Lenovo's Latest Laptop Has a Rollable OLED Screen (wired.com)
- Reference: 0175848209
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/01/07/2238228/lenovos-latest-laptop-has-a-rollable-oled-screen
- Source link: https://www.wired.com/story/lenovo-ces-2025-rollable-oled-laptop-steamos-legion-go-s/
> Laptop screens can feel cramped. But what if you could magically get more real estate without having to carry around a portable monitor? That's precisely the purpose of Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable AI PC -- yes, rollable. It has an OLED display that, with the push of a button, extends the 14-inch screen upward to make for an awkward aspect ratio, but [1]roughly doubles the screen space to 16.7 inches . Two screens are better than one for productivity, but what if one screen could be two but still one? Yes.
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> It plays a fun animation and some music when it does its rolling thing. You can also activate the rolling action with a palm gesture; once it scans your palm, shift it up or down to raise or lower the screen. (Pressing the button on the keyboard is way faster.) You can take advantage of Windows 11 window snapping features to put apps one on top of the other. I stacked two browser windows, but you can put other apps below too. Considering I'm already that guy who brings a spare portable monitor everywhere, this just seems like a more elegant solution that takes up less space in my bag. And of course, anyone can take advantage of the long aspect ratio to get a better look at documents, PDFs, and web pages.
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> Lenovo says it has tested the rolling function 30,000 times, and it has performed without flaws, so you can rest a little easier about reliability, though repairing this machine sounds like it will be a task. The whole laptop doesn't feel significantly different from a normal machine, weighing just 3.7 pounds -- that's 1 pound less than the 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, walking with your laptop open in your hand might be weird, as it feels a little top heavy. When closed, it's 19.9 mm thin -- the 16-inch MacBook Pro is 15.4 mm, so Lenovo's machine is thicker, but not as thick as a gaming laptop.
Lenovo published a concept video [2]on YouTube .
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/lenovo-ces-2025-rollable-oled-laptop-steamos-legion-go-s/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKTCys6pRE
Thinness wars (Score:2)
The article talks about the thinness at a little over 19mm is thicker than other laptops.
Thing is, for those of us that either started using laptops a long time ago, or for those of us who've seen equipment end up damaged because it was so thin that it was easily bent, a slightly thicker laptop might well be just fine. The first laptop of my own was a Toshiba Satellite Pro 1715, which was around 13" by 11" by 1.5" and weighed around 7#. It was thick enough to be mildly awkward but not so thick as to be im
Re: (Score:2)
> for those of us who've seen equipment end up damaged because it was so thin that it was easily bent, a slightly thicker laptop might well be just fine
What's the deal with thin laptops leaving such a small gap between the display and keyboard that the keys rub against and scratch the screen? Give me a thicker laptop if it means that can be avoided.
Re: (Score:2)
I also miss the days before chicklet-style keys became the norm. And when there were honest to goodness pgup/pgdn keys.
Just A Concept (Score:2)
Who wants a taller screen other than accountants? There's a reason wide-screen monitors are wide, not tall.
And pricing starts at $3,499. The other specs are limited too. Just 32GB RAM max and a 1TB max storage. Is it 2020?
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> Who wants a taller screen other than accountants?
Programmers.
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Programmers are cool with a maximum of 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage? As a programmer I haven't had less than 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage for years.
So many questions (Score:3)
Impressive technology that's been at least a decade in the making but important questions remain:
* Is part of the screen that is rolled up is still active (and draining the battery)?
* If not, can it be rolled to arbitrary pixel height or will it only work with certain intervals pixel rows?
* Will there be open technical specifications or will we be stuck with a closed source driver that only works with MS Windows?
It's an impressive concept but the devil is in the details.
Re: (Score:2)
It's OLED so black pixels use no power.
Nature's End (Score:3)
What a crazy time to be alive. Back in 1987 authors Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka wrote a book called "Nature's End" about environmental catastrophes on Earth. In it the protagonist used a computer called an "IBM AXE" that had a rollable screen. The book was set in 2025.
And here we are with Lenovo (formerly IBMs consumer products division) releasing such a product in the same year set in the book. Wonderful! I wonder if anyone working at Lenovo has any idea...
Get the wallet out (Score:2)
Someone yesterday requested a larger than 16" screen (which Lenovo doesn't make anymore, even in the P-series). So I looked at their currently folding carbon X1 models. $2100 models get you a 3 year old i7 and 256GB of SSD storage with 16GB of soldered, not upgradeable DDR4. WOW. So that's a $600 computer with a $1700 screen. I can't imagine what fresh hell this is.
Let me know when they make a rollable motherboard (Score:2)
As long as it has a good keyboard.