I went hands-on with Lenovo's auto-swiveling laptop at IFA 2024, and it's quite the spectacle

Lenovo just unveiled a handful of new laptops with novel features ahead of IFA 2024 in Berlin, but one of the coolest is its new Auto Twist concept on its new line of 13-inch Intel ThinkBooks. We've all seen "convertible" laptops that allow the screen to fold all the way back -- this feature takes it a step further by enabling the screen to rotate horizontally in either direction, as well. 

This means you can flip your screen around 180 degrees to show it to someone sitting directly opposite of you with the keyboard in place, then fold it back completely to turn the laptop into a tablet.  

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Even more impressive is the voice activation feature, which prompts the laptop to open and close the screen on its own. If you say, "Hey Twist, open laptop," for example, the clamshell cheerfully opens up. Conversely, saying "close laptop" closes the screen no matter its configuration. Saying "tablet mode" will rotate the screen to become a proper tablet, and "laptop mode" switches it back. Seeing it for yourself.

There are also some interesting integrations with the laptop's camera. For example, if you're using the laptop for a video call or giving a presentation, the display "locks on" to your face and will auto-rotate to stay facing you, with a maximum horizontal rotation of 270 degrees. 

I recently had a chance to experience the new Auto Twist feature at a Lenovo product demo, and the idea as a proof of concept is impressive in the sense that I couldn't help but think, "I'm surprised no one's thought of this before." 

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In practice, however, I wonder about its usefulness. Opening and closing the lid is hardly the most challenging thing you can do on a laptop, especially because it's much faster to do it yourself. When it opens and closes on its own, it does so very carefully, and while the motion is mostly smooth, there's some screen wobble as it rotates into position.

Perhaps more useful is the laptop's ability to close the display on its own after a designated period of inactivity. This means you can walk away from your laptop and return to find it closed and locked, a handy security feature.  

I was also curious about the logistics involved with this and couldn't help but ask what would happen if you push the screen open while it's trying to close or vice versa. Luckily, because there are no gears involved, nothing will be damaged if you force the screen in either direction. 

If the laptop meets resistance, it simply stops moving, and you can rotate and move the display on your own. Conversely, the other scenario that comes to mind is if the laptop decides to open up on its own somehow. We've all experienced a voice-activated device that takes on a life of its own (Alexa, I'm looking at you), so what if it's in your bag and it decides to flip open?

First, Lenovo says the laptop won't respond to voice controls if it's off or asleep, obviously, and if it meets any sort of resistance, it will stop moving. Hopefully this prevents spontaneous backpack deployments, though with any early technology, we'll have to wait and see to be sure. 

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The micro motor is integrated into the single hinge in the center of device and is what Lenovo is calling the dual degree of freedom automatic rotate system (DARS), with an estimated life cycle of at least 20,000 rotations.

While the swiveling laptop itself is still a concept, the Auto Twist AI feature will be available on Lenovo's Intel line of 13-inch ThinkBooks with Intel Core Ultra 7 processors sometime this fall.