E Ink, the company known for powering Kindle-style e-readers, has unveiled an ambitious new concept for laptops which turns the standard touchpad into a smart, low-power ePaper display designed specifically for AI-driven tasks.
Rather than acting as an extension of the main screen, the new touchpad display is designed as a dedicated hub for interacting with generative AI tools, summarising documents, displaying chat responses or showing notifications.
The full-colour E Ink panel, similar to those used in devices like the Kindle Colorsoft, consumes power only when refreshed, offering a battery-friendly solution for today’s AI-heavy laptops.
With support from Intel’s Smart Base architecture, E Ink has built ultra-slim, energy-efficient modules optimised for next-gen AI PCs.
The display can remain visible even when the laptop is off, which is ideal for static content like reminders or meeting notes.
E Ink’s move follows previous attempts by brands like ASUS to repurpose the trackpad as a secondary screen, but where those relied on battery-draining LCDs, E Ink’s ePaper offers a more power-conscious and eye-friendly alternative.
It harks back to Apple’s discontinued Touch Bar, but with more utility and significantly lower energy demands.
While there’s no timeline yet for commercial release, the trackpad is being positioned as a flexible productivity companion, potentially offering shortcuts, playback controls, chatbot windows, or even artwork.
However, skeptics question whether a screen buried under your hands is the best place for useful content.
