I’m typing this on the world’s first rollable laptop. With an OLED show that extends upwards on the push of a button, it seems like one thing you’d see in a science fiction present—or like a tech demo you’d see at CES that might be too pricey to provide and promote. But it’s right here!
Should you purchase one your self? Probably not. It’s past the average laptop buyer’s price range! But that’s not the purpose. The level is that it’s new and thrilling. It’s experimental, it’s fascinating, and it’s enjoyable. You aren’t caught with a one-size-fits-all concept of what a pc could be, which is what you get if you purchase from Apple.
Thinking again to Apple’s outdated “Get a Mac” advertisements, I say with pleasure: I’m a PC. The PC platform is enjoyable, experimental, versatile, whereas the Mac platform is stuffy, outdated, and boring. Apple would by no means launch a product this wild.
I really like that Lenovo’s rollable laptop computer exists
Lenovo’s world-first rollable laptop computer—the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable—encompasses a rollable OLED display and a motor that engages on the press of a button. The show unrolls itself from throughout the laptop computer, after which shrinks itself again to regular laptop computer dimension if you don’t want it.
It sounds prefer it shouldn’t work very properly, however it does. For a first-generation product, it’s unimaginable and seems like magic. Sure, it’s a whopping $3,300 and never everybody can afford it, however that’s okay for now. Maybe rollable laptops would be the new foldable telephones in a number of years. (By the way in which, foldable telephones are one other factor Apple refuses to make. For enjoyable stuff like that, you’ll need to switch to Android.)
Matt Smith/Foundry
I can hear the Apple apologists now. “It’s not polished enough!” Yes, you possibly can barely see a number of odd reflections from simply the appropriate angle because of the rollable show, and Apple would by no means launch a product like that. If you’re a Mac, you’re not getting a product like this till Apple decides a rollable show is true for each MacBook consumer—and so long as it isn’t for everybody, then it isn’t price growing.
And that’s why MacBooks are so boring. If you need something past a fundamental conventional laptop computer expertise, you’re out of luck. If you’re a Mac, there’s actually just one manner to make use of a laptop computer; when you’re a PC, you get to make your individual selections.
PCs are about alternative — and freedom
Lenovo’s rollable laptop computer is only one instance of alternative and freedom. You can even get a dual-screen laptop computer—just like the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, which is a 2-in-1 convertible that includes two shows connected at a hinge. It’s additionally sensible to make use of regularly.
IDG / Matthew Smith
There are different sorts of 2-in-1 laptops, too. With a PC, you may get convertibles just like the Surface Pro with its superior tablet-with-a-stylus expertise that allows you to use full desktop artwork software program, or 2-in-1 “yoga”-style laptops that fold again on a 360-degree hinge and could be navigated utilizing a handy touchscreen. (Want a stylus on a Mac? Too unhealthy! That’s what iPads are for—and iPads don’t run full Mac apps.)
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Powerful gaming laptops and high-end gaming desktops are additionally unique PC territory, as Apple has by no means proven a lot of an curiosity in gaming (apart from microtransaction-filled cell gaming). But the trade has embraced handheld gaming PCs beginning with Valve’s Steam Deck. It’s an indication of what’s attainable with PC {hardware}, with the Steam Deck operating on the Linux-powered SteamOS. PCs have grown greater than Windows, and even PC gaming has now grown past Windows to supply much more flexibility.
The Raspberry Pi is one other superior machine that solely exists in PC land. On the Mac aspect, the closest factor is a Mac Mini, which is way more costly and has much less versatile {hardware} and software program.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The PC expertise permits you to construct and improve your individual {hardware}. You can now build and upgrade your own laptops with the Framework Laptop, and also you even have the Framework Desktop, which could simply be the easiest PC you’ll ever build. These really feel loads nearer to Apple’s authentic hacker spirit when it was based in 1976. Today, they really feel nearly the alternative of what Apple is all about.
Apple’s well-known advert feels totally different now
Remember Apple’s famous 1984 ad from over 40 years in the past? A hero—representing Apple—bravely expenses right into a darkish grey room and smashes a telescreen. The Macintosh was all about “Thinking Different” and never being like everybody else, no less than in keeping with the advertising and marketing.
In 2025, the Mac has devolved right into a one-size-fits-all platform. Meanwhile, PC producers—like Lenovo with its rollable laptop computer, Valve with its Steam Deck, and lots of others—are enjoying round and attempting various things. Apple is the corporate that claims you possibly can’t be trusted to run unapproved software program in your cellphone or pill. (Thankfully, you possibly can nonetheless run no matter you need on a Mac.)
Macs work properly they usually’re polished, for positive. If you need Mac software program and the MacBook kind issue is what you need, nice. If you need the rest—if you wish to “think different”—then you definately’ll must cease marching in step with the Macs and be a PC as a substitute.
In 2025, I’m nonetheless a PC and happy with it
I don’t actually desire a Mac. I want the Windows desktop expertise, and I like enjoying PC video games and having a Steam library. But I like Linux, too. I like having flexibility and selection in my {hardware}.
I’m glad I’m comfy with Windows. If I had been utilizing macOS for many years with an enormous library of Mac software program, I’d be trapped. I wouldn’t need to go away Apple’s ecosystem and I’d be caught with no matter {hardware} Apple’s staff in Cupertino assume I needs to be utilizing, at the same time as the remainder of the trade strikes on to new, fascinating, enjoyable concepts.
Don’t let Apple make you assume PCs are boring. PCs are enjoyable, free, and inventive—the type of factor Apple talks up in ads however now not delivers. That’s why I’m a PC, and that’s why PCs are superior.
Further studying: Why I’m switching to an eco-friendly laptop