Yesterday Asus revealed its new foldable notebook in the form of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED just before IFA 2022 kicks off in earnest. Not to be outdone, Lenovo has also revealed a new foldable notebook, with its second generation ThinkPad X1 Fold.
This latest offering, which follows the 2020 iteration that failed to launch in South Africa, has seen improvements across the board being added.
To that end, Lenovo has increased the screen real estate by 22 percent to a 16.3″ (2560×2024) foldable OLED option. The chassis has also been slimmed down, with it 25 percent thinner than its predecessor at 17.4mm when folded.
Like the Asus device, the ThinkPad X1 Fold serves up a few different modes – classic clamshell with a 12″ main display, landscape at 16″, portait mode for reading or coding, a partly folded book mode and of course tablet mode.
To allow for a larger display and thinner chassis, Lenovo also had to do some serious engineering, designing a new hinge and improving the display’s durability.
“Over two hundred parts move synchronously within the hinge design to maximize display consistency and durability. A new display interface was developed, which folds the non-active area enhancing durability and enabling thinner bezels. The hybrid shutter frame was also redesigned with the multiple benefits of thinness, more room for antennas, and simplifying field servicing,” Lenovo explains in a press release regarding the new device.
In terms of what is powering the ThinkPad X1 Fold, it can be specced with up to Intel vPro with 12 Gen Intel Core U9 i5 or i7 Processors. Added to this is up to 32GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD, with Intel Xe graphics onboard.
Other notable elements include WiFi 6E connectivity and the ability to add 5G support, depending on the region. There is fingerprint and facial recognition for biometrics and a 48Whr battery powers the device via a USB Type-C port.
Now the big question of how much and when? No specific date is outlined by Lenovo, but the ThinkPad X1 Fold will be sold in selected regions in Q4 of this year, just like the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.
Unfortunately we do not have a local price just yet, but Stateside it will cost from $2 499 (~R42 879). If previous pricing is anything to go by, we could see this figure rise to the R70k mark for local customers, but we have contacted Lenovo South Africa to confirm pricing and availability.
