We headed to the Catalan capital for the annual release-fest of all things mobile, from phones to tablets to AI PCs
Lenovo Project Crystal
PRICENot confirmed AVAILABILITY Proof-of-concept only
I’m not sure anyone ever asked “What if I could look through my laptop’s display?”, but regardless, Lenovo has created a laptop with a transparent display. And it’s really rather cool.
Dubbed Project Crystal, this concept laptop uses a transparent micro-LED panel fitted between two panes of Gorilla Glass to equip the machine with a screen that you can see through as if it were just a rectangle of pure glass. And despite this, the icons and windows on the display were still crisp and clear.
It’s been designed with the idea of creating “a more collaborative laptop experience”, enabling users to see other people when they’re also looking at the screen, instead of being hidden behind it. There are also AI-powered AR options thanks to an outward-facing webcam on the laptop’s rear.
I don’t expect to see a bunch of Lenovo laptops with transparent screens in the near future, but this is an intriguing glimpse of where computer screens could go next. And how they might evolve into something that almost blends into the environment rather than sticking out. LANCE ULANOFF
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 series
PRICET14 Gen 5, from €1,349; T14s Gen 5, from €1,449; T16 Gen 3, from €1,369 from lenovo.com/uk (all prices exc VAT)
AVAILABILITY April to June 2024
Never mind transparent laptop screens: let’s get practical and talk about Lenovo’s biggest innovation of MWC 2024, namely a truly repairable ThinkPad. Yes, it’s true that easy-to-replace batteries were commonplace 20 years ago, but not in such sleek laptops as the T14, T14s and T16. All three machines have been made far more repairable thanks to an ongoing partnership with iFixit, taking the T14 from a 7.3/10 rating two years ago to 9.3/10 for this G5 version. You can also easily replace the ports (other than Thunderbolt), speakers, the touchpad, the screen, the keyboard and the SSD. Memory is soldered on the slimline T14s, but replaceable on the other two models, and Lenovo says it’s working on making the cooling system replaceable in the future. TIM DANTON
Honor MagicBook Pro 16 (2024)
PRICE To be confirmed
AVAILABILITY To be confirmed
This is the most compelling AI PC I’ve yet seen. That’s because it hits the holy trinity: an
