Tested: Lenovo's rollable laptop is proof that innovation still matters

Price When Reviewed

$3,299

Best Prices Today: Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is a 14-inch laptop computer that unrolls right into a tall 16.7-inch show whenever you press a button on the keyboard. Lenovo proudly proclaims that is the world’s first rollable laptop computer. You have a bunch of additional display screen actual property constructed into your laptop computer, and you may entry it on the press of a button.

I’m shocked how cool that is: Lenovo has taken the type of product you’d see as a tech demo at CES and turned it into an actual, solidly engineered laptop computer that anybody should buy. Yes, it’s costly, however the truth that you will get this sort of one-of-a-kind expertise at a number of thousand bucks is simply superior.

Lenovo has been delivering numerous wild laptop computer ideas, just like the dual-display Yoga Book 9i. Given the worth, these laptops aren’t for most individuals. But if you happen to like the concept, they’re the one actual sport on the town. Lenovo needs to be applauded for delivering these ideas as actual, buyable merchandise. Machines like these display why PCs are superior.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Specs

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is obtainable in a single single configuration. This laptop computer contains an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU — that’s a Lunar Lake CPU, which suggests it has glorious battery effectivity and spectacular built-in graphics efficiency alongside an NPU highly effective sufficient for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC features.

However, Lunar Lake solely has eight cores — 4 efficiency cores and 4 low-power environment friendly cores — so CPU-heavy multithreaded workflows will lag in comparison with different CPU architectures. Alongside that, Lenovo features a beneficiant 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

• Model quantity: Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
• NPU: Intel AI Boost (48 TOPS)
• Display: 14-inch 2000×1600 OLED show that unrolls right into a 16.7-inch 2000×2350 show, 120Hz refresh price
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1440p digital camera
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 1x combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR digital camera for facial recognition
• Battery capability: 66 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 11.95 x 9.08 x 0.75 inches
• Weight: 3.72 kilos
• MSRP: $3,299 as examined

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Design and construct high quality

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has nice construct high quality, truly! This doesn’t really feel just like the world’s first rollable laptop computer — it seems like a cultured second or third technology model of the idea.

At a look, the Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 seems like a silver Lenovo AssumeBook laptop computer that’s only a bit bulkier than regular. It has a serious-looking hinge, which seems just like the type of hinge you’d see on a 2-in-1 machine.

Aside from the slight further bulk — it’s solely a bit thicker than regular, and at 3.72 kilos, it’s not even that a lot heavier than a standard laptop computer — this might go for the standard Lenovo laptop computer — till you see the display screen. Rather than the display screen ending in a bezel, the display screen continues previous a seam down into the laptop computer, below the keyboard.

To unroll the laptop computer, you simply have to make sure it’s on the proper angle — 90 levels works, or a bit additional again — after which press the important thing to the proper of F12. A motor kicks into motion and unrolls the display screen, making the laptop computer taller because the rollable OLED show unrolls from beneath the keyboard. To roll it again up, you’ll press the important thing once more. (If your display screen isn’t at a superb angle for rolling, the important thing gained’t do something.)

The motor and hinge really feel extremely dependable. Time would be the actual take a look at, however this feels stable. In truth, it feels extra dependable than my foldable Galaxy Phone, as I’m folding that with my fingers utilizing numerous levels of stress, whereas this machine has a motor that unrolls and rolls it properly.

Lenovo contains its personal software program that handles decision switching when the display screen rolls and unrolls, in addition to a “ThinkBook Workspace” pane designed to reside on the backside space of the display screen when it’s unrolled. Workspace works high quality, however I most well-liked to stay with my typical Windows software program.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a high quality keyboard. Lenovo tends to be good at keyboards, and this feels on the shallow facet in comparison with different Lenovo keyboards I’ve used. A barely shallow keyboard is not any shock: This machine, in any case, has a show that rolls up and matches below the keyboard. It’s not mushy, however it’s a tad rubbery and doesn’t really feel as “snappy” as I’d like. This isn’t even a criticism — in fact a rollable laptop computer gained’t have probably the most keyboard journey.

