• The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold hybrid PC. [credit: Lenovo ]


Ars at CES 2020


View more storiesLet's talk about the look and feel of the device first: final images of the ThinkPad X1 Fold look nearly identical to the prototype we saw last year. It's a 13-inch tablet with chunky black bezels that measures 7.8mm thick when laid flat and 27.8mm thick when folded. Weighing less than 2.2 pounds, it's not a particularly svelte device when compared to other flagship laptops and tablets, but it's not cumbersome, either. When opened, the prototype device I spent a few minutes with felt like a slightly thicker-than-usual tablet, and while the thick bezels are jarring to look at, they serve a purpose on a device that's meant to be moved and folded often.
The final display on the ThinkPad X1 Fold is a 13.3-inch, 2048×1536, pOLED panel with a 4×3 aspect ratio that Lenovo partnered with LG to include on the device. Since this device falls under the ThinkPad umbrella, Lenovo made a point to emphasize that the Fold has been put through the usual ThinkPad durability tests in addition to folding cycle tests. Supporting the foldable display is a multi-link torque hinge that Lenovo developed to make the opening and closing of the Fold as seamless as possible.
Lenovo is billing the ThinkPad X1 Fold as a device for those who frequently use a laptop, tablet, and smartphone and want a device that can combine some of the features of all of those devices into one. You can use the device as if it were any one of those devices—it acts as a tablet or a large smartphone when open, or as a makeshift laptop when folded in a 90-degree angle (there's an integrated kickstand on the back to better support it in this laptop-esque mode).

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