Lenovo lines the ThinkPad Z13 laptop with flax fibre coating

You’re probably more likely to associate flax seeds with health food than high tech, but Lenovo is hoping that changes by using the seeds to create an eco-friendly finish in its latest ThinkPad Z13 laptop.

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

Made from the stems of flax seeds, then woven and reinforced with a natural resin, the cover of each laptop will technically be unique thanks to the natural variations as it’s built, with slight variations in the grain.

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

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

Since the flax here sits on top of a metal lid anyway, it’s unlikely to be much more eco-friendly right now, so the hope is really that the fibre can replace more and more metal and plastic in future hardware, reducing their environmental impact in the long term.

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

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

The Z13 Gen 2 is planned to launch from July this year, with prices tipped to start from €1,649 excluding VAT. A rep told us you should expect to pay €100-150 extra for the flax finish – similar to the premium for its previous eco-friendly Z13 Gen 1 edition, which came coated in vegan leather.

Alongside the Z13, Lenovo also unveiled a Z16 with a larger 16in display and similar spec options, plus an optional upgrade to a discrete Radeon 6550M GPU. That model is only shipping in aluminium though, with no flax fibre option for now, and arrives in August from €1,959.