If you want the concept of a rollable laptop computer, you shouldn’t let the keyboard cease you. If you’re questioning whether or not different high-end Lenovo laptops just like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon have snappier keyboards, although: Yes, sure they do.

This machine has a touchpad that’s a superb dimension. It’s a haptic trackpad, too — meaning you may customise the motion and use the entire touchpad floor to click on down. Combined with the scale, it’s a fantastic touchpad with clean motion. However, the floor feels a little bit rubbery, and a glass touchpad at all times feels a little bit smoother below the finger to me.

These actually aren’t criticisms — I’m simply relaying what the expertise of utilizing the laptop computer is like. The keyboard and trackpad work effectively, and also you’ll be happy with them if the rollable show is your predominant draw right here.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Display and audio system

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable’s show is its star characteristic. It’s a rollable OLED show with a 120Hz refresh price and as much as 400 nits of brightness. When rolled up, it’s a 14-inch show with a 2000×1600 decision. When unrolled, it’s a tall 16.7-inch show with a 2000×2350 decision.

If you’ve used a foldable telephone, you’ll be conversant in the “crease” in the midst of the show, the place it folds. Since it’s a rollable, it doesn’t have a single crease, nevertheless it does have some crease-look visible artifacts the place it folds. They’re very effectively hidden — it’s a must to take a look at it from simply the proper angle in simply the proper lighting to see something that appears uncommon.

The display screen seems good, however make no mistake: The rollability is its predominant characteristic. I’ve seen laptops with high-end OLED shows which can be brighter with extra vivid colours. But, for a rollable show with such an uncommon dimension and backbone, that is a powerful displaying.

This is just not a touch-screen show, nonetheless. If you’re in search of a contact display screen, this isn’t the machine for you.

This machine’s Harman Kardon audio system sound unusually nice. I take a look at each laptop computer I evaluate by enjoying Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. They had loads of quantity, and the audio high quality was crisp with respectable instrument separation in Aja. The sound was balanced sufficient in Get Lucky that, even with no ton of bass, the sound sounded nice — nothing tinny and sufficient bass to be enjoyable. We’re grading on a scale since these are laptop computer audio system, in fact — however these are unusually good.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a 1440p 5MP webcam that provides a transparent picture with out visible noise even in lighting situations that weren’t probably the most ideally suited. Lenovo didn’t lower any corners right here, and that is the type of webcam that may make you look skilled in on-line conferences. Also, since this machine meets Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC necessities, it has entry to Windows Studio Effects for real-time webcam results like faux eye contact and background blur. And it has a privateness shutter change, too.

The dual-array microphone setup sounds glorious, and it picked up my voice in prime quality. The AssumeBook line of PCs is marketed for enterprise customers, and Lenovo has delivered {hardware} that works very effectively for on-line conferences.

This machine gives each a fingerprint scanner and an IR digital camera, so you may signal into your PC and authenticate with Windows Hello utilizing whichever you like. The fingerprint reader is a part of the ability button on the proper facet of the laptop computer. Both labored effectively.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Connectivity

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable skimps on the ports. On the left facet, you’ve obtained a combo audio jack for headphones and a microphone and two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports. That’s it.

This machine costs through USB-C, so a type of ports on the left might be utilized by the ability cable whereas it’s charging. In normal, it might be good to have extra ports or not less than a Thunderbolt 4 port on each side. However, this machine features a rollable show and a motor whereas not being a lot thicker than the common laptop computer, so clearly there wasn’t as a lot room for ports — it is sensible.

Still, keep in mind that you could be want a dock or a dongle. It’s a little bit humorous — this machine guarantees easy accessibility to extra display screen actual property so that you gained’t should convey a conveyable monitor with you. But it has fewer ports — so, relying on what number of peripherals you want, you could end up bringing a dongle or dock with you as a substitute.

Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine helps each Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. I had no issues with wi-fi connectivity.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Performance

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has an Intel Lunar Lake chip — particularly, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. Lunar Lake has at all times delivered snappy efficiency in desktop productiveness apps, and it does the identical on this machine.

As at all times, although we ran the Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable via our standard benchmarks to see the way it performs.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

First, we run PCMark 10 to get an thought of general system efficiency. With a median general PCMark 10 rating of 7,703, Lenovo’s rollable laptop computer delivers stable Lunar Lake-powered efficiency.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on general CPU efficiency. Since it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit.

With a median Cinebench R20 multi-threaded rating of 4,060, the Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Rollable delivered efficiency consistent with different Lunar Lake-powered laptops. They simply don’t have as many cores as different chips, together with Intel’s previous-generation Meteor Lake chips and AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 sequence.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

We additionally run an encode with Handbrake. This is one other closely multithreaded benchmark, nevertheless it runs over an prolonged interval. This calls for the laptop computer’s cooling kick in, and plenty of laptops will throttle and decelerate below load.

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable took a median of 1,599 seconds to finish the encode course of — that’s over 26 and a half minutes. It was a bit slower than even different Lunar Lake-powered machines, which means that the thermal profile of this machine is impacted by the extra show and motor mechanism — in different phrases, it may well’t cool itself in addition to another Lunar Lake-powered machines and throttles extra below load. That’s no shock.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good to examine how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency.

With a 3Dmark Time Spy rating of 4,483, Lenovo’s rollable laptop computer provided nice built-in graphics efficiency, solely falling brief to laptops with discrete graphics. That’s a fantastic rating.

Overall, Lenovo’s AssumeBook Plus delivered the outcomes we’d hope to see: Good Lunar Lake efficiency that solely struggles with closely multi-threaded workloads. The barely slower Handbrake consequence isn’t a difficulty — if you happen to plan on doing closely multi-threaded CPU-hungry workloads, a machine like this one isn’t the one for you. It’s a conveyable productiveness machine with lots of further show.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Battery life

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a 66 Watt-hour battery, which is an honest dimension however not the most important. It’s battery life fell in need of different Lunar Lake machines. Displays are usually a giant contributor to energy utilization, this means that the massive rollable OLED show is unusually energy hungry in comparison with the common laptop computer’s show.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop computer suspends itself. We set the display screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case situation for any laptop computer since native video playback is so environment friendly, and actual battery life in day-to-day use is at all times going to be lower than this.

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable lasted for a median of 761 minutes — that’s over 12 and a half hours. That quantity sounds good, nevertheless it’s hours shorter in comparison with different Lunar Lake-powered techniques. (For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro hit practically 24 hours in our benchmark — nevertheless it’s not a rollable laptop computer.) You’ll should plug this machine in a bit extra typically than the common Lunar Lake laptop computer. But, if you happen to love this laptop computer, you’ll make it work.

Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Conclusion

The Lenovo AssumeBook Plus Gen 6 is unbelievable. The rollable show and motor motion really feel extremely stable, and I used to be by no means nervous about them. You get a show that offers you lots of further display screen actual property on the press of a button, and all of it rolls up on the keyboard whenever you need portability.

This is why PCs are superior — as a result of machines like this will exist for the individuals who need them.

If you need a rollable laptop computer, this one delivers. Is this the proper machine for the common laptop computer purchaser? Of course not — the $3,300 worth is each spectacular for bleeding-edge first-of-its-kind product and above the common laptop computer purchaser’s worth vary. Even if you happen to do wish to spend this a lot, you’ll have to think about the trade-offs — like much less battery life in comparison with different Lunar Lake techniques — and determine what you worth.

But it’s an superior machine, and it really works in addition to I’d hoped. If this can be a little too wealthy to your blood, although, think about a portable monitor. It doesn’t really feel like a sci-fi product the best way a rollable laptop computer does and also you’ll have to hold two issues, nevertheless it’s a a lot inexpensive strategy to have further display screen actual property on the go.