Intel has built a prototype PC called Horseshoe Bend that could offer the best of both worlds a little laptop with a big screen. Unlike many other folding-screen device concepts (or actual products) we’ve seen so far, the Bend is absolutely massive, coming in at 17 inches while lying flat.
Design-wise, the Bend is nothing special at the moment. It’s thick and bulky, which is to be expected from a proof-of-concept device. When folded in half, the device takes on the shape of a small 12-inch laptop or netbook. When it’s configured like this, you can opt to use a wireless keyboard, a digital keyboard, or even slap a magnetic keyboard onto the bottom half of the screen.
You can also partially fold it into a regular clamshell laptop shape except that its enormous screen sweeps down from the top all the way to where the keyboard would go. To type, you can use either a virtual keyboard or, if you’re squeezed into an airline seat, magnetically attach the physical keyboard that covers the bottom portion of the screen. With the keyboard snapped on, it’s like a regular laptop 12.5-inch screen.
Powering the system is Intel’s next-generation mobile chip, Tiger Lake, slated to speed up graphics and AI when it arrives later in 2020. A 4:3 aspect ratio makes the pen-compatible, OLED touchscreen useful both in full-width landscape mode or bent in the middle in portrait mode.
Intel’s concept has a similar articulating hinge to the ThinkPad, as well as a leather cover, making it feel almost like a textbook. It has a thinner profile and slimmer bezels, but was heavier than Lenovo’s PC. Intel also integrated a kickstand that props the tablet up so you can use it like an all-in-one, something the ThinkPad X1 Fold also offers.
