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You might be surprised to learn that the first laptop with built-in solar panels is nearly 15 years old. But to me, the bigger shock is that with all the recent advancements in photovoltaic cells, manufacturers havent revisited this idea more often. But at MWC 2025, Lenovo is changing that with its Yoga Solar PC Concept. Weighing 2.6 pounds and measuring less than 0.6 inches thick, the Yoga Solar PC Concept is essentially the same size as a standard 14-inch clamshell. And because its underlying design isnt all that different from Lenovos standard Yoga family, it doesnt skimp on specs either. It features an OLED display, up to 32GB of RAM, a decent-sized 50.2 WHr battery and even a 2MP IR webcam for use with Windows Hello. However, all those components arent nearly as important as the solar cells embedded in its lid. Lenovo says the panels use Back Contact Cell technology so that its mounting brackets and gridlines can be placed on the rear of the cells. This allows the panels to offer up to 24 percent solar energy conversion, which is pretty good as that matches the efficiency you get from many high-end home solar systems. Furthermore, the PC also supports Dynamic Solar Tracking to automatically adjust the cells settings to maximize the amount of energy they can gather. Lenovo says this means the Yoga Solar PC can generate enough juice to play an hour of videos after only 20 minutes in the sun. But what might be more impressive is that even when the laptop is indoors, it can still harvest power from as little as 0.3 watts of light to help top off its battery. Finally, to help you understand how much power it's gathering, Lenovo created a bespoke app to track how much light the panels absorb. Unfortunately, Lenovo doesnt have any plans to turn this concept into a full commercial device. But after playing around with it, I was pleasantly surprised to see how solid and sturdy its chassis felt. Unlike a lot of prototype devices, the Yoga Solar PC Concept doesnt feel like that much of a stretch technologically compared to other notebooks on sale today. Its PV cells sit safely behind a sheet of glass (or possibly plastic, Lenovo wouldnt confirm which one) while also adding a bit of distinctive visual flair. However, the biggest hurdle (and possibly a big reason why we havent seen more laptops like this) is that for people who want to use solar panels to charge their devices, its probably easier and more versatile to rely on a standalone solar array instead of something built-in to the gadget itself. Regardless, Lenovos Yoga Solar PC is a surprisingly polished concept that Id love to see get more attention in the future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/the-lenovo-solar-pc-concept-feels-like-a-device-whose-time-has-come-230022723.html?src=rss
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The ThinkBook line has sort of become Lenovos de facto testing ground for far-out ideas and ambitious concepts. See the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable we saw just a couple months ago at CES. But at MWC 2025, the company is pushing things further than ever through the new ThinkBook 16p Gen 6 and four of its display accessories which range from practical add-ons to something thats more like a Tamagotchi. The ThinkBook 16P powering all of Lenovos crazy concept accessories isnt all that different from the company's previous 16-inch workstations. It sports up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 2785HX chip with as much as 64GB of RAM, 2TB of PCIe storage and an NVIDIA RTX 5070 GPU. You get the choice of either a 3.2K IPS display with a 165Hz refresh rate or a slightly lower-res 2.5K IPS panel with a faster 240Hz refresh. Theres also plenty of connectivity including dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, three USB-A jacks, a full-size HDMI 2.1 and a card reader. Lenovo's Magic Bay 2nd Display Concept attached to the ThinkBook 16p Gen 6. Sam Rutherford for Engadget One interesting addition is that Lenovo included a discrete NPU (separate from its main chip) that offers up to 32 TOPS of additional performance. This should provide a nice boost, particularly for anyone who needs to run demanding AI tasks locally. That said, for the rest of us lay folk, its largely unnecessary. However, the real spectacle is Lenovos assortment of accessories. They all connect to the ThinkBook 16P using the companys Magic Bay docking system, which was first introduced to this product family a couple generations ago. For people who constantly yearn for extra space to multitask while traveling, Lenovo has two add-ons to choose from. The Magic Bay 2nd Display Concept is a small 8-inch screen that attaches magnetically to the ThinkBook 16P. It can be used simply as an external monitor or as an AI