Once upon a time, a 16:9 laptop screen was enough. Well, at CES 2025 Lenovo posed the question 'Why settle for enough when you can have height?' Either with the press of a button or by holding your palm up to the onboard webcam, the screen of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable laptop extends upwards. Presenting with a seemingly typical 14-inch OLED screen at first blush, the ThinkBook can unfurl into a 16.7-inch screen with a very awkward-looking 8:9 aspect ratio.
What's more, this isn't just a concept brought to life to turn a few heads at a trade show. Lenovo shared in a blog post that you'll be able to pick up your own Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable when it launches globally this June—for $3,499. But, even setting that hefty price tag to one side, I'm not sure why you'd want to.
Okay, sure, one could argue a few use cases. To begin with, having that extra screen space tucked up in the Rollable's metaphorical back pocket will appeal to those who have to travel a lot and would otherwise be looking at packing a portable monitor. The extendable part of the screen can also be set up as a virtual monitor, offering an uncluttered partition of screen real estate for virtual presentations on the go. Alternatively, you could instead opt to clutter up this part of the screen with the ThinkBook's custom selection of multitasking widgets or your most frequently used files.
Personally, I think you could dream even smaller. Say you're feeling super petty during an in-person meeting going nowhere—you could say, "I'm not sure we're on the same page. Let me pull up my notes," before busting out the ThinkBook's threat display.
Joking aside, the ThinkBook remains fairly lightweight, weighing around 1.7 kg (3.7 lbs), even with its shapeshifting screen. This is thanks to Samsung's Eco² OLED technology which not only offers a less hefty package overall but also consumes 30% less power. Outputting 400nits, that's not only impressive but BRIGHT too. Samsung themselves announced in a recent news post that this is the first time their rollable OLED has been part of a mass-produced laptop.
For folks looking for productivity on the go, the laptop also offers relatively decent technical specs, with 1 TB of onboard SSD storage, 32 GB of RAM, and an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU. This chip's integrated Intel Xe2 GPU means this is mostly a machine that's mostly about work and not so much play though.
While transformative screens are a party trick that continues to draw my attention, it's hard to ignore how flexibility like this has the potential to introduce countless points of failure. Engadget noted in a recent CES show floor video that even the display unit exhibits noticeable "ripples" on the unrollable part of the screen, though clarified that this isn't noticeable when you're looking at the laptop straight on. Still, I'm left wondering how these very minor defects may metamorphose over the product's lifespan—the hefty price tag does little to endear me either.
All of that said, screens simply aren't going to look the same forever—the rise of curved monitors has proven that (and if you're in the market for one yourself, we can offer a few suggestions). Perhaps, like the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, I simply need to expand my horizons.
