Lenovo has been on a roll. The Beijing-based tech firm persistently debuts a few of the most fun and revolutionary laptops at CES yearly, from the 2020 ThinkBook Plus with an “E Ink” show on its lid to 2023’s dual-screened Yoga Guide 9i and twistable ThinkBook Plus. Final 12 months, it introduced us a ThinkBook with snap-on attachments.
On the 2025 tech commerce present, Lenovo goals to proceed its sizzling streak with the formal launch of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, an all-new enterprise laptop computer that is billed as “the world’s first rollable show AI PC.” It was launched two years in the past as a idea, and it is lastly hitting the market inside the subsequent few months.
Mashable checked out the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 in a hands-on demo Tuesday, and sadly I will be that individual: Its OLED show doesn’t really roll up like a scroll or a burrito, as its title implies. However setting apart that nitpick, it is a neat, well-made new choice for creatives and multitasking professionals with padded pockets.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
First off: Why this? A Lenovo rep advised us that the corporate is involved in exploring alternative ways to make use of OLED shows, that are skinny and versatile. (“It is sort of like a sticker,” they mentioned.) You may recall 2020’s ThinkPad X1 Fold with a bendable OLED show.
A mechanism inside the hinge of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 slides a hidden extension of its show out from inside the bottom, the place it is sandwiched between its keyboard and motherboard. The show coasts out alongside tracks on both aspect of the display screen, which translate to some chunky bezels. A sing-songy chime performs because the show grows — possibly to muffle the noise of that mechanism, which appears like a quiet pencil sharpener when it is working. The totally expanded show affords virtually 50 p.c extra display screen actual property than earlier than, or sufficient room for 2 or three stacked home windows.
Customers can unleash and retract the show by urgent a devoted key, or by holding their palm up close to the highest of the display screen, like they’re swearing on a bible. After the webcam takes a second to register the hand’s presence, a subsequent upwards or downwards gesture will trigger the show to get greater or smaller. (I most well-liked the button-pressing methodology in our testing — it is sooner and fewer finicky.) The mechanism will cease the display-sliding course of if the laptop computer’s display screen is just too far ahead.
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Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
When totally prolonged, the show is tremendous inflexible, by no means top-heavy, and impressively freed from any noticeable creases. The lid aspect of the show part that is sheathed has a ridged texture.
Lenovo made a pair adjustments to the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 in taking it from prototype to mass manufacturing. Its display screen is tad greater than the primary iteration’s, for one factor: It is now 14 inches at relaxation and 16.7 inches in full, up from 12.7 inches and 15.3 inches, respectively. A Lenovo rep advised us the brand new bigger measurement is extra best for productiveness and watching vertical movies.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
The place of the show within the market-ready ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 has additionally been optimized for stability, Lenovo mentioned — they did not need it to crack or bubble simply — and the mechanisms that slide it out are extra structurally sound. It is supposedly higher at staying cool, too, and its finalized chassis ought to stop any liquids from reaching the housed show in case something will get spilled on its keyboard.
Wanting past its get together trick, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 is a fairly customary next-gen Copilot+ PC spec-wise. It may be configured with as much as an Intel Core Extremely 7 Sequence 2 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage, and it is received Intel Arc graphics. It webcam has a decision of 5MP, and there is a privateness shutter on the highest fringe of its lid. Its keyboard is clicky and satisfying to make use of. It is 0.78 inches thick and weighs 3.73 kilos. It is available in Luna Gray. It hasn’t been rated for battery life but.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Is it price it for that increasing show alone? (Let’s cease calling it rollable.) Perhaps for those who do not wish to carry round a separate monitor — and you are not a fan of current dual-display type components.
The value of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 will most likely be the most important figuring out issue for most individuals: It is going to begin at $3,499 when it hits the market someday in Q1 2025.
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