Yesterday Lenovo announced its new ThinkPad X1 Fold, a 13-inch tablet PC with a foldable OLED screen and an Intel processor.
Intel does not expect this to be only a passing fad. And precisely for this reason, the world processor giant has brought Horseshoe Bend, its folding PC concept to the CES2020. The goal is to provide inspiration for a completely new category of devices.
Horseshoe Bend, a seamless “horseshoe” computer
What is the biggest difference between the prototype presented by Intel and Lenovo's X1 Fold? First of all, the dimensions, truly remarkable. The OLED display of the concept has a diagonal of 4: 3 and when open it is 17,3 inches large. Proportions much closer to those of a traditional laptop and very, very comfortable.
A kickstand in the style of the Microsoft Surface completes the Horseshoe Band setup and allows you to take advantage of all screen sizes by pairing the PC with a wireless keyboard. Or using it with touch and nib, like a graphics tablet.
The most common operating mode is likely to be somewhat similar to a laptop where the content and user interface are placed both under the fingers and in front of the face.
Web pages seem to scroll endlessly: you can continue reading an article simply by swiping vertically.
Another use shown was video editing: there you can manipulate the timeline directly where the keyboard would normally be. If you want to play a video in full screen, simply rotate the display and use the tripod. If the on-screen keyboard doesn't do it for you, you can connect one wirelessly and everything runs smoothly.
Horseshoe Bend is built around Intel's new 10nm Tiger Lake architecture, which will ship in laptops later this year.
Tiger Lake comprises a chassis that is only 7mm thick and has no active cooling. It will be the ideal "companion" of the next Windows 10X which is already warming the dead at Microsoft.
Aesthetically delicious
Compared to the X1 folding, Horseshoe Bend obviously does not have the shape and finish of a device already on the market, but with its thinner frames and profile it also looks more elegant.
