The most useless technological advance ever? Lenovo unveils laptop with ‘knock to unlock’ feature

Move over, facial recognition.  

Lenovo on Thursday unveiled its latest laptop, the Yoga Book C390, which has a strange way of unlocking the device.

When the laptop’s screen is closed, users give the top of the device two taps and it’ll spring open.   

THE YOGA BOOK C930: SPECS 

  • 7th generation Intel Core i5
  • 10.8-inch LCD screen
  • E Ink display 
  • 2,560 x 1,600 resolution 
  • Up to 8.6 hours of battery life 
  • Windows 10 
  • 1.71 lbs
  • Comes with Wacom Active Pen 
  • Two USB 3.1 Type-C ports
  • Fingerprint sensor 
  • 360 ‘watch band’ hinge  

It may seem like totally superfluous feature, but without it, Lenovo says the $1,000 laptop would be too difficult to open for most users. 

The firm worried that the Yoga Book C390’s ultrathin aluminum build might make it tricky for users to pry open, so they added the quirky knock-to-unlock feature. 

‘[Lenovo engineers] realized that in something this thin…that for the majority of folks who don’t have longer fingernails, it was going to be a bit hard to open,’ said Kevin Beck, a Senior Worldwide Competitive Analyst at Lenovo, in a livestream of the announcement at the annual IFA tech conference in Berlin.

All knock-knock jokes aside, Lenovo says it put quite a bit of thought into the mechanics behind it. 

The Yoga Book C930 uses an accelerometer, or motion detector, which detects when users knock on the laptop. 

That sends a current through the device’s ‘memory metal,’ which pulls two magnets out of alignment and triggers the top to pop open. 

‘As you might imagine, this took a long time to fine tune,’ Beck explained. 

The Yoga Book C930’s knock-to-open feature may seem like totally superfluous tool, but without it, Lenovo says the $1,000 laptop would be too difficult to open for most users

The Yoga Book C930 uses an accelerometer, or motion detector, which detects when users knock on the laptop

It also features a dual-screen display, with one half that uses E Ink

The Yoga Book C930 uses an accelerometer, or motion detector, which detects when users knock on the laptop. It also features a dual-screen display, with one half that uses E Ink 

‘We didn’t want it to open if you accidentally knock on the table. So getting the sensitivity and balance right…that took a while.’ 

Admittedly, it’s a pretty unique way of unlocking a device. It didn’t impress everyone on Twitter, however. 

‘Can’t think of a single circumstance where it would be more useful to knock,’ one user said.

The Yoga Book C930 uses an accelerometer, or motion detector, which detects when users knock on the laptop.

The Yoga Book C930 uses an accelerometer, or motion detector, which detects when users knock on the laptop.

Another quipped that it would only be useful when the laptop has an ‘already-badly designed’ case. 

Others pointed out that it’s ‘way faster’ to just pry open the laptop yourself.

Still, aside from the somewhat gimmicky knock-to-open feature, the Yoga Book C930 is a solid laptop. 

It’s ultralight and portable design makes it ideal for travel or students. 

The laptop has a ‘bag mode’ so that it doesn’t accidentally open when placed in a certain position, or if it’s jostled around inside a backpack. 

The laptop has a 'bag mode' so that it doesn't accidentally open when placed in a certain position, or if it's jostled around inside a backpack 

The laptop has a ‘bag mode’ so that it doesn’t accidentally open when placed in a certain position, or if it’s jostled around inside a backpack 

Like the original Yoga Book, it's a dual-screen laptop, so the keyboard is replaced with an E-ink screen, replacing the previous 'Halo' display, that responds to a Wacom pen

Like the original Yoga Book, it’s a dual-screen laptop, so the keyboard is replaced with an E-ink screen, replacing the previous ‘Halo’ display, that responds to a Wacom pen

Like the original Yoga Book, it’s a dual-screen laptop, so the keyboard is replaced with an E-ink screen, replacing the previous ‘Halo’ display, that responds to a Wacom pen. 

Lenovo says it’ll go on sale starting in October with a price tag of $999.99. 

A separate version, with an upgraded processor and LTE network capabilities, is also expected to go on sale at some point. 



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