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

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 and constructed the tech into one thing you’ll be able to truly personal and use like a traditional pc. Except, as standard because the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 will be, it’s removed from a traditional pc. It’s a $3,300 laptop computer with a display that expands from 14 inches to 16.7 inches on the push of a button.

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

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

When you first open the AssumeBook Plus, you’ll see a square-ish 14 inch OLED show with a 120Hz refresh price and a 2000×1600 decision. But press a button, and the display unrolls to a taller 16.7-inches and 2000 x 2350 decision. (I affectionately name it “the tallboy.”) With the display prolonged, it’s like working with two stacked 12.4-inch 16:9 shows. It’s a number of the greatest single-monitor multitasking I’ve skilled. The further 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 can get the advantages of a vertical show anyplace, not simply in a multi-monitor desk setup. And the AssumeBook itself makes a fantastic 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 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 ground.

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

As with a foldable cellphone, you’ll be able to see some creases and ripples within the display’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 typically make out a faint shadowy strip, however I hardly ever see it, even when observing that spot. The motorized display takes about eight seconds to increase or retract, and it’s no louder than the followers on a mean gaming laptop computer. People proper close to you in a quiet area will hear it, however even ambient seems like a TV within the background simply masks the motor.

Lenovo needed to go to some lengths to accommodate this display whereas retaining the AssumeBook feeling and looking like a normal-ish laptop computer. Its chassis is aluminum as a substitute 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 AssumeBook fairly heavy for its measurement: 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 further weight is probably going essential to hold the laptop computer from falling over backward when the display 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 forestall toppling. The restricted vary of movement is much less of a giant deal in tall mode, however extra noticeable in 14-inch mode. However, 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.

Despite the laptop computer’s basic sturdiness, the display itself could be a little wobbly, with audible creaks and slight knocking sounds once you’re adjusting it. The lid consists of an internal body and outer body; the outer body strikes alongside a monitor on the sides of the internal body to broaden the lid’s footprint and roll the display upward. The irksome sounds come from the place the 2 lid frames meet within the center.

Because a part of the display is garaged underneath the keyboard deck, there’s no area subsequent to the keyboard for the audio system, so as a substitute 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 different audible quirk is the AssumeBook’s “you’re doing it wrong” alarm: If you begin closing the lid with the display prolonged, otherwise you transfer the display 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 stable, as you’d hope for a $3,300 machine. It has a haptic trackpad (hallelujah). Despite 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 a fantastic counterpart to the keyboard, which is great as regular for Lenovo, with a fantastic 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 properly, 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 larger port crimes have been dedicated elsewhere, and a minimum of there’s a headphone jack.

Lenovo ships the AssumeBook Plus with its personal Workspace app to assist with multitasking on the oddly proportioned show. It presents fast entry to pinnable widgets, apps, and even enabling a digital show for a picture-in-picture expertise — should you’re so inclined . You can select to have Workspace auto-launch once you broaden the display, and there’s even a devoted key for it. But 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. Instead, I’ve simply been utilizing Windows 11’s native window administration, and I’ve been pleasantly shocked by how properly it really works on this shapeshifting display. I encountered a one-off bug the place the taskbar randomly disappeared, but it surely was solved by a full restart.

Performance-wise, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V within the AssumeBook traces 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 might simply final 9 hours or longer on a cost with the default sleep / energy settings, getting me by a full day of labor in blended utilization (Google Docs, Slack, Signal chat, a number of 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 just about eight full hours with the display saved on practically the entire time in tall mode.

Fun truth: draining the battery to under 5 % prompts a countdown timer for the display to mechanically roll down and keep down till it turns off otherwise you plug in. So you shouldn’t get caught with the display prolonged and no option to pack it up. Not dangerous, Lenovo. Not dangerous.

$3,300 can get you lots of different wonderful 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 in a conventionally sized laptop computer. You can get a dual-screen laptop computer just like the Yoga Book 9i or Asus Zenbook Duo, or a folding-screen laptop computer just like the ThinkPad X1 Fold , or go for some sort of moveable monitor. But 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, you’re establishing camp together with your Franken-multi-monitor-laptop and its peripherals.

The AssumeBook 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 nice. Lenovo claims the display is rated for 30,000 hinge openings / closings and 20,000 rolls up and down, however you simply don’t have these considerations with common laptops. As a lot as I really like utilizing this rollable laptop computer, I’ll all the time be just a little cautious about longevity and what a display restore could price if the worst ever occurs (Lenovo didn’t reply my questions on restore prices by the point of publication).

The AssumeBook Plus rollable is a genuinely cool thought, and a fantastic 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 latest idea laptop computer thought, the AssumeBook Flip, perhaps we will get the same tall-monitor expertise with out the added heft and price of motors.

This may very well be the beginning of a rolling-screen revolution. Or it might simply be a distinct segment product for deep-pocketed of us who need 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 right down to mainstream laptops. But rattling am I blissful this factor is out in the actual world, even when recognizing one at a random cafe will really feel like a unicorn sighting. Lenovo is likely one of 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.