Laptops to slim down with LG's thinner, lighter LCD panels

With portability in mind, laptop owners generally have two key concerns -- weight and battery life. Today LG announces a new range of thin and light LCD panels that will help to reduce the weight and size of laptops of the future.

The Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) panels are slimmer than traditional touch screens as they feature embedded touch sensors rather than a separate panel placed on top of the display. The panels will go into mass production in the second half of this year, bringing technology previously used by LG in smartphone screens to larger devices.

Available in 14- and 15.6-inch versions, the AIT panels are full HD units that are slimmer than their predecessors by a full millimeter. Although the company does not reveal any names, LG says that it has agreements in place with several major notebook manufacturers to supply displays. It is also looking to investigate the release of difference sizes depending on demand.

LG says:

The technology eliminates the space needed for a touch function cover glass, and as a result reduces the panel’s thickness by 1 millimeter (approximately 25 percent) and its weight by 200 grams (approximately 35 percent) compared to a conventional 15.6-inch touch-embedded panel with Full HD resolution. It also offers a brighter and clearer screen picture since there is no light loss or light reflection caused by the cover glass. In addition it features an excellent touch response and precise calibration of the touch point even with water drops on the screen.

Also in the pipelines are new panels specifically for pen input. Looking to the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016, we should start to see the arrival of notebooks that are noticeably thinner.