Getting an inside view into the notebook industry is a rare thing and seeing actual prototypes even rarer still. A few days ago, Lenovo showcased such a prototype to Japanese journalists – the prototype of its current ThinkPad X1 Carbon. This two year old prototype looks very different from the production model.

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Sometimes the notebook-industry seems like a blackbox, especially from a Western perspective. After all, most development happens in Asia these days. Lenovo's ThinkPad laptops for example have always been developed in Japan, giving technology-journalists there an advantage over us, their Western counterparts. They simply have a better, more direct access to informations and special events.

Lenovo held such an event a few days ago, revealing some interesting details about the in-house development of the ThinkPad line. The company also showcased an example of the development process by showing an actual prototype or rather, a "proof-of-concept". The shown prototype stems from the development process of the current ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which means that this prototype is already around two years old. Its not for a future-device, rather, its a discarded idea.

The pictures taken by the Japanese press show a ThinkPad with a very different design from the finished product. The most important difference: The screen is smaller, measuring just 12 instead of 14 inches. Also, Lenovo radically removed ports on this prototype, as the showcased "proof-of-concept" ThinkPad only has a single USB C port. Based on these specs, the positioning of this device was clear: It was meant as a competitor to the 12 inch MacBook.