This means that when the Yoga Solar PC is sitting closed on a desk, it can juice itself up—no wires needed. It can recharge in ambient lighting, though you’ll get better results with natural light. Lenovo says its “Back Contact Cell” technology moves the mounting brackets and gridlines of the solar panel to the back, maximizing light absorption. This is also paired with the Dynamic Solar Tracking system, which supposedly measures the solar panels’ current and voltage to prioritize sending solar power to the system. Twenty minutes in the sun will net you up to one hour of video playback, and it can even generate some power in low light, sustaining the battery when the PC is idle.
This isn’t the world’s first solar-powered laptop—that would be the Samsung NC215S from 2011—but because Lenovo’s Yoga Solar PC is 15 millimeters thin, the company is going ahead and calling it the “world’s first ultraslim solar-powered PC.”
Magic Bay
Finally, we get to Lenovo’s accessory concepts. These accessories leverage the company’s modular Magic Bay ecosystem, which currently exists for ThinkBook laptops. Right now, you can attach various accessories like a webcam or a 4G hot spot to the Magic Bay, which is situated at the center top of the laptop’s lid.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
But the new concepts are all about adding more displays. There’s the Magic Bay Dual Display Concept, which adds two 13.3-inch 2.8K 120-Hz LCD screens flanking around your ThinkBook’s primary screen. A kickstand on the back makes sure the weight of the accessory doesn’t pull your laptop screen the other way. This concept is hardly new—portable monitors that attach to the laptop have been around for some time, though their popularity has skyrocketed recently. Lenovo’s solution folds down so that it’s fairly thin when you stow it.
There’s also the Magic Bay 2nd Display Concept, which is a much smaller 8-inch screen designed for placing a messaging app or getting quick access to productivity tools. It’s cute and tiny, and perhaps much more sensible for frequent fliers—you won’t piss off your seatmate when you pull this out on the flight.
Lenovo made several other announcements at the show, like its new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6, which is one of its lightest laptops at just 2.05 pounds (0.933 kilograms). I held this in my hand, and it did not feel like I was holding a laptop at all. The company also says its new T-series laptops, which include the likes of the 2-in-1 ThinkPad T14s and T16, are more repairable than ever with replaceable batteries.