George Toh is Vice President and General Manager of Lenovo’s Visuals Business Unit within the Intelligent Devices Group. At the helm of Lenovo’s global monitor division, he leads the strategy and development of advanced display solutions designed to enhance professional workflows. Prior to Lenovo, Toh held senior roles at Dell, HP, and Nestlé, bringing a cross-industry perspective to technological innovation.
With a background in economics from the National University of Singapore, George Toh combines strategic insight with a strong user-focus. Under his leadership, Lenovo has launched key products such as the ThinkVision 27 3D glasses-free monitor—featuring real-time eye-tracking and switchable 2D/3D modes—and the AI-powered ThinkVision P-Series, which adapts to user workflows with features like adaptive brightness and variable refresh rates. These technologies respond to the needs of creative professionals, including architects, who rely on precise visualisation tools for complex 2D and 3D design processes.
Toh’s approach is grounded in sustainable innovation. He has championed circular design principles across Lenovo’s Visuals Business, including the integration of recycled materials, energy-efficient displays, and hardware designed for easier repair and reuse. His vision of display technology extends beyond performance: to intelligent, adaptable tools that support both creativity and environmental responsibility in the built environment and beyond.
What is your focus at Lenovo as VP and GM of the Visuals Business?
As head of Lenovo’s Visuals Business Unit, I spend my time thinking about how people interact with screens — how the experience can be more intuitive, more empowering, and more in sync with what people need to accomplish. This means delivering smarter, more adaptive monitors infused with AI capabilities and sustainable design.
I’m always focused on meeting the evolving needs of users across industries – from business professionals to artists – by providing crystal-clear visual performance, true-to-life color accuracy, and productivity features that simplify their workflows. As a leader in this space, I am also focused on the holistic design process to integrate circular economy principles. Our customers care about sustainability, and so do we. That’s why we’re making sure our devices use more recycled materials and are more energy efficient. At the end of the day, I strive for our visual tech not to just be screens on a desk, but intelligent, green and user-centric tools that empower people to do their best work.
How is Lenovo’s Visuals Business addressing the evolving needs of architects and creatives?
Across the globe, architects and creative professionals are increasingly frustrated by limited screen space and complex design, especially when their work demands the highest visual accuracy and color. Research shows that upgrading to larger or multiple monitors can boost productivity in such visually intensive tasks by up to 42% –clear evidence of why Lenovo’s Visuals Business is dedicated to addressing these challenges with its ThinkVision displays.
We design our ThinkVision displays with architects and creative professionals in mind. For instance, our monitors now offer large 4K resolutions and wide color gamuts (up to 99% AdobeRGB and DCI-P3) so that creators can see the finest details and true-to-life colors in their designs.
We’ve also prioritized screen real estate and multitasking: ultrawide and dual-display setups enable architects to view massive blueprints or 3D models alongside reference materials without constant zooming or tab-switching. Features like daisy-chaining multiple monitors and our True Split technology let users expand and organize their workspace effortlessly.
Moreover, we’ve introduced cutting-edge tools such as the ThinkVision 27 3D. It’s a 27-inch glasses-free 3D monitor, which allows architects to review CAD models or renderings in stereoscopic 3D for a more immersive understanding of space and depth, like they could finally step into their ideas. By combining accuracy, immersion, and workflow flexibility, we ensure our visual solutions keep pace with the creative process.
How does the intersection of technology and architecture look from your perspective? (today and upcoming years)
I see technology and architecture converging into a highly immersive and collaborative future. Today, architects rely on powerful workstations and high-resolution displays to bring blueprints to life digitally. In the coming years, this will go further – imagine project teams reviewing a building design in real-time 3D, perhaps on a large-format, glasses-free 3D screen where 2D plans and 3D models coexist seamlessly. We anticipate design reviews happening in mixed reality environments, where an architect can virtually “walk through” a structure before it’s built. AI will play a role in generating design options and optimizing materials, while our job is to provide visualization tools to interact with those AI-driven ideas.