dashboard that displays widgets, messaging apps and other tools. On the flipside, the Magic Bay Dual Display Concept adds not one but two additional 13.3-inch panels that flank the notebooks primary screen, giving you a huge amount of real estate for pretty much anything. In addition to using the laptops mounting system, this prototype also features a built-in kickstand to help keep the whole contraption stable. This is important because while it is rather complicated compared to most accessories, once you get everything set up, it really does a good job of recreating the multi-monitor workstations people have at home or in their office. Lenovo Magic Bay Tiko Pro Concept displayLenovo As for Lenovos remaining two concepts, they are so new the company wasnt able to show them off during my preview session. The Tiko Pro Concept looks like an even more streamlined take on 2nd Display, as its a slim panel with an extra-wide aspect ratio thats meant to sit across the top of the laptops display, sort of like an external notification shade. Meanwhile, the non-pro Tiko Concept is a circular screen that houses an AI companion with its own set of emoji-based faces, gesture-based responses and more. In case thats not enough, Lenovo even teased a cat-themed headband that adds little ears to your robotic friend. At this point, you may be asking how the Tiko is supposed to increase your productivity? And for that, I can only guess that having a friendly face around might boost your mood and thus improve your productivity. Or at the very least, it could be a more charming way of seeing stuff like Slack reactions. Honestly, I have no idea, and Im not sure Lenovo does either. Now I have to stress again that all of these accessories are concepts, so theres no guarantee that theyll ever officially go on sale. Lenovo says they are merely prototypes meant to help expand and explore how its Magic Bay docking system could be used in the future. But in a time when so many PC makers seem to be having trouble thinking up ways to innovate, its clear Lenovo isnt being shy about thinking outside the box. Sadly, the ThinkBook 16P Gen 6 is not slated to be available in North America, but for those in Europe and Asia, keep an eye out for it to go on sale sometime this spring or summer.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/lenovo-gave-its-latest-16-inch-thinkbook-a-bevy-of-funky-concept-screen-accessories-230008238.html?src=rss
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I love a game that screams things like neato! and godlike! while Im feverishly pressing buttons and darting my eyes around the screen, trying to make my fingers work as fast as my brain. My skills in the Playdate game XTRIS are definitely not godlike, but theres just something about that classic arcade announcer voice that makes me think each time, this is the one where Ill finally crack the leaderboard. (It never is). XTRIS is a $3 game by Fletch Makes Stuff thatll have you chasing a moving X around a board made up of either four, five or six tiles. The timers set to 60 seconds, and in that time you have to land on the X as many times as possible. Each X you collect will go tumbling dramatically off the grid and be added to your score, which is faintly displayed in the background. If it sounds easy, its not. The X moves fast, and as you race after your target using the D-pad to control the movement of a black square, things become increasingly intense. The music builds like an alarm thats telling you time is almost up, and flames start shooting up from the bottom of the screen. All the while, the announcer (voiced by Jordan Carroll) is shouting words of encouragement that start to feel a little ominous by the end. Its wonderfully chaotic. Despite the relatively simple presentation, XTRIS really lives up to its promise of being a juicy arcade action directly into the palm of your hand. For each of the three levels Tetromino, Bridge and Squiggle youll be able to see how other players scored, and how you stack up against them. And once youve played a certain level a few times, youll be shown your own score trends to see how youre improving (or plateauing). I keep telling myself, just one more try when I finish a round, and we all know how that goes. Theres a Zen Mode for each level as well, so you can work on your dexterity without the time crunch and with a chiller track playing. If you poke around in the menu, you can also find some unlockable characters and symbols to switch up the appearance of the game, swapping the X for something like a frog or a slice of pizza. XTRIS is available on the Playdate Catalog now for $3.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xtris-is-a-fast-paced-arcade-style-playdate-game-you-wont-be-able-to-put-down-224738429.html?src=rss
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