Lenovo announces ultrawide laptop with extra screen | GeekComparison

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Promotional image of new notebook computer.
enlarge † Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3.

While most laptops still use the 16:9 aspect ratio, we’ve seen many companies embrace higher and higher aspect ratios in recent years. Lenovo, which also plays with 16:10 laptop screens in other emerging machines, takes a broader approach. At CES this week, it announced a laptop with an ultrawide display. Oh, and it also has a second screen next to the keyboard.

Lenovo says the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 is the first machine to use a 17.3-inch 21:10 display. We’ve seen ultrawide laptops before, but laptops with screens wider than 16:9 are incredibly rare these days.

Toshiba tried to make something of it in 2012. The company’s 21:9 Toshiba U845W laptop promised a superior experience for watching movies (at least movies shot in the same aspect ratio) and multitasking. More recently, Acer’s 2017 Predator 21 X used the 21:9 aspect ratio and a unique curve to claim the ultimate gaming immersion (again with supported titles).

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3’s ultra-wide display is a pretty solid IPS. It has a resolution of 3072 x 1440, a fast refresh rate of 120 Hz, up to 400 nits of brightness and a steep 100 percent DCI-P3 color claim.

The screen delivers a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent.
enlarge † The screen delivers a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent.

Lenovo

With the third iteration of its ThinkBook Plus, Lenovo is targeting small and medium-sized businesses and the associated juggling tasks. While larger screens are great for reading long documents and spreadsheets, a wider screen gives you room to place more windows side by side. And Lenovo pointed out that Windows 11 generally makes this easier than it used to be.

The ultra-wide screen also generally results in an ultra-wide machine (it’s 16.14 inches tall). This allowed Lenovo to even place a secondary screen on the laptop’s deck Lake multitasking.

The wider form factor allows a second screen to fit next to the keyboard.
enlarge † The wider form factor allows a second screen to fit next to the keyboard.

Lenovo

The 8-inch touchscreen is similar to Asus’ ScreenPad technology that turns the touchpad of some laptops into a touchscreen. Lenovo highlighted a mix of uses for its 800 x 1280 LCD, from a calculator, notepad and calendar to displaying a live feed, such as a stock tracker. The small screen can display a gallery of thumbnails while you work in PhotoShop, or you can write on them with the pen in the back of the deck.

You can make notes on the extra screen with the included stylus.
enlarge † You can make notes on the extra screen with the included stylus.

Lenovo

A very long document could start on the primary screen of the upcoming clamshell and transition to the secondary screen. You could also use the 8-inch screen to store frequently used app launchers. In addition, Lenovo pointed to the screen as a way to mirror your smartphone. Again, this is aimed at SMBs that have a lot to do.

Lenovo calls this color Storm Gray.
enlarge † Lenovo calls this color Storm Gray.

Lenovo

In terms of specs, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 has a 12th-generation Intel Core I-series CPU, 32GB of dual-channel LPDDR5 RAM, and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. Lenovo gave it two USB-C ports, including one Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port and an audio jack.

Lenovo said the dual-display PC will cost $1,399 when it comes out in May.

List image by Lenovo

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