Lenovo Launches First Rollable Laptop Screen At CES 2025
by Barry Collins · ForbesLenovo has finally made good on the promise of rollable screens at CES 2025, with a new laptop that can extend the size of its display at the press of a button.
Rollable screens have been a CES curio ever since they were first unveiled by Royale at the show in 2019, but until now we’ve seen little in the way of actual shipping products.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable AI PC transforms from a stunning 14in OLED display to a 16.7in screen, when you press a button on the keyboard that makes the display taller. The screen rolls out from underneath the keyboard, with a noisy motor taking a few seconds to turn the device into a laptop with a very tall display. You can also use a hand gesture in front of the webcam to activate the screen, as shown in the video below.
The portrait nature of the extended display makes it perfect for working on documents or for coding. Windows 11 automatically adjusts to the new screen resolution as soon as you press the button to roll out the extra display space, and Lenovo also provides dedicated software that allows you to use the lower part of the display as a virtual second screen, with Windows effectively treating the extended screen as two different displays.
In my brief tests with the device at CES in Las Vegas, the fully extended display certainly makes for a strange looking device, with the laptop appearing top heavy. However, my fears that the extended display would make the laptop unbalanced and easy to topple proved unfounded after a brief hands-on test, with the device remaining stable when used on a desktop, even under my heavy-handed typing.
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The lack of touchscreen functionality helps dispel fears of the laptop toppling backwards. A Lenovo spokesperson said the company would like to deliver a touchscreen version of the rollable display in the future, but that it’s hugely challenging to add a touchscreen layer to the rollable screen.
However, this unique screen capability comes at a considerable cost. Prices will start from $3,499 when it goes on sale in Q1.
Lenovo Slim 9i
The rollable wasn’t the only new laptop Lenovo unveiled at its CES showcase, with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i also putting its focus on the display.
The Slim 9i is, according to Lenovo, the first 14in laptop to have a display with a 98% screen-to-body ratio, meaning that there’s virtually no bezel surrounding the display.
The laptop doesn’t even have a dedicated housing for its webcam, instead using smartphone-like technology to embed the 32-megapixel webcam beneath the display.
When the webcam is not in use, you won’t even notice it’s there, with the entire display dedicated to whatever’s on screen at the time. Only when you activate the webcam, by opening a Zoom call say, does a small black dot appear at the top of the screen under which the camera is housed.
In a dimly lit CES meeting room, it was difficult to draw too many conclusions about the quality of the webcam. The image did appear to be slightly hazy, but I’ll wait for a review unit to arrive before drawing a definitive conclusion.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with the display itself, a 14in 4K OLED that has a peak brightness of 750 nits and covers 100% of the sRGB/P3/Adobe color palettes. It looked stunning, with the high brightness enough to mask any fingerprints you might leave on the touchscreen.
The ultrathin laptop is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. Wi-Fi 7 is included, although ports are predictably at a premium: only two Thunderbolt 4 ports are on offer, one of which will be needed for a charging cable.
Not that you should need that too often during the workday. A Lenovo representative said the laptop should offer more than 10 hours battery life from its 75Wh cell.
Price starts at $1,849 and it should be available from February.
End of the TrackPoint?
Meanwhile, another new Lenovo laptop could signify the beginning of the end for one of the company’s trademark technologies: the trackpoint.
The trackpoint – the small red rubber pointing device found in the middle of the keyboard – has been a hallmark of ThinkPad laptops since the laptop brand was owned by IBM. However, the ThinkPad X9 15 Aura Edition will be the first ThinkPad to omit the trackpoint.
A Lenovo spokesperson told me the laptop was being pitched at a younger generation of laptop buyer who are more familiar with touchpads and touchscreens, and don’t see the benefit of the trackpoint. The spokesperson pointed out that the trackpoint remains in the rest of the ThinkPad range, but it would certainly appear that the days of this particular pointing device are numbered.