After first showing a prototype in May 2019 and then showcasing specs and details at CES 2020, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is finally available for pre-order. The foldable device will start at $2,499.
Update, Tuesday, Sep. 29, 8:50 a.m. ET: While Lenovo didn't initially announce a shipping window, the Fold's pre-order page says each configuration is shipping in four to five weeks. Story continue below.
Additional accessories are also available to pre-order, including the Lenovo Mod Pen for note taking; the Bluetooth Mini Fold Keyboard, for laptop-style typing that can be stored and charged wirelessly when it’s folded closed; and an easel stand so that you can use it in portrait or landscape mode, sort of like a monitor, on a desk.
The device will be powered by one of Intel’s Core i5 Lakefield processors, along with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM at 4,267 MHz and up to 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The flexible display is a 13.3-inch, 4:3 OLED screen from LG with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. 5G is optional, but Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 are standard.
Lenovo is being very specific in this launch that it does not consider The X1 Fold to be a laptop. In a blog post, Jerry Paradise, vice president for Lenovo’s commercial portfolio, wrote that the device is a “chameleon of personal computing devices.”
Whatever you call it, the ThinkPad X1 Fold is a PC: one that runs Windows 10 Pro. Lenovo seemingly always intended to launch with Windows 10 Pro, with Windows 10X at a later date. Microsoft seems to have shifted priorities on Windows 10X, so we don’t know when or if that version will ever come. But Lenovo has made its own custom software to make regular Windows 10 Pro work on a foldable.
The company seems to be anticipating a middling response to the device. Oddly enough, Paradise wrote that “[o]ften, public reception to a completely new technology can be indifferent at best, even frosty. Human nature is typically averse to change.” He added, though, that that many examples of change have led to success. If one finds its way to our lab, we’ll be able to tell you where on that road the X1 Fold is.
Lenovo today also announced a new ThinkPad laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Nano, as well as new devices in its ThinkBook line.
