimentation has brought us some unique laptop releases and concepts in recent years, including a laptop with a screen that expands by rolling, a laptop with an outward folding screen, laptops with foldable screens, and laptops with dual 14-inch displays.

The ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept laptop shown off today at the IFA conference in Berlin continues this exploration with a screen that you can swivel into and out of portrait mode.

Concept laptop

The VertiFlex PC demoed is a prototype. Lenovo doesn't have any plans to release the laptop and hasn't provided further details, like the components used in the prototype. That said, Lenovo has previously turned concepts into real products, such as the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable.

Lenovo demoed a laptop that is 0.7 inches thick and weighs 3.06 pounds while carrying a 14-inch display. Its mobile screen relies on a central pivot point. It also uses a hinge behind the screen that the user can’t see but that serves as “a horizontal track” that helps to move the screen to the side, PCMag reported.

Another hinge lifts the screen up and toward the user. The display’s upward movement is meant to prevent the bottom corner of the display from making contact with the computer during rotation.

Videos of the VertiFlex show the panel appearing like a normal clamshell laptop when first opened. But then, a grasp of a corner of the screen appears to allow a user to rotate the display easily and smoothly counterclockwise. Once the screen’s fully rotated into portrait mode, the image adjusts accordingly.

Underneath the rotating panel is a “soft, felt-covered backplate,” PCMag reported. I can see this being jarring in a real computer. The textures of felt or other fabrics are uncommon on machines and can result in this part of the computer standing out in an unwelcome fashion. The black felt, however, could eventually fade into the background, depending on the user’s perception.

Lenovo suggested that people could use the felt space to place a smartphone for mirroring with the PC via its Software Connect software; however, that feature requires a Lenovo Motorola phone.

Lenovo suggested other potential use cases for the unique screen in its press release, including “split-screen multitasking, displaying code, and reviewing documents.”

Lenovo’s latest concept laptop continues the OEM’s yearslong exploration of PC screens that adapt to the different ways that people use PCs. I’m skeptical about the use of felt in a laptop, which would likely be thousands of dollars if ever released as a consumer product. A laptop like the VertiFlex would also have to prove that it has a durable pivoting point and can support a lot of spinning over years of use. Still, Lenovo is contemplating ways to offer versatile screens without relying on bending, warping OLED screens that can suffer from reflections, glare, visible creases, or clunky motors.

For those who like to see laptop screen display ideas that don’t rely on bendy OLED, the VertiFlex is the type of concept that makes you wonder why we haven’t seen it earlier.