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In a fresh development, at IFA, we’re seeing a second: a ThinkBook prototype that Lenovo is calling “Project Swan.”. At CES 2026, we saw a Lenovo tech industry laptop that slowly unrolled into a widescreen laptop.
Industry observers note that lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Rollable from last year was all about productivity: the $3,299 laptop included a screen which extended upwards from 14 inches to create a 16.7-inch display. Now Lenovo has gone in the opposite direction. Let’s face it: Lenovo seems to have this rollable laptop concept sewn up.
Industry observers note that the basics, however, are here: Lenovo is taking a 14-inch laptop and unrolling the display to create a 17-inch laptop instead, via a 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s a simpler, more productive version of the Legion Pro Rollable that Lenovo showed off at CES 2026, which unrolled in two segments: from 16 inches to 21.5 inches, and then to 23.8 inches. The Legion’s functions were controlled by the function keys at the top of the keyboard, just like the fresh “Project Swan” ThinkBook. Since Project Swan is a prototype concept, details are somewhat scarce.
As part of the ongoing story, (It’s actually about 57 percent of the pixels you’d see on a 3840×2160 “4K” display. The Legion Pro Rollable, however, was about a “3.6K” display.). More precisely, the ThinkBook “Project Swan” laptop unrolls from an effective 2,258×1,672 screen to 2,850×1672, which is “almost” a 4K display, according to a Lenovo representative.
According to the latest update, lenovo’s representatives had another take: the widescreen rollable isn’t top-heavy, sits more ergonomically and better reproduces a traditional form factor. Moreover, as a tech industry laptop the Legion widescreen rollable was heavy, with no real portability to it. Personally, I liked how the ThinkBook Plus Rollable created what was essentially a pair of 4:3 displays sitting virtually on top of one another.
As part of the ongoing story, “It’s the Legion technology with a productivity bent,” I was told.
The report highlights that the Legion Pro Rollable, however, used the latter — a good sign that the Swan will do the same. Lenovo didn’t reveal whether Project Swan would use a traditional IPS or OLED display.
The report highlights that we’re going to have to see what the future holds: the price, configuration, and the ship date. All those remain unknown. The next showcase will be CES 2026, where “Project Swan” may become a shipping product. I still think that actually arranging windows on the vertical rollable would be more productive than the widescreen “Project Swan” prototype Lenovo showed, but Lenovo’s team made a strong case in the Project Swan’s defense.
The report highlights that he has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Highly adopted Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room. Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology.