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Lenovo Unveils Laptop With Second, Smaller Screen Next to Keyboard

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3

By Rain Noe - January 14, 2022

in Tech

Here's another experimental laptop design, not quite as weird as Asus' folding-screen machine. Lenovo has announced the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3, a 17" laptop that has an additional and portrait-oriented 8" screen right next to the keyboard.

The unusual layout means the upper screen has a 21:10 aspect ratio.

The lower screen "supports many productivity apps and phone syncing and content mirroring," the company writes. "It also lets you easily duplicate or extend the primary display."

"The 8" LCD display also has useful time-saving apps, widgets, and an express app launcher. In a Teams meeting, you can jot down your idea on the smaller screen, mirror it to the main display, and share it with others instantly. You can also stream videos on the main screen while editing timelines on the secondary screen. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 laptop makes multitasking easy and beats tabbing through applications hands down."

Lenovo says the Gen 3's 70Whr battery is good enough to power both screens long enough for you to "work through the day uninterrupted."

As with Asus's new laptop, pricing and release dates have not yet been announced. Tech specs are here.

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Anthony Towers

2 years ago

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Apple tried and failed with the macbook pro touch bar

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John Whitley

2 years ago

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Wow, and I thought old school Logitech was the worst offender in the “Left-handers NEED NOT EXIST” category. But with this, Lenovo is finally poised to wrest that title away.

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- Dee An
  
  John Whitley
  
  2 years ago
  
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  Lenovo made a mobile workstation a few years ago which had a Wacom digitiser to the right of the keyboard. It also had a secondary monitor that slid out from the right of the primary display.
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Ale C.

2 years ago

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Great, a touch screen where I can frequently graze it with my palm and forearm while I type. I often use my phone and laptop together, but I can't say I've ever put the latter directly next to the keyboard. I can't see the point of this, it seems more representative of the low cost of screens, than of a useful innovation. It's like when LEDs got cheap, so everything had to have a light.

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- Dee An
  
  Ale C.
  
  2 years ago
  
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  You can see it as a screen, but it also serves as a graphics tablet. Many people choose to use a stylus instead of a mouse to avoid RSI. This isn't Lenovo's first laptop with a digitiser to the right of the keyboard, either.
  Adobe make an app that places MacOS Photoshop tool palettes on to iOS touch devices... so the concept of using a phone as a desktop OS input device isn't as strange as you might think.
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