Lenovo’s rollable laptop computer is the best laptop I’ve used all 12 months

A part of me nonetheless can’t imagine it, however Lenovo did the factor: it took a bonkers idea for a laptop computer with a rollable display screen and constructed the tech into one thing you’ll be able to really personal and use like a traditional laptop. Besides, as standard because the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 could be, it’s removed from a traditional laptop. It’s a $3,300 laptop computer with a display screen that expands from 14 inches to 16.7 inches on the push of a button.

Oh, and it’s really good. Not simply good, however very good. I nonetheless can’t imagine it.

The increasing display screen is genuinely helpful, and it makes the ThinkBook by far one of many coolest and most futuristic-looking laptops I’ve ever used. However, as with most new applied sciences, being on the bleeding edge is expensive. And as you may count on for a laptop computer that bodily will get taller, there are some rising pains, too.

While you first open the ThinkBook Plus, you’ll see a square-ish 14 inch OLED show with a 120Hz refresh fee and a 2000×1600 decision. However press a button, and the display screen unrolls to a taller 16.7-inches and 2000 x 2350 decision. (I affectionately name it “the tallboy.”) With the display screen prolonged, it’s like working with two stacked 12.4-inch 16:9 shows. It’s a number of the finest single-monitor multitasking I’ve skilled. The additional vertical area is nice for going full-screen in a doc, code editor, or spreadsheet, or for split-screening apps with out slicing off the edges of the home windows. You may get the advantages of a vertical show anyplace, not simply in a multi-monitor desk setup. And the ThinkBook itself makes an ideal vertical sidecar to a giant monitor.

Tallboy mode even makes video calls extra nice, because it brings the webcam a lot nearer to eye degree. Having the highest of the display screen larger has additionally helped relieve a little bit of neck ache from staring down at laptops all day. I get improved ergonomics whether or not I’m working at my desk, a desk, or in goblin mode on my flooring.

I’ve been utilizing the brand new ThinkBook Plus full-time for a few week, and I’ve stored it in 16.7-inch mode nearly the complete time, as a result of that’s the entire level of this factor. I by no means get sick of this big OLED with its punchy colours and robust distinction. It’s plastic as an alternative of glass for the sake of flexibility, and it lacks contact assist (although that additionally means much less probability of scratching its softer floor with a fingernail or by accident knocking it over with a faucet). However I don’t thoughts any of that, as a result of having a lot display screen actual property in a laptop computer this compact and transportable was unreal up till now.

As with a foldable cellphone, you’ll be able to see some creases and ripples within the display screen’s decrease third — the half that rolls up — particularly at indirect angles. If I look intently whereas engaged on a bright-white doc, I can generally make out a faint shadowy strip, however I hardly ever see it, even when observing that spot. The motorized display screen takes about eight seconds to increase or retract, and it’s no louder than the followers on a mean gaming laptop computer. Individuals proper close to you in a quiet area will hear it, however even ambient feels like a TV within the background simply masks the motor.

Lenovo needed to go to some lengths to accommodate this display screen whereas holding the ThinkBook feeling and looking like a normal-ish laptop computer. Its chassis is aluminum as an alternative of the carbon fiber, magnesium, and plastic discovered within the ThinkPad X1 Carbon — one in all Lenovo’s go-to fashions of productiveness / enterprise laptops. That makes the ThinkBook fairly heavy for its dimension: at 3.72 kilos, it’s a complete pound and a half heavier than the X1 Carbon and a pound heavier than a 13-inch MacBook Air. The additional weight is probably going essential to maintain the laptop computer from falling over backward when the display screen is prolonged. The hinge can be very stiff. It takes two palms to pry open the laptop computer from its closed place, and the hinge doesn’t tilt again practically so far as different laptops to stop toppling. The restricted vary of movement is much less of a giant deal in tall mode, however extra noticeable in 14-inch mode. Nonetheless, I often put it in 14-inch mode solely when it’s time to shut it up and transfer it round, so it hasn’t bothered me a lot but.

Regardless of the laptop computer’s basic sturdiness, the display screen itself generally is a little wobbly, with audible creaks and slight knocking sounds whenever you’re adjusting it. The lid consists of an inside body and outer body; the outer body strikes alongside a monitor on the sides of the inside body to develop the lid’s footprint and roll the display screen upward. The irksome sounds come from the place the 2 lid frames meet within the center.

As a result of a part of the display screen is garaged beneath the keyboard deck, there’s no area subsequent to the keyboard for the audio system, so as an alternative they’re on the entrance of the chassis, angled down. They’re mediocre for a $3,300 laptop computer, and the sound is usually obscured by your wrists.

