Lenovo laptop’s rollable screen uses motors to expand from 14 to 16.7 inches

Lenovo today announced a laptop that experiments with a new way to give laptop users more screen real estate than the typical clamshell design. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable features a screen that can roll up vertically to extend from 14 inches diagonally to 16.7 inches, presenting an alternative to older foldable and dual-screen laptops.

The laptop, which Lenovo says will be released in June, builds on a concept presented by Lenovo in February 2023. This prototype had a panel made by Sharp that initially measured 12.7 inches but could unfold to present a total screen size of 15.3 inches. Lenovo’s final product works with a larger screen from Samsung Display, The Verge reported. In terms of resolution, you go from 2000 × 1600 pixels (about 183 pixels per inch) to 2000 × 2350 (184.8 ppi), the publication states.

Users enlarge the screen by pressing a dedicated button on the keyboard or waving their hand toward the PC’s webcam. The expansion involves about 10 seconds of loud whirring from the laptop’s motors. Lenovo executives told The Verge that the laptop is rated for at least 20,000 windings and 30,000 hinge openings and closings.

The system can also treat extended displays as two different 16:9 displays.

It’s a smart way to deliver a dual-screen experience without the inherent flaws of current dual-screen laptops, including awkward hinges and designs of questionable durability. However, 16.7 inches is a bit small for two screens. The dual-screen Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, for comparison, previously had two 13.3-inch screens for a total of 26.6 inches, and this year’s model has two 14-inch screens. However, the ThinkBook, when its screen is fully extended, is the rare laptop to offer a screen that is taller than it is wide.

OLED still foldable

At first, you might think that since the screen is described as “rollable,” it might not have the same visible creases that have plagued foldable screen devices since their inception. But the screen, apparently from Samsung Display, still shows “small loops visible on the screen, which are more obvious when it moves and there is something darker on the screen”, as well as ” many smaller folds along its lower half” which are not. too visible when using the laptop, but are clear when looking at the screen up close or when viewing it “from steeper angles,” The Verge reported.