Lenovo’s Rollable Laptop Is A Concept No More — Launching This Year For $3,500

I tin confidently opportunity Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 stole nan show for maine astatine CES. I knew it nan 2nd I deed a fastener connected nan keyboard and saw nan concept-turned-real laptop widen its rollable OLED show upward — motors whirring motors and a dumb grin forming connected my face.

Compared to nan galore caller laptops, desktops, gadgets, and handhelds Lenovo is announcing astatine CES, nan ThinkBook whitethorn beryllium wholly ridiculous successful a batch of ways — and it’ll commencement astatine a whopping $3,499 erstwhile it launches sometime successful Q1 2025. But damn it, I emotion its quirkiness and nan truth that you tin soon bargain point truthful utterly unsocial for mundane tasks for illustration moving connected extra-tall spreadsheets.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 has a elastic OLED show pinch mini motors built into its hinge to unfurl nan aboveground and rotation it backmost down. It starts retired looking for illustration a reasonably unassuming 14-inch productivity laptop, albeit pinch a somewhat square-ish facet ratio and a solution of 2000 x 1600. But hitting a dedicated cardinal aliases raising your manus to nan webcam activates nan motors and makes nan show climb to a gangly 16.7 inches, pinch an extended solution of 2000 x 2350. It took astir 10 seconds for nan ThinkBook’s aboveground to widen aliases contract, and while its motors aren’t egregiously loud, they’re noisy tin to necktie attraction successful a quiet environment. That, and nan truth that your laptop conscionable freakin’ grew retired of nowhere.

The different aboveground existent spot successful 16.7-inch mode is tin to caller 2 16 x 9 windows stacked connected apical of each other. Going backmost to 14-inch mode tucks nan bottommost accusation of nan aboveground into nan laptop chassis, wherever it hides beneath nan keyboard level and displays achromatic pixels to not discarded power. Reps from Lenovo, including Samuel Shang of Lenovo research, who worked connected nan ThinkBook’s betterment team, said nan nested location of nan aboveground and mini size of nan motors successful nan hinge allowed for ample artillery capacity — which seems to measurement since nan laptop’s 66Wh artillery is beautiful emblematic for a laptop of this size. Shang and Lenovo merchandise marketing’s Drupad Kandhi said nan ThinkBook was thoroughly tested and rated for astatine slightest 30,000 closings and openings of its lid hinge and 20,000 rolls immoderate up and down.

Watching nan aboveground spell up and down conscionable didn’t get aged successful our short clip testing it. By default, nan ThinkBook plays a agleam and colorful absurd animation of a elastic worldly coiling aliases unrolling while nan aboveground rolls down aliases up. It’s a mini schematic that’s reminiscent of rolling homemade mixed done a pasta machine, but you tin thankfully move it disconnected and watch nan show move aliases shrink pinch your existent exemplary aliases app onscreen. I fishy information of nan animation’s intent is to distract from nan mini curls visible successful nan display, which are overmuch evident erstwhile it’s moving and there’s point darker onscreen for illustration The Verge’s homepage.

The elastic OLED successful nan ThinkBook Plus is 1 of Samsung Display’s IT foldable panels. Like nan creases successful folding phones, nan ThinkBook’s aboveground has plentifulness of smaller creases connected its small half that you don’t really announcement erstwhile utilizing it — but look intimately aliases look astatine nan aboveground from steeper angles, and they’re clear arsenic day. You tin spot them successful immoderate of my photos, but I must concede that my bounced flash really illuminates nan creases and makes them look overmuch pronounced than they are pinch nan naked eye.

I went into this demo expecting anxious institution reps wanting maine to dainty their precious creation for illustration a susceptible heirloom and feared that conscionable looking astatine this constituent nan incorrect measurement would break it. But overmuch to nan contrary, they seemed amazingly assured successful letting maine tinker pinch it. I jammed nan ThinkBook into a backpack conscionable for illustration I would immoderate laptop I’m commuting with, and I too closed nan lid while nan show was still extended — putting it successful a ridiculous-looking overbite position — and each was fine.

As for nan ThinkBook’s accepted laptop stuff, it’s a reasonably array stakes bladed and ray productivity instrumentality — but not 1 pinch a bounty of ports. It tin beryllium configured pinch up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 processor, 1TB SSD, and 32GB of DDR5x dual-channel RAM. It’s sewage conscionable 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, truthful beryllium prepared to unrecorded nan dongle life if you petition USB-A aliases a insubstantial reader.

One constituent you whitethorn not petition connected your hub is an HDMI-out, arsenic Lenovo told america nan ThinkBook is not really designed to beryllium utilized pinch outer monitors. That’s because Lenovo had to programme its different aboveground existent spot arsenic a 2nd show successful Windows since Microsoft doesn’t personification baked-in support for a setup for illustration this. Even successful our short demo, it didn’t return agelong to spot immoderate concerning and perchance deal-breaking package stuff. For example, you can’t threat windows and apps to nan bottommost accusation of nan extended screen. Instead, you personification to unfastened Lenovo’s built-in package and pin it to that exemplary down there. This could beryllium streamlined if Microsoft adds support for rollable displays successful a early Windows update, but I wouldn’t slope connected that happening soon.

While I’m ace excited to spot nan ThinkBook Plus really spell a existent constituent group tin buy, I fearfulness nan package and OS limitations whitethorn clasp backmost its nosy imaginable and make it excessively fussy. I’m very funny to proceedings it complete nan agelong connection to spot what surviving nan rollable life is like.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge