Sometimes people fail to realise is there are 3 types of laptop users: the business folk, the gamers and the casual users.

For the Enterprise market, Lenovo and every other vendor already provide  sturdy workhorse laptops, and it is a saturated market out there with fierce competition - in fact, the trend for lighter aluminium-frame laptops for business users is actually impacting durability as business folk tend to commute and travel a lot, but hey, maybe that's what the laptop manufacturers want so they can sell iterative upgrades more often.

For the gaming market, Lenovo, ASUS, HP, Dell & MSI lead the pack with gaming-focused powerhouse laptops that are great for gaming but actually too heavy and pricey to be lugged around, but hey even hardcore/casual gamers want some portable options for gaming with friends at a LAN party or while travelling for work or leisure. A gaming laptop can also easily handle every other demand thrown at it, including CAD/CAM work, video/audio editing & conversion, multimedia playback, etc..

But for the casual users, the laptop market is a mess. The ultra-portable laptops (like the cute & venerable Sony Viao) got superseded by the MacBook Air, Chromebook and other lightweight laptops. But they are either too underpowered or weak (especially in terms of CPU and ports) that they are not adequate in the long term for wider range of usage. All-in-one have the same problem, and have the additional hindrance of being rooted to a spot, though their larger screens and smaller footprints have been embraced by niche segments like cybercafes, shops and kiosks.

So what does a casual user do when he/she wants to do some heavy duty work on the ultra-portable lappy, or what does a heavy duty business worker or gamer do when all they want is some casual browsing or other fluffy work?

They try the laptop-cum-tablet options in the market, and come away disappointed. Due to the cumbersome and underpowered nature of those gadgets, which serve neither casual nor hardcore users well.

So is the Thinkpad X1 foldable laptop the manna from heaven for such users? It does look promising! Note that a hardcore user can easily connect an external keyboard & mouse to this new gadget and use it like an AIO, while a casual user can just use it like a large tablet.

If Lenovo ensures the foldable X1's CPU & other innards are not compromised, and if the sturdiness is confidence invoking, and if Lenovo prices it right, then Lenovo have a veritable market revolution on their hands.

The only reason i'm buying Thinkpads for years is the trackpoint, and the Linux support. Let me tell you i am absolutely not excited by that foldable tablet. My Thinkpad X1 tablet first gen with Ubuntu Linux is fantastic. Light, nice keyboard, 3/2 screen ratio. Ubuntu is working like a charm and is a joy to use.
I'm not against foldable screens but, in my opinion, they shouldn't try foldable screens with the Thinkpad line.

thank you for your article and kudos to notebookcheck.

Quote from: xpclient on November 22, 2019, 09:22:52
Pointless without physical keyboard. It's a just-because-it-can-be-done-we-did-it device.

Yeah I thought of how they were gonna fit a physical keyboard but turns out they're not fitting one. At least "Thinkpad" is finally true to its name  :)

Its a tablet. Nothing more. They will break in no time.

Pointless without physical keyboard. It's a just-because-it-can-be-done-we-did-it device.