Lenovo's new concept laptop just lets you rotate the screen sideways

There are no transparent screens, rollable displays, or folding gymnastics this time around. Lenovo's newest concept is simply a clever solution to a real problem that many of us face daily – the tyranny of endlessly scrolling through documents, code, and social feeds on a horizontally locked laptop screen.If you’re one of the “us,” Lenovo’s

ThinkBook VertiFlex

Concept might interest you. It’s a laptop, still, with a 14-inch screen that can flip from its usual horizontal sideways orientation to vertical, with a simple twist. I know, it sounds quite straightforward compared to what Lenovo had shown before, almost boring in how practical it is.There's a neat little pivot mechanism hidden in the screen assembly that simply rotates the screen when some twists it from the sides. No whirring motors or complicated dance moves required – you just grab the top-right corner and give it a gentle 90-degree turn. The software catches up instantly, and honestly, after trying it a few times, it starts feeling as natural as opening the laptop in the first place.

Lenovo says portrait mode should give you 45% more vertical space to work with. So, those marathon document scrolling sessions? Much more manageable. Code reviews that used to feel like climbing a digital mountain? Actually pleasant. And yes, even mindless social media scrolling becomes oddly civilised when you can see more than a handful of posts at once.The whole thing plays nicely with Lenovo's Smart Connect setup too. Pop your Android phone next to the vertically-oriented laptop screen, and you've got this surprisingly clean dual-screen thing going on. It feels intentional rather than like you're trying to jerry-rig multiple devices together.Despite packing this rotating trick, the

VertiFlex

doesn't feel like a brick. At 17.9mm thick and weighing 1.39kg, it's still very much in ultrabook territory. Lenovo was smart about the engineering here – they've lined the sides with soft felt so the metal parts don't scrape against each other when you rotate the screen.Port-wise, you get the usual suspects: two USB-C ports (likely Thunderbolt 4), USB-A, HDMI, headphone jack, and a microSD slot. Lenovo's keeping the detailed specs close to their chest since this is still concept land, but really, the star of the show is that rotating display anyway.

Laptop stand gets a robotic makeover

Well, VertiFlex wasn’t the only concept Lenovo had for us; This one’s a laptop stand but it’s also a robot, sorts of. The

Smart Motion Concept

, is a stand that uses the laptops’ camera dna mics to track where you are and automatically adjusts its position to keep you perfectly framed and ergonomically happy. It tilts, spins, and raises itself up and down with this slightly unnerving precision, following you around like a helpful metal pet. There's even an AI ring, an another of Lenovo’s concept devices, that you can wear for gesture control if you're feeling fancy.As always with concepts, there's no guarantee the VertiFlex or Smart Motion will ever make it to store shelves. But hey, stranger things have happened.