Show Mode turns your laptop into an Echo Show-like device, but you might not be able to use it

What you need to know

• Show Mode is rolling out to the Alexa app on select Lenovo laptops.
• With Show Mode, Alexa on your laptop acts like an Echo Show.
• Amazon calls it a "voice-first interactive Alexa experience for PCs."

Select Lenovo laptops can now use "Show Mode" to turn Alexa into an Echo Show-like device. Amazon calls Show Mode a "voice-first, interactive Alexa experience for PCs." Show Mode is only available on select Lenovo Yoga, IdeaPad, and ThinkPad laptops, so you can't just download it for any PC.

With Show Mode, you can use the Alexa app to read trending news stories, listen to music, set timers, and do any of the thousands of commands you'd expect from an Alexa device. To activate it, you just need to say "Alexa, open Show Mode" on a supported device. You can also click the Show Mode button within the Alexa app.

Lenovo first announced Show Mode on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i laptop at CES 2021.

As explained by Amazon in a recent blog post, Show Mode isn't just a voice-first Alexa experience. The post explains that "By teaming with Amazon, Lenovo optimized the Show Mode experience with automatic enablement when the device is idle and improved acoustic quality and battery performance, taking advantage of the best-in-class hardware on Lenovo PCs."

Show Mode is currently available on select Lenovo Yoga, IdeaPad, and ThinkPad PCs running Windows 10, though Amazon does not specify which models can use it. It's supported in the U.S., UK, Germany, Japan, India, Ireland, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. Amazon states that Show Mode will arrive on more PC models later this year.