The bottom line: architecture will increasingly be shaped by interactive visualization and data-driven design. We’re exploring ways to make that journey smoother by investing in technologies like hybrid dimensional displays and advanced visualization software to support this blending of the digital and physical in architectural practice.
How does AI (and/or Lenovo) influence technology in architecture and creative practices?
AI is a game-changer for architects and creators, as research shows that 41% of UK architects are already integrating AI into their projects, with 43% of these professionals reporting enhanced efficiency in the design process. I like to think of it less as replacing creativity, but more about supporting it. It’s helping architects explore more design paths, catch problems earlier, and work more fluidly.
From my side, I focus on how our visual technology can support that. We’ve integrated AI in displays to improve energy use and user comfort — it’s subtle, but it adds up. What excites me most is how AI lets people stay in the creative zone longer, without the drag of repetitive tasks. That’s a space I want to keep building for.
I see AI as a powerful enabler for creative professionals — not something that replaces creativity. In architecture and design, AI is beginning to handle tasks like generating multiple design options, assisting with lighting simulations, or helping teams visualize structural performance. My focus has been on how our displays and tools can support those workflows seamlessly and intuitively. For example, we’re starting to embed smarter features into our monitors, like adaptive brightness and power management, that respond to how users work throughout the day. These kinds of intelligent, responsive technologies will only become more important as creative work gets more complex and collaborative. I think the most exciting part of AI is how it acts as a partner in the process, helping creators explore more possibilities faster. As AI continues to advance, voice and gesture interactions will make user interfaces more intuitive—unlocking new creative possibilities and fostering deeper connections between users and their devices.
How do dual monitors, ultrawide monitors, and high-resolution features directly improve accuracy and productivity for architects? (Are there any internal studies or data from Lenovo on this?)
In our experience, giving architects more screen real estate and sharper detail can translate to immediate productivity gains. A dual-monitor or ultrawide setup lets an architect spread out their workspace – for example, keeping a 3D rendering on one screen and detailed 2D plans on another – which minimizes the time spent toggling between views. This not only speeds up work but also reduces the chance of oversight, thereby improving accuracy. High resolution is equally crucial: a large 4K display allows professionals to zoom out on a floor plan and still discern fine details, catching errors that might be missed on a smaller screen.
Industry research consistently finds double-digit percentage improvements in productivity with multi-monitor configurations, as tasks like comparing drawings or moving data between applications become more seamless. We’ve built features to support this: our ThinkVision P-Series monitors can daisy-chain up to four displays, and certain models offer True Split viewing to simulate multi-monitor layouts on a single ultrawide screen. With more visual space and clarity, this helps to reduce strain and helps architects work more efficiently – something our customers and studies alike have echoed.
Are glasses-free 3D display interactions viable for architectural projects?
Absolutely. In fact, we’re already seeing it become a reality. Lenovo’s ThinkVision 27 3D monitor is a prime example of glasses-free 3D tailored for professionals, and it underscores that the technology is ready for practical use. For architects, this means you can rotate and examine a BIM model or complex design in true 3D space without worrying about VR goggles. This kind of depth perception can be invaluable for detecting design issues or communicating ideas to clients – it’s much closer to building a physical model, but far more efficient.
Early adopters in fields like automotive design and animation are using glasses-free 3D displays to speed up prototyping, and architects can benefit in the same way by reviewing spatial layouts or façade details more intuitively. Ecosystem is the key for adoption, which is why we include software like our 3D Explorer and a Software Developers Kit to help integrate 3D content and make the process as easy as possible. Glasses-free 3D displays are already a beneficial resource for early adopters, and I believe they will become a standard part of the architect’s toolkit in eh future.
Where do you see the most untapped potential in visual technology for creative professionals?
