Leaker shares Lenovo's radical new concepts: a laptop with a screen that rotates into portrait, and an AI-powered notebook stand

• A couple of Lenovo's concept products have been leaked on X
• One is a laptop with a screen that rotates into portrait mode
• The other is a self-adjusting laptop stand that seemingly uses AI to position the notebook for optimal ergonomics

Lenovo is apparently set to show off a new concept laptop at the IFA show next week which features a screen that can be rotated into a portrait position, along with an innovative laptop stand.

As The Verge reports, according to renown leaker Evan Blass, the laptop is known as 'Project Pivo' (which is an internal codename) as per a post on X.

As you can see, the screen rotates independently of the lid, so you can twist it around 90-degrees so that it's upright in portrait mode. Presumably there's some slick mechanism to facilitate this movement, but obviously we don't get any clues as to what; just an image and basic explanation of the concept.

Blass also provides us with a glimpse of 'Project Ballet' from Lenovo, which is an AI-powered laptop stand, apparently. The leaker explains that the AI taps the laptop's internal sensors - microphone, camera, and more besides - to work out the user's position relative to the device and stand, then adjusts the positioning of the notebook appropriately.

Analysis: An improbable duo - or a perfect combo?

I really like the idea of the laptop stand - this is AI fine-tuning the ergonomics of your laptop usage in real-time.

However, the concept is one thing, the execution entirely another. And there's clearly the possibility for a self-adjusting notebook stand to get things wrong and become extremely annoying.

The rotating screen laptop looks pretty nifty too, but this is rather a niche product. How many people really need to spin their screen round into a portrait orientation? Not that many, but of course it can be useful for some folks (coders, maybe writers, or graphic designers perhaps).

What worries me about these concepts that introduce fancy mechanisms is that those moving parts represent a lot more potential for stuff going wrong with your notebook. And, say, if your screen ends up stuck at a 65-degree angle midway between portrait and landscape; that's going to be no fun. Still, maybe the AI laptop stand will be able to fix all the wonky ergonomics for you - perhaps that's Lenovo's grand masterplan here?

In all seriousness, as Blass points out, a lot of laptop concepts are punted about and never realized, and that may well be the case with these ideas. Some of them do make the cut, though, like the ThinkBook laptop with a rollable screen which was released.

Hopefully we'll get a better idea of how these two fresh innovations might work at IFA next week, where TechRadar will be in attendance, furnishing you with all the pivotal developments - rotating laptop screens included.

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