Lenovo dresses the ThinkPad Z13 laptop with a flax fiber coating

You’re probably more likely to associate flaxseeds with natural foods than high tech, but Lenovo hopes to change that by using the seeds to create an eco-friendly finish in its latest ThinkPad Z13 laptop.

Announced at the MWC show in Barcelona, ​​the updated Z13 Gen 2 not only comes with the usual options for an aluminum chassis, but also a version that covers the metal of the lid with a layer of woven flax fiber.

Crafted from flaxseed stalks, then woven and reinforced with a natural resin, each laptop case will be technically unique due to natural variations during its construction, with slight variations in the grain.

In person, the finish is smooth and polished, and light enough not to add any noticeable weight. It’s also tough enough that McLaren is considering using it to replace carbon fiber in its Formula 1 car seats, so you shouldn’t give up any protection by making the swap.

More importantly, from Lenovo’s perspective, the company says the natural material is kinder to the planet than traditional laptops – though it’s also quick to point out how much of its metal and plastic components are post-consumer recycled. .

Since the linen here sits on a metal lid anyway, it’s unlikely to be much greener right now, so the hope is really that fiber can replace more and more metal and plastic in future hardware, thus reducing their environmental impact in the long term.

AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 chips are inside the laptop, along with integrated Radeon graphics, and the laptop can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, it can so be a bit powerful if you wish.

A haptic trackpad, FHD webcam, Wi-Fi 6E and a choice of OLED or IPS display round out the spec sheet, and there’s even an optional upgrade to 4G.

The Z13 Gen 2 is set to launch from July this year, with prices expected to start from €1,649 excluding VAT. A rep told us you should expect to pay $100-$150 more for the linen finish – similar to the premium on its previous Z13 Gen 1 Eco Edition, which was upholstered in vegan leather.

Alongside the Z13, Lenovo also unveiled a Z16 with a larger 16-inch display and similar spec options, along with an optional upgrade to a Radeon 6550M discrete GPU. This model, however, only comes in aluminum, with no flax fiber option at the moment, and arrives in August from €1,959.