The opposite audible quirk is the ThinkBook’s “you’re doing it unsuitable” alarm: In case you begin closing the lid with the display screen prolonged, otherwise you transfer the display screen whereas it’s rolling, the laptop computer emits a high-pitched tone. It’s probably the most 90s-motherboard-ass factor I’ve heard in a very long time, however I discover its needling sound oddly charming.

The remainder of the laptop computer is strong, as you’d hope for a $3,300 machine. It has a haptic trackpad (hallelujah). Regardless of being barely small, it beats the heck out of all of the Lenovo mechanical trackpads I’ve tried, rivaling Apple’s in precision and really feel. It’s an ideal counterpart to the keyboard, which is great as ordinary for Lenovo, with an ideal tactile really feel and good key journey. The built-in mic sounds good, and that high-climbing webcam renders a reasonably sharp picture. It handles blended or tough lighting nicely, whereas capturing you at a extra pleasing angle. (Look, it’s okay to not need your webcam to intensify double chins or give folks a view up your nostrils.) It’s a disgrace it solely has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, however greater port crimes have been dedicated elsewhere, and at the least there’s a headphone jack.

Lenovo ships the ThinkBook Plus with its personal Workspace app to assist with multitasking on the oddly proportioned show. It affords fast entry to pinnable widgets, apps, and even enabling a digital show for a picture-in-picture expertise — should you’re so inclined . You possibly can select to have Workspace auto-launch whenever you develop the display screen, and there’s even a devoted key for it. However I discovered it extra troublesome than useful, and I encountered bugs when utilizing Workspace with a number of digital desktops, starting from glitching my wallpaper to stopping me from four-finger swiping between desktops. As an alternative, I’ve simply been utilizing Home windows 11’s native window administration, and I’ve been pleasantly shocked by how nicely it really works on this shapeshifting display screen. I encountered a one-off bug the place the taskbar randomly disappeared, nevertheless it was solved by a full restart.

Efficiency-wise, the Intel Core Extremely 7 258V within the ThinkBook strains up with different laptops we’ve examined with the identical chip. It’s quick for on a regular basis duties and productiveness apps, and it’s about as energy environment friendly as different fashions with a lot smaller, non-OLED screens. I may simply final 9 hours or longer on a cost with the default sleep / energy settings, getting me by means of a full day of labor in blended utilization (Google Docs, Slack, Sign chat, numerous Chrome tabs, and even a 30-minute video name and equally lengthy audio name). And that entire time I hardly ever heard its fan spin up or felt it warmth up. On one other day, I stretched it to almost eight full hours with the display screen stored on practically the entire time in tall mode.

Enjoyable reality: draining the battery to under 5 p.c prompts a countdown timer for the display screen to robotically roll down and keep down till it turns off otherwise you plug in. So that you shouldn’t get caught with the display screen prolonged and no technique to pack it up. Not unhealthy, Lenovo. Not unhealthy.

$3,300 can get you numerous different glorious laptops (three nice $1,000 laptops, even), however none of them have this extending show. It’s one in all only some methods to get extra display screen in a conventionally sized laptop computer. You may get a dual-screen laptop computer just like the Yoga Ebook 9i or Asus Zenbook Duo, or a folding-screen laptop computer just like the ThinkPad X1 Fold , or go for some type of transportable monitor. However as a lot as I dig these, a dual-screen or folding-screen setup is so cumbersome by comparability. You’re not simply strolling right into a espresso store and hitting a button to get extra display screen, you’re establishing camp along with your Franken-multi-monitor-laptop and its peripherals.

The ThinkBook Plus has appeared fairly sturdy in my time with it. I even had it rattling round in a backpack on a 500-mile street journey, and it was high quality. Lenovo claims the display screen is rated for 30,000 hinge openings / closings and 20,000 rolls up and down, however you simply don’t have these issues with common laptops. As a lot as I like utilizing this rollable laptop computer, I’ll all the time be a little bit cautious about longevity and what a display screen restore might price if the worst ever occurs (Lenovo didn’t reply my questions on restore prices by the point of publication).

The ThinkBook Plus rollable is a genuinely cool concept, and an ideal laptop computer. I hope the show tech continues to evolve and we see extra wild concepts like this turn out to be a actuality. Or, if Lenovo delivers on its different current idea laptop computer concept, the ThinkBook Flip, perhaps we will get an identical tall-monitor expertise with out the added heft and value of motors.

This might be the beginning of a rolling-screen revolution. Or it may simply be a distinct segment product for deep-pocketed people who wish to really feel like they’re dwelling sooner or later. Sadly, one in all these realities is more likely for now, till the tech will get low-cost sufficient to trickle all the way down to mainstream laptops. However rattling am I completely satisfied this factor is out in the true world, even when recognizing one at a random cafe will really feel like a unicorn sighting. Lenovo is among the solely laptop computer producers that turns its bizarre ideas into precise merchandise, and I hope it retains pushing — getting cheaper, quirkier, or ideally each.