Everyone is crazy about high-resolution webcams these days. But at a certain point, you just don’t have enough room in that top bezel for a high-resolution camera.
That’s where Lenovo’s latest laptop experiment comes in, the ThinkBook 16p Gen 4. It has a nice 1080p webcam, of course, but you can also attach a modular 4K webcam up top via some pogo pins. Courtesy Lenovo’s “magic bay,” the top of the lid has a series of pogo pins that allow for modular add-ons, such as a 4K webcam.
Taking it a step further, Lenovo can even move the integrated webcam and 4K webcam into a single, combined stream for the best possible quality. Another feature of the Magic Bay webcam is turning it back around so it’s world-facing. From there, you have access to both the integrated camera and the world-facing one, so you can stream both at the same time.
I can only think of a few very specific scenarios where this might be useful, such as showing a whiteboard (which the ThinkBook 16p can actually recognize and digitize)—but it can certainly come in handy.
While the high-resolution webcam is a very practical addition, the idea of a magnetic attachment that can snap onto the top of your laptop is just too cool for an accessory. So, Lenovo is also offering two other options, the Magic Bay Lite and the Magic Bay LTE Modem. Both are fairly self-explanatory, offering different ways to enhance your experience in the way a good modular attachment should be.
Those Magic Bay attachments are neat, and they’re definitely one of the highlights of the ThinkBook 16p Gen 4. Because beyond that, this laptop has a lot in common with the previous model, the ThinkBook 16p Gen 3. One is for someone who needs some extra performance. It comes with 13th-generation Intel H-series processors, next-generation RTX 40-series graphics, and a 3.2K 120Hz display.
Aside from the ThinkBook Plus Twist and the Yoga Book 9i, Lenovo brought all its experimental guns to CES this year, and I love seeing the adventurous spirit of these new laptops.
The ThinkBook 16p Gen 4 is expected to be available in May 2023 with a starting price of $1,349.
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