I used Lenovo’s new auto-opening laptop, and it was absurdly wonderful

2 months ago 47

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

Lenovo is no stranger to bizarre concept laptops. Just this year, at CES 2024, it developed a fully transparent laptop, complete with a see-through display. It was ludicrous and basically unusable, but still a ton of fun to see in real life. Now, at IFA 2024, Lenovo has yet another concept machine, which it’s calling the Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC — and I got to try it out.

As its name suggests, the Auto Twist AI PC automatically twists. There’s a swivel hinge connecting the keyboard deck to the display that allows you to raise and twist the screen in lots of different directions. But you don’t need to use your hands, because an AI assistant can move the hinge for you. Yes, you are essentially telling your laptop to open and close, and it responds in kind. Practical? No. Fun as hell? Yes.

Before I get into my experience with this gadget, let me be clear that this is most definitely a concept device, as in there are no intentions to manufacture it at scale and sell it to consumers. However, Lenovo has eventually brought some of its harebrained ideas on concept machines to market, so there is a non-zero chance this could make it a consumer laptop at some point. Just don’t get your hopes up.

My experience with the Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC

When you first look at the Auto Twist AI PC, it looks like a fairly standard Windows laptop. The swivel hinge is a bit unique, but nothing we haven’t seen before. But then you start talking to the laptop, and that’s when the magic happens.

To get the laptop to automatically open, close, or swivel, you just need to say 'Hi' to it.

There are four voice commands you can issue:

Hi Twist, open lid: The laptop will automatically open to a standard 90-degree angle
Hi Twist, close lid: Same as above, but the opposite
Hi Twist, tablet mode: The laptop display will open and then spin 180 degrees so the screen is facing backward and then clasp down onto the keyboard, making it work like a tablet
Hi Twist, laptop mode: Brings it out of tablet mode and back to a standard clamshell laptop

When I issued these commands, the laptop responded nearly instantaneously. I was impressed. Some other folks trying it out, though, didn’t have my luck. The voice library it’s trained on must be quite small, as anyone with a non-US accent faced issues. However, I had no problems.

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

Watching the laptop open up is one of those things that you know, as it’s happening, is stupid, but you can’t help but love it anyway. I can imagine my 12-year-old self thinking this was the absolute peak of technology — being able to walk into a room and have my laptop just open up as if it was saying “Good morning.” Totally rad. I can also imagine my adult self feeling pretty fancy by replacing my usual “aggressively slam laptop shut on Friday” action with a much more refined, “Hi Twist, close lid,” as I softly leave the room.

Even though this might seem like a useless thing for a laptop to do, it could be a real accessibility win for those who lack fine motor skills.

Joking aside, though, I could see this being of real benefit to people with certain impairments. Anyone who struggles with the fine motor function needed to open a laptop might really appreciate being able just to ask it to open. Lenovo could be on an accessibility win here.

Regardless, even if you think this is just over-engineering to a new extreme, Lenovo did come up with one additional feature that everyone should appreciate.

It was terrific watching the lid follow me

Ok, so we know the lid can open, close, and twist on its own. Cool, but useless, right? Well, Lenovo didn’t just come up with this Auto Twist system and then call it a day. It took things one step further by creating a nifty following mode that not only worked well but also seemed to be something I could genuinely use in my life.

What happens here is that the built-in webcam will auto-track your face. As you move from side to side in your room, the Auto Twist system will swivel the laptop screen in response. In other words, if you’re pacing around the room during a video call, the camera will always be on you. Genius!

Lenovo also built a following system that moves the laptop display to match your movements during video calls.

Of course, we’ve already seen this feature on things like iPads and the Google Nest Hub Max. But those work through digital manipulation of the webcam image, not physical movement of the camera. I could see this feature being a godsend for fidgety presenters or people who enjoy multitasking by doing video calls while they cook dinner.

What’s most important, though, is that it worked incredibly well for just being a concept machine. If I moved really fast and intentionally tried to fake it out, it would lose me, but if I just paced side to side like a normal person might do during a video chat, it stayed locked on me the entire time.

I didn’t have enough time to put this through some real paces (such as turning my head around, exiting the frame and coming back in, etc.), but it doesn’t really matter since it’s just a concept. The important thing is that it’s a great idea, and it worked perfectly fine as an example of what Lenovo could do.

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

Would you buy the Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC?

After my brief time with the Auto Twist AI PC, I walked away loving it. I’m sure it would cost a lot more money than I’d be willing to spend for it, but if that wasn’t an issue, I’d happily buy a laptop with this feature, assuming it didn’t mean losing out on other features on which I rely.