Just over a month after transparent TVs were all the rage at CES 2024, we're getting our first look at transparent laptops. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lenovo showed off Project Crystal, a complete proof-of-concept laptop. This will never see the light of day as an actual product, but it does demonstrate what see-through technology looks like on a portable PC.
This large Windows 11 machine has a 17.3-inch micro-LED transparent display. This is the same technology that Samsung showed off with its transparent TV concept earlier this year. However, Lenovo did not reveal the display manufacturer for Project Crystal.
This concept's screen is borderless, protected by Gorilla Glass on the front and back, and the edges of the glass are a little sharp, but at least the vision of the technology is realized. For this concept, Lenovo also decided to show off what a transparent digital keyboard would look like.
Unfortunately, you can't see the laptop's internal components or anything like that. Just a giant touchscreen keyboard at the bottom. But I didn't like it very much. It's difficult to type, not to mention that Lenovo says it doesn't currently offer any kind of haptic feedback when you tap the virtual keys. You know, the concept and everything.
The screen itself may become very bright. When I launched the “WIRED'' homepage in a full-screen browser, I wasn't sure if I had gone straight to heaven. According to Lenovo, the maximum display brightness can reach 1,000 nits. In terms of content, Apple's latest MacBook reached 500 nits.
However, the screen had a yellow tint to it. This is also because Lenovo says the screen has 55% light transmission. As technology improves, we expect color accuracy to improve as well. The colors were still impressively vibrant, but the photos here don't do it justice.
But why do you need a transparent laptop? Well, even Lenovo doesn't seem to have a good answer. One of the use cases it suggested was being able to see that people are participating in a meeting, which is the last thing I want.
