Lenovo unveiled the ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6) at CES 2025 as the world’s first AI laptop with a rolling OLED display. The ThinkBook Plus Rollable is ultimately the end product of a design that Lenovo first introduced in 2022 and demonstrated physically with a concept model in 2023.
The concept has now become a reality, with Lenovo recently launching the ThinkBook Plus starting at $3,299.
Yep, it’s expensive. But it’s also the only PC out there, at least for now, that has this type of rolling display that changes sizes with the press of a button. Lenovo sent me a model to test out, and I’ve just unboxed it. Here are my early impressions.
This hands-on was made possible by a loaned review sample from Lenovo. The company had no input on the content of this article, nor did it see the article before it was published.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6): What’s in the box?
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6) doesn’t come with any surprises. It arrives in non-plastic packaging, with only a tiny AC adapter in tow. The rollable OLED screen doesn’t support inking, so no pen is required.
Because this is such a specialized device, Lenovo doesn’t offer a range of configuration options at its official website. The model I received to test should be the same one you can buy, at least barring any future configurations that Lenovo could cook up if the PC proves to be a hit.
Here’s a breakdown of the specifications that make up the ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6).
|
Spec |
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus (Gen 6) Rollable |
|
CPU |
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V |
|
Graphics |
Intel Arc 140V (integrated) |
|
RAM |
32GB LPDDR5x-8533 (soldered) |
|
NPU |
Intel AI Boost (47 TOPS) |
|
Storage |
1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD |
|
Display |
14 inches (2000×1600) to 16.7 inches (2000×2350), flexible plastic OLED, 400 nits, glossy, 100% DCI-P3, 10-120Hz VRR, Dolby Vision |
|
Wireless |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Battery |
66Wh, 65W USB-C charger |
|
Ports |
2x Thunderbolt 3, 3.5mm audio |
|
Camera |
5MP + IR, E-shutter |
|
Audio |
2x 2W stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos |
|
Dimensions / Weight |
11.95 x 9.08 x 0.78 inches (303.5mm x 230.6mm x 19.9mm); From 3.72 pounds (1.69kg) |
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6): First impressions
Coming out of the box, Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus (Gen 6) Rollable immediately feels heavier than a standard 14-inch laptop. It weighs 3.72 pounds and measures 0.78 inches thick, which are definitely above-average measurements for a PC this size.
Aside from the additional weight and thickness, it’s a ThinkBook through and through. It’s built into a chassis made entirely of CNC-machined aluminum, and it has the usual two-tone grey design found on most ThinkBooks.
There’s a raised communications bar that Lenovo is so fond of, located along the display’s top bezel. It houses a 5MP camera with an IR sensor for Windows Hello — it has a ToF sensor, but it doesn’t appear to offer human presence detection.
There’s also a fingerprint reader built into the power button, which is located on the side of the PC. The only other inputs on the edges are dual Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. A Thunderbolt docking station will certainly come in handy.
Opening the laptop reveals a much thicker lid than usual. That’s where a lot of the extra bulk is coming from, as Lenovo has to hide the rolling screen and mechanisms somewhere.
The keyboard fits tightly into the 14-inch frame, leaving not a lot of space around the edges. Early impressions of the keys are positive — Lenovo almost always offers a great typing experience — and the whole thing looks sharp, especially with the centered touchpad below.
Lenovo opted for a haptic touchpad here, eliminating the moving parts and instead relying on simulated feedback with small haptic motors beneath the surface. The glass surface tracks perfectly so far. However, despite the lack of moving parts, the touchpad has a tendency to rattle when tapped.
Now, the piece that sets this laptop apart from any other I’ve tested. The laptop normally has a 14-inch screen with a 2000×1600 resolution (I believe that’s a 5:4 aspect ratio).
The bottom bezel practically touches the laptop’s lid hinge, while the side bezels are much thicker. That’s due to the expanding nature of the screen, which has the lid slide up on an internal frame as the screen rolls out.
With the press of a button on the keyboard, the screen expands vertically to measure 16.7 inches with a 2000×2350 resolution. That’s an 8:9 aspect ratio. It’s a lot of vertical screen space in a laptop with a relatively tiny footprint.
The rolling function is smooth and only takes seconds, with the display immediately showing on the complete screen. Lenovo achieved this by using a “POLED” panel, which simply denotes that it’s a flexible plastic OLED technology.
Unfortunately, the first thing I spotted when “unrolling” the screen to its full height was reflection marks caused by crimps in the display.
It features Dolby Vision, a 120Hz variable refresh rate that drops as low as 10Hz, perfect DCI-P3 color reproduction, and 400 nits brightness. Not bad specs at all for this sort of screen.
Unfortunately, the first thing I spotted when “unrolling” the screen to its full height was reflection marks caused by crimps in the display. These small disturbances only start where the screen is normally rolled up in its 14-inch mode, but they are certainly noticeable. The glossy finish doesn’t help.
They become less noticeable depending on the brightness of the display and the content being viewed, but when the light hits the screen in a certain way, they stand out big time.
Is this something I could live with if I were often in need of a much taller display than the average laptop can offer? I’m not yet sure; I’ll have to spend more time with the laptop to see if the kinks settle down the more I use the laptop in extended mode.
I haven’t loaded up my usual suite of benchmarking software, but early performance feels plenty snappy. At least good enough to keep up with the best Windows laptops of the year.
That’s unsurprising with Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V CPU inside, featuring 8 cores, strong Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics, and an Intel AI Boost Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of up to 47 TOPS for local AI tasks.
Lenovo drops 32GB of LPDDR5x-8533 RAM into each system, so there’s no risk of running out for most people. It also features a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD as standard.
Where to buy Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus with rollable OLED display
I plan to put Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Rollable (Gen 6) through the usual review gauntlet in the coming weeks to get a better idea of what it’s all about.
If you’d like to get your hands on this one-of-a-kind AI PC now, Lenovo is the place to shop. It’s new enough that I’m not seeing it at any other retailers, although that could change in the future.
There’s just one configuration available at the time of writing, and it costs $3,299. The rolling display, Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD are all on board.
Source link
