Easily one of the most exciting announcements in ages, Lenovo’s solar laptop concept is a laptop ready for tomorrow. And that’s not all.
Phone releases at Mobile World Congress may largely be what everyone expects the first big mobility conference to be about, but in recent years, that has begun to change. Mobility means lots of things, and while phones are definitely a big part of the mobile world, they are by no means the only part.
In recent years, we’ve also started to see laptops at MWC, escaping the usual CES launch cycle or mid-year Computex show with something often made to be different and inspiring at Spain’s big mobile announcement show, and this year is no different.
The company behind Motorola’s phones, Lenovo, is showing a vision of what laptops in the future could look like as more people embrace a renewable world.
Laptops for later as solar PCs become real
While most of the world has switched onto the idea that climate change is real, Lenovo is grappling with what it can do to make computers work better with changing approaches to power, showing off two concepts that could make computers easier on power grids.
The Yoga Solar PC and Solar Power Kit for its Yoga laptops are ideas designed to do just that: show off how computers could work in a world growing increasingly dependent on renewable energy.
Running solar panels at home and work will no doubt help to keep computers powered with energy harnessed by the sun, but recharging those laptops in the field is something Lenovo has shown could work with a specialised set of panels built into the laptop itself.
The technology relies on something called “Back Contact Cell” technology, which removes mounting brackets and allows the solar energy to be absorbed better on the laptop, powering the hardware to an even greater amount.
Apparently, it can even gain charge from overhead lighting, making it kind of like one of those solar-powered calculators from back in the day, but with more grunt underneath given that it’s a laptop.
According to Lenovo, 20 minutes of sunlight can power up to one hour of video playback, suggesting you’d need the laptop to get a good one hour sunbathing session for six hours of video in the 1.22kg solar Yoga laptop.
The idea is probably a long while off and may not make it out of being a proof of concept, but it’s not alone, with a solar panel concept for recharging Lenovo’s laptops also shown off, both inspiring what’s possible in laptops that could exist, though probably won’t for some time.
Much like last year’s transparent laptop shown at Mobile World Congress 2024, the solar laptop ideas are a vision of what could come, even if it might be a while off.
Laptops for now across several sizes
For now, what will come is different, with Lenovo also showing off new versions of its Yoga laptops across 14 and 16 inch sizes, and some editions of its more pro-grade ThinkPad X1 generations.
This year, the Lenovo laptops are called “Aura” editions, likely because they have some AI in them.
There’s a Yoga Pro with support for the latest generation of the Intel Core Ultra and support for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 in a 16 inch model, while the 14 inch pulls back on that discrete graphics chip option, keeping Intel Core Ultra hardware inside.
AMD models are also on the way in the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7, Yoga 7 and Yoga Slim 7, and there’s even a Snapdragon variation in the Slim 3X complete with a military spec’s “MIL-STD-810H” rating, in case you need that. If that sounds like a slightly more durable version of the Snapdragon-equipped Dell we saw last year, that could end up being exactly what it is.
Lenovo appears to have a range of options on the way, and not just in laptops, with an AI-computer-in-a-stick also on the cards, though pricing on that appears to be very much to be announced.
Meanwhile, Lenovo’s laptops will start at $1299 for the Snapdragon Slim 3X, from $1699 for the Yoga 7 range, and from $1999 for the Yoga Pro models this year.
