March 16, 2009 8:07 AM PDT

Lenovo teases 'Pocket Yoga' mini laptop

by Dan Ackerman
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Update: Lenovo says there's no actual product behind these mockups, which were of an old concept piece and just recently published on flickr.

We've seen a handful of "leaked" photos recently of a tiny laptop prototype from Lenovo. Looking suspiciously like Sony's Vaio P series, the system has an extremely wide screen, flat edge-to-edge keys, and looks to be similar in size--about the same footprint as a standard business envelope.

Those fuzzy photos have been replaced by some beauty shots on Lenovo's Flickr stream.

The device, called the Pocket Yoga, features a tablet screen with a digitizing pen and a tiny leather belt that wraps around the entire unit for travel, then folds up to become some sort of travel mouse. Also interesting (and further differentiation from the Vaio P) is the shot showing the display flipped over like a convertible tablet.

The Chinese manufacturer has not yet revealed details on the Pocket Yoga's components, specs, price, or availability. It hasn't even specified whether the device is more than a prototype or mockup, but you can check out the product shots, plus some design sketches, in our gallery below.

(Via Electronista)

New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan.
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by pomade7 March 16, 2009 9:39 AM PDT
oh mine....it's a man bag!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manbag
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by kelmon March 16, 2009 10:51 AM PDT
"[A] tiny leather belt that wraps around the entire unit for travel, then folds up to become some sort of travel mouse"

I honestly don't believe that part. Is there anything to indicate that this rather implausible feature is genuine beyond a picture of the belt folded beside the computer? Surely it would just flatten each time you tried to rest your hand on it.
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by Gabey8 March 16, 2009 11:03 AM PDT
The idea of the belt folding into a travel mouse makes little to no sense to me. However, if there were a kind of touchpad incorporated into the belt, THAT could be a viable option.
by Dan_Ackerman March 16, 2009 11:28 AM PDT
From the descriptions on the Lenovo flickr photostream: "One of the Pocket Yoga's many details: a belt that closes the yoga, serves as a nice aesthetic detail and it becomes a MOUSE!" I'm not saying it makes any sense...
by Notoapplefanbois March 16, 2009 11:05 AM PDT
Ummm why are you guys at cnet reporting on a 2 year old concept?
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by viper396 March 16, 2009 2:02 PM PDT
Concepts versus actual products are two very different things.

Why do you even care?
by wiredchicken March 16, 2009 11:30 AM PDT
Nicer looking than the sony mini laptop!
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by annemarieee March 16, 2009 12:20 PM PDT
Is the cover some sort of leatherish material? Like, 1970's style?

I wouldn't get it (based on appearance alone) if it looked like that.
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by checodaman March 16, 2009 1:09 PM PDT
God that is sexy. If the screen flips over you could use it as a *GASP* e-reader!!!
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by jlt0x March 16, 2009 2:09 PM PDT
The current Netbooks are barely large enough to be useful as a productive daily computer. These Mini (pocket-size-like) notebook computers are more of a conversation piece than actually useful in business-like situations.

And if they aren't intended for professional use, the initial purchase price will be ridiculously high for a personal machine that will be barely useful. How many users will truly want to edit documents regularly using the mini laptop? If these mini machines were priced like the netbooks, they may get a lot more traction in the market than they've had in the past.

Otherwise, it'll be as popular as the NEC version of yore.
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by blusky08 March 16, 2009 6:09 PM PDT
Agreed. Netbooks are next to useless "as a productive daily computer."
Netbooks are both too small and too large at the same time! That is, the combination of an iPhone/smartphone along with a reasonably sized notebook makes sense. Netbooks just don't.

Netbooks will disappear within 2 years as smartphones get smarter and notebooks like Mac Air proliferate.
by JordyKun March 16, 2009 5:31 PM PDT
I like the look of it a lot, looks sophisticated and sleek. But appearance is only half of it to me. The specs and capabilities of the machine matter more, if this thing can't do daily tasks I might need like standard word processing and just the e-mail, web browsing, Microsoft office programs at good speeds, then I don't really see a good function for something like this. Now, once 7 comes out, it might be a different story, but I really want to see what this thing can do.
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by tcr071 March 16, 2009 9:07 PM PDT
This is the first netbook that actually looks interesting. There is absolutely nothing in the world that would convince me to buy one of these but the tablet features of this device make it not completely worthless like every other netbook I have seen.
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by raovb March 17, 2009 11:24 AM PDT
@ blusky08
"Agreed. Netbooks are next to useless "as a productive daily computer." Do you own a netbook? Have you seriously used one? I own one and I use it at work to work on one of the most powerful enterprise business software on earth. Most of the people most of the time work on MS Office (or other similar products)/internet/email/VPN. A netbook is powerful enough to handle these uses. And with 6+ hours battery things don't get any better.
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by renGek March 17, 2009 12:37 PM PDT
Netbooks are GREAT. You just don't know how to make use of it.
I use remote desktop all the time and after a while I realized its stupid to lug around a big heavy laptop when all I do is go through remote desktop anyway.
In fact I think corporations would save a ton of cash if they just bought netbooks, load it with vpn, set up remote desktop and not much else.
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