If there was a kingdom of laptop screen flexibility, Lenovo would take the crown. Last year, the company released the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6, with a mechanical screen that could roll out to increase its size from 14 to 16.7 inches. Now, its back with the ThinkPad Rollable XD concept laptop that expands from 13.3 to 16 inches at the touch of a button or a swipe, along with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist, which uses a motor to rotate its screen and follow you around the room.
We had a chance to see the ThinkPad Rollable XD concept at a New York press event in December and were impressed with its ability to make the most of its display technology. According to Lenovo, this is a ThinkPad X13 chassis, with the rollable panel and mechanism added on, so expect roughly the same performance you would get from the X13 and its selection of Intel Core Ultra processors.
The rollable display technology wraps around the top lip of the lid, leaving room for the equivalent of a second screen on the back. This secondary display, on the concept unit, showed a series of three widgets, which you could theoretically use for tasks like viewing the weather, stock quotes, or AI answers. Its not big enough to hold a full application window, so forget about using it to show a presentation to the person sitting across from you.
Youtube Video
When you either hit a button above the keyboard or slide your finger over the right side of the top lip, the system changes modes, sliding the screen open to its 16-inch mode or closed to its 13-inch mode if it was already open. The entire display is 2048 x 2350 and is only completely visible when opened.
One really cool effect is that, when the ThinkPad Rollable XD concept is opening or closing its screen, you can look at the back and see the two motors moving it. I called this its elevator guts because it reminded me of what you might see from the motors and pulleys in an elevator.
Unfortunately, the Rollable XD is just a concept for now so you wont be able to buy it. If something like this does come to market, it will probably have a slightly different implementation and will likely carry whatever Intel or AMD CPU is current at that time.
Lenovo is also showing off how rollable displays could be used to improve the gaming experience with its Legion Pro Rollable. This concept design features a 16-inch OLED screen that expands both left and right to grow into 21.5-inch Tactical Mode or 24-inch Arena Mode. These three sizes carry resolutions of 2048 x 1280, 2986 x 1280, and 3413 x 1280.
Lenovo says the expandable screen is meant to help esports gamers. Tactical Mode is supposed to improve peripheral vision while gaming, while Arena Mode is aimed at "elite" training. Whatever the reasoning, its always good to have more screen real estate.
Lenovo has also equipped the Pro Rollable with some AI features that help players win. Designed for FPS and MOBA games, AI Scene Detection zooms in on certain areas of the screen and blows them up in the upper right corner of the screen. Cursor Tracking displays a zoomed in window based on where your cursor is. AI Game Assistance knows what game you are playing and offers hints in a breakout window.
Adaptive AI Lighting changes the RGB lights on the system to match whats happening in game. For example, if youre bleeding, the lights will turn red.
The Legion Pro Rollable is based on the Legion Pro 7i laptop, which is available with Intel Core Ultra processors and up to an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU. However, this rollable concept seems unlikely to come to market anytime soon.
ThinkBook gives a new twist on the 2-in-1
2-in-1 laptops that rotate into tablet mode are nothing new, but how about one that does it using a motor and then uses that movement for other purposes? At first glance, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist looks like a typical convertible, though you may notice that theres a single rotating hinge in the middle rather than dual side hinges you usually see on bend-back displays.
The display itself is a colorful, 14-inch, 2.8K OLED touch panel that operates at up to 120 Hz and 500 nits of brightness. The laptop weighs a reasonable 3.09 pounds (1.4 kg) but finds room for a generous 75 Wh battery inside.
If the Auto Twist is closed and you double tap your fingers on the lid, it will use the motorized hinge to open into clamshell mode. You can use voice commands to tell the laptop to bend into tablet mode.
The hinge can also use the webcam to guide its rotation so that it keeps you centered on video calls, even as you stand up and move around the room. I got a chance to try this out and was intrigued by how it could stay focused on me by highlighting my face. Granted, having a second person enter the frame could throw it off.
Youtube Video
Perhaps most interestingly, at my demo, a Lenovo representative showed off a built-in tool that turns the Auto Twist into a friendly, helpful robot. As I watched, he asked the laptop about the weather and, as it answered, a pair of eyes and a mouth appeared on the screen, making the entire lid look like the head of a robot.
Youtube Video
The friendly robot swivels its head to show personality while its answering your questions. It can also show a right-hand side panel with more details. For example, when our rep asked about hotels, a list of Las Vegas hotels appeared in this pane. Sadly, this was just a demo: Lenovo didnt say when or if this experience was coming to the Auto Twist nor what models it might apply to.
Lenovo also says that the Auto Twist will come with a suite of AI software it calls its SMB Vertical AI Solution. This will allow for on-device meeting transcription, captioning (with translation), and AI-assisted video creation.
Eleven years after Lenovo acquired IBM's x86 server biz, profits are still elusive
Lenovo thought it could surf geopolitics, until Trump's sudden tariff changes
Humongous 52-inch Dell monitor will make you feel like king of the internet with four screens in one
Baby's got clack: HP pushes PC-in-a-keyboard for businesses with hot desks
One of Intels latest Core Ultra Series 3 (aka Panther Lake) processors powers the Auto Twist. These chips are the first ones based on Intels 18A process and promise significantly more performance per watt than prior generations. A little less importantly, the CPUs 50 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) NPU allows the Auto Twist to qualify as a Copilot+ PC, which means that it can run exclusive offline AI tools such as Microsoft Recall and Windows Studio Effects.
Youll be able to buy the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist in June for a starting price of $1,649 in the US.
New guts for ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovos flagship ThinkPad, the X1 Carbon, is entering its 14th generation with a new design under the hood thats the same as the X1 2-in-1 (Gen 11). The company is using what it calls its Space Frame, an internal layout that allows for components to be placed on both sides of the motherboard and for vastly improved repairability.
The bottom surface is held in place with a limited number of captive Phillips-head screws, but, as I saw in a demo, it comes on and off easily. The battery underneath is held in place by three screws. And, if you unplug some ribbon cables and unscrew a few more screws inside, you can pop the top surface with the keyboard and touchpad off and replace it.
Unfortunately, as with older models, the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard so you cant replace it. However, you can more easily replace other parts and theres always been access to upgrade the M.2 PCIe SSD.
By reorganizing the X1 Carbons innards, Lenovo is able to add more cooling to the laptop and therefore improve the heat dissipation by 20 percent over the prior model. This allows the CPU to run at a sustained 30 watts, which is a step up from the 2025s 13th generation.
The X1 Carbon accomplishes all of this while staying thin: It has a maximum thickness of just 0.6 inches (15.3 mm) and weighs a mere 2.2 pounds (996 g).
On the inside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 and X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 are powered by Intels Core Ultra Series 3 processors, which themselves promise a significant boost in performance per watt, and LPDDR5x 9600 MHz memory. A new, 10-MP webcam sports a wide, 110-degree field of view so you can fit your whole background into the frame.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 and X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 will both be on sale in March for starting prices of $1,999 and $2,149 respectively. ®