Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Foldable: Is It Worth the Premium Price?

Lenovo ThinkBook Foldable Review: The Game-Changing Screen

Unveiling the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

I've tried: the Lenovo ThinkBook Foldable device and I can't go back to regular-sized screens. Lenovo unveiled its foldable laptop at CES two years ago, as a bold proof of concept that impressed but left consumers skeptical.

Well: The company has since proven its point: the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is now available to consumers at a hefty starting price of $3300, but it comes with premium design elements, and powerful internal components, and a 120Hz OLED screen that extends to nearly 17 inches at the touch of a button.


Lenovo laptop convertible to a tablet device

My personal experience: I've used the ThinkBook Plus for over a week as my main portable device, and I must admit I'm fascinated by the expandable screen, especially as a productivity device for work. But being the first of its kind, it's far from perfect. There are some compromises due to the laptop's form factor, and the high price calls for a critical look at every element of its design. Nevertheless, it is ultimately a well-designed laptop.

Professional Design: Like all ThinkBooks, this laptop exudes professionalism, featuring a two-tone metallic design. While it may not be my aesthetic favorite, it is certainly durable and resists fingerprints much better than all glossy black designs.

Barrier-Breaking Design


Modern and powerful computer server

At first glance: The laptop looks like any other computer. One of the first things that stands out are the thick bezels surrounding the screen, but when your eye moves downwards, you notice something strange: there's no bottom bezel — the screen simply continues beneath the keyboard. The remaining portion of the foldable screen rests at the bottom, awaiting extension. At the push of a button, the standard-sized screen extends upwards, increasing the display size to 16.7 inches.


Modern laptop open on a wooden desk

The Expandable Screen: Pros and Cons

The Result: is a large, portrait-oriented screen that far exceeds any other standard laptop screen size on the market. The glossy OLED screen delivers a great picture, with no flickering or dimming around the edges, although there is some visible creasing similar to what you see on a foldable phone screen. This is especially true if you rotate the glossy screen to reflect light. It's more noticeable than I expected and certainly something to note (given the price), but ultimately it doesn't detract from the utility of the large screen. For example, you stop noticing the crease when your attention is focused on what you're actually doing. It's one of those things that's an inevitable part of its mechanics — foldable phones took several years to reduce creasing in their screens — and while it doesn't exactly scream 'luxury,' it doesn't negate the benefits the screen provides.


Modern workspace with a laptop

So, what are these benefits?: Firstly, the extra space is a breath of fresh air. It allows for an expansive workspace, which I must admit provides a very satisfying user experience. Personally, I love running one large full-screen desktop, but you can also stack two windows, one above the other, for two 16:9 aspect ratio desktops. To make the most of the space, I set the scaling in Windows to 125%, which made the UI smaller and more efficient. However, if you want a larger UI, it still feels more spacious than a regular laptop screen. If you are a programmer, you'll appreciate the extended vertical orientation, but anyone working with documents will love being able to see an extra third of content on screen at a glance.


A variety of colorful vitamins and supplements

As an editor: it greatly improves working in Google Docs and browser-based content management systems, both of which benefit from more visibility without having to squint at a UI scaled down to an atomic level. Even basic web browsing improves, with more of the page on screen at once, and more visual content with less scrolling. In this sense, the screen mirrors a mobile phone layout, which is ultimately more scroll-friendly.

Keyboard, Ports, and Overall Structure


GIF from GIPHY

The screen can be folded: by pressing the dedicated button or with a hand gesture in front of the webcam. During extension, the screen defaults to displaying an animation (different animations can be selected in settings) with some music, then reloads the desktop once it reaches the desired size. The music might be a bit distracting in a quiet office, and fortunately, all these features can be turned off.


Bird extending its wings fully

When fully extended: The bottom third of the screen is occupied by the Lenovo toolbar, which displays reminders, a to-do list, and the calendar at a glance. You can pin this bar to remain permanently visible or hide it behind your other applications. There's already a lot of content here, including short videos demonstrating how to use gesture controls to raise and lower the screen and some suggestions on how to organize the screen more effectively.

Beyond the screen: the rest of the core laptop components are quite impressive. The keyboard is a bit shallow, but the keys feel great, with a satisfyingly crisp and responsive click. I was also pleased to find an equally well-designed haptic trackpad, with a uniform click no matter where you press on the pad, and sensitive input for swipe gestures. However, it's worth noting that in cold temperatures, you might experience some issues with the pad recognizing your fingers, especially if they're cold.


Park bench covered in colorful autumn leaves

Note also: that the laptop's form factor limits its I/O ports, as it only has two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack. All three ports are located on the left side of the device, which might be an issue for some users, but it's an expected compromise for the features.

Overall: The basic physical structure of the laptop feels premium (though a bit thick), and even without the foldable screen, it would be a powerful desktop laptop. It weighs around 1.69 kg and is 19.9 mm thick, making it reasonably portable despite its innovative technology, as stated in its official specifications. The fingerprint reader on the power button, along with Wi-Fi 7 support, confirms it as a modern business device.

Internal Performance and Battery Life


Car engine components

Under the Hood: The second-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 "Lunar Lake" processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB storage unit provide a standard hardware setup comparable to any number of mid-to-high-end business laptops. The large screen is powered by an integrated Intel Arc 140V GPU with 16GB of internal memory, providing more than enough power for daily use.


Elderly man focusing on a board game

If you are looking: to play on this laptop, it can handle some mainstream titles, but it's not designed for high-end gaming content. In "normal" laptop mode, you have a 2000 x 1600 resolution, which is standard for a 14-inch device. But if your game supports 2000 x 2350 resolution, you can play with the screen fully extended, which certainly gives you a unique experience, but because of all the screen real estate, it's not entirely optimized for high-motion games. If you play an older game that doesn't support this resolution, the game will simply revert to traditional resolution, leaving empty space below the window and defeating the purpose of the extended display. The bottom line here: Gaming can be a nice bonus for this laptop, but it's not what it was made for.


A collection of battery icons with varying charge levels

As for battery life: the device is equipped with a 66 Wh battery. With the large OLED screen and the motor that powers it, battery life might be the biggest compromise. In actual use, you can expect between four to six hours of continuous productive work, which might not be enough for a full workday away from the charger. This figure largely depends on screen brightness and whether you frequently use the extended mode, as powering and extending the screen consumes additional energy. Therefore, although the device offers a unique productivity experience, it requires a nearby power source to get the most out of it throughout the day.

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