The battery life for the best laptops may have improved significantly down the years, but is it ever enough? Lenovo’s latest laptop could finally make it so.
Revealed at MWC 2025, the Lenovo Yoga Solar PC Concept features 84 solar cells within the lid behind the display, which are capable of absorbing and converting 20 minutes of direct sunlight into an hour’s worth of video playback.
Lenovo says the panel can also convert 24% of captured sunlight into usable electricity, which it says is one of the highest conversion rates in the industry.
You don’t even have to be in the blazing midday sun to make good use of the technology, Lenovo says. That’s because even in low light, the panel on the rear of the display can generate enough fuel to sustain the battery when the laptop isn’t in direct use.
It’s all possible by “leveraging ‘Back Contact Cell’ technology, which moves mounting brackets and gridlines to the back of the solar cells, maximising the active absorption,” the company says in a blog post from Barcelona on Monday.
“The breakthrough Dynamic Solar Tracking system constantly measures the solar panel’s current and voltage, working with the Solar-First Energy system to automatically adjust the charger’s settings to prioritise sending the harvested energy to the system, helping to ensure maximum energy-savings and system stability regardless of light intensity.”
There’s no indication that this laptop is ready to go into production any time soon, but Lenovo does say its system doesn’t add too much in the way of weight and girth to proceedings. It’s just 1.22kg in weight and just 15mm thin.
The company calls it “an important step in realising Lenovo’s aspiration to empower a future where creating on a PC can be done anywhere the light touches.”
Spend your days in the sunshine
Imagine a world where we’re encouraged to get outside and work a little bit more, to feel the sun on our faces rather than be cooped under those horrendous office lights for eight hours a day?
Even for me, as a work-from-home freelancer, any excuse to get out of the house for a little while is just so welcome. The laptop isn’t the only thing a bit of sun can help replenish.
