Lenovo has revealed that one of its upcoming ThinkPad laptops, model W700ds, will feature an option for a secondary LCD screen, making it a dual-monitor laptop. This isn't like the tiny 4-inch touchscreen which we saw on Fujitsu's LifeBook N7010; in addition to the main 17-inch 1900 x 1200 display, the W700 includes a full-sized 10.6-inch 1280 x 768 screen. Details on how the secondary display integrates with the system aren't yet clear, but it looks like it either folds closed in front of the main screen, forcing you to always have it open when working on the laptop, or slides behind the main screen when not in use, letting you pull it out when you need some extra desktop space. Oddly, while the main display still uses a traditional fluorescent backlight, the secondary has a modern LED-based light source.

Besides the dual-screens, the W700ds will also include a pen-based digitizer for use like a mini Wacom tablet. Configuration options are available to make this laptop into one heavy-hitter: you can choose a quad-core Intel processor and dual hard drive RAID setup. All this hardware comes at a cost, and not just one that hits your pocketbook; the dual-screen W700ds weighs in at 10.9 pounds, more than the weight of three MacBook Airs. With the market leaning towards ultra-portable netbooks, that could be a tough sell, even considering the innovative screen setup.

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