One area with tremendous untapped potential is immersive 3D and mixed-reality visualization. Many creative professionals like architects, product designers, and game artists still work primarily in 2D, yet their work products are often 3D. Glasses-free 3D displays are just beginning to scratch the surface here. Another untapped opportunity is how AI-driven personalization could adapt to individual working styles. Today, most people manually arrange windows or calibrate their monitors; in the future, displays could automatically reconfigure layouts based on what you’re doing, or adjust color settings for optimal comfort over long work sessions. These kinds of innovations are on the horizon, and creative pros stand to benefit hugely once they become mainstream.
What tech innovations do you see shaping the future of creative workflows?
Several exciting innovations are poised to redefine creative work. AI is the big one – tools that can intelligently assist with repetitive tasks (like selecting complex shapes in an image or iterating design alternatives) will act as a real partner in the creative process. This trend is already visible in software, but I expect to see it baked into hardware too.
In the pure visuals realm, I anticipate a rise in “smart” monitors. Imagine displays that recognize the content type and switch to high-refresh modes for video editing or adjusting color profiles for CAD work, and in the future, potentially adapting physical settings like tilt or height to support workflows.
Another key innovation is the blending of physical and digital creative spaces. Our recent Hybrid Dimensional Monitor concept– a 34-inch display that can show 2D and 3D simultaneously without the need for glasses – points to a future where creators can work across dimensions on one canvas. And of course, as remote and hybrid collaboration continues, we expect more cloud-powered, real-time co-creation – think multiple creatives working in a shared virtual studio with changes reflected live on high-res displays everywhere.
In summary, AI, adaptive hardware, immersive visualization, and cloud collaboration are converging to make creative workflows faster, more intuitive, and more collaborative than ever.
Technology carves into the environment. Are we ready for the environmental and societal impacts?
It’s critical that as we innovate, we also anticipate and mitigate any potential impacts on the environment and society. The energy footprint of digital technology is significant and growing. Data centers worldwide already consume about 415 terawatt-hours of electricity (≈1.5% of global usage), and that demand is projected to roughly double by 2030 as AI adoption surges. These trends make efficiency features essential to cut energy use and reduce tech’s environmental impact.
Everything helps, and our latest ThinkVision displays reflect that ethos with high recycled content and features like AI-powered energy saving, the first monitor to enable 24-120Hz variable refresh rate. We’re also embracing a circular economy approach by designing easier repairs, offering asset recovery services, and running recycling programs to minimize e-waste.
We can’t stop innovating, but we also can’t innovate without considering the impact. AI raises real questions around privacy, bias, and work, all very important aspects to consider. As a society, I don’t think we are fully prepared to give exact answers on impact, but awareness is growing, and we are asking important questions. The responsibility of innovators now is to move thoughtfully, explore all options, and consider any potential impact at every step.
Where do you see Architecture going?
I am not an architect, but from my tech standpoint, architecture is headed toward an era of fully digital design-build-operate cycles. I think we will see architects doing much more in virtual environments – not just drafting in 3D, but experiencing and tweaking designs in AR/VR or through interactive simulations.
From a display and visual technology standpoint, the future of architecture will be shaped by how professionals interact with increasingly complex digital models. Designs are getting more detailed and data-rich, so architects will need better ways to visualize and present their work. I see immersive displays, high-resolution 3D monitors, and real-time visualization tools becoming central to that experience. Whether it’s reviewing a BIM model in glasses-free 3D or using ultra-wide screens to view large-format schematics side-by-side, visual clarity and interactivity will play a bigger role in design decisions and client collaboration.
On the hardware side, tools like Lenovo’s hybrid 2D/3D displays might become commonplace in architecture firms since they enable side-by-side views of a 2D plan and its 3D visualization for more intuitive design reviews. Once designs move to the field, we can expect augmented reality overlays on construction sites to guide builders, and IoT-connected sensors feeding data back into those digital building models. In short, architecture will be increasingly tech-driven, with visualization and AI at its core. That’s a future I’m excited to help build.
