Remember the ThinkPad Twist from 2012? It’s back in a bigger, badder, and better avatar.
Lenovo announced yet another addition to its ThinkBook Plus series that builds on the innovative line by introducing the ThinkBook Plus Twist, a dual-display hybrid laptop designed for SMB users. The ThinkBook Plus Twist comes with a traditional OLED display and a not-so-traditional color e-ink display on its back. The displays are connected to the base of the laptop by a 180° swivel hinge that lets you flip things over based on your need. The e-ink display also comes with tablet functionality and a stylus input, making it perhaps the most bizarrely beautiful versatile laptop from Lenovo in a decade!
Designer: Lenovo
Before we talk about the laptop’s specs, it’s important to realize who this laptop was designed for, and what it hopes to achieve. The laptop is a culmination of a lot of work on Lenovo’s part, following user feedback from prior ThinkBook Plus models. The e-ink display in the Plus Gen 2 was a great idea, and was therefore revived with the Twist, albeit with its own twist. The new e-ink display now measures 12 inches and comes with a 12Hz refresh rate and touch-glass. Right behind it sits a slightly larger 13.3-inch 2.8K OLED with touch capabilities too, although both displays have their own sets of merits. The OLED display serves as your primary monitor, allowing you to work, watch content, and browse the web. The e-ink display on the back, however, is for more relaxed viewing. It offers much less glare than the backlit OLED, giving you a comfortable experience that’s perfect for reading and even editing, thanks to stylus compatibility. The e-ink display also has a whopping 18-month battery life, so content displayed on it can be left intact for literal years.
What really unlocks the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Twist’s true potential is its ‘twist’ – the innovative hinge that connects the body and display units. The hinge lets you open and close your laptop, as well as swivel the screens up to 180°. This format lets you use both the OLED and e-ink display with the Plus Twist’s built-in keyboard or as a tablet when the laptop’s shut with the display of your choice facing outwards. Lenovo mentions that power users can toggle the e-ink display in either “typewriter” laptop mode or “e-paper” tablet mode
allowing them to easily draft, edit and proofread documents via the keyboard or the pen.
To finally address the ThinkBook Plus Twist’s specs, the laptop has Intel’s 13th Gen Core processors on the inside. You’ve got up to 16Gb of DDR5X RAM, and up to 1Tb of SSD storage on the device. The laptop sports 2 Thunderbolt USB-C ports along with a 3.5mm jack, and has Wi-Fi6 and Bluetooth 5.1 built-in along with fingerprint-unlock. There’s a 56Wh battery on the inside, although Lenovo hasn’t mentioned how much use time it gives the ThinkBook Twist Plus. You can rest assured knowing that the e-ink display has virtually negligible energy consumption, and will run for weeks and months even when your laptop battery’s on low power, giving you the ability to be productive even when the going gets tough. That’s the gist of the Twist! The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Twist will start at $1649 and is expected to be available starting June 2023.
