Lenovo's latest rollable screen concept laptop has finally got its rolly polly the right way around

At last year's CES, Lenovo showed off a rollable laptop screen that could unfurl and expand up to a peculiar 8:9 aspect ratio. This time, the company's back again rolling its screens up, but this time in a much less peculiar, horizontal fashion. That unfortunately means none of the top-tier gags our Jess identified as possibilities for the vertical roller, but for that sacrifice you get a portable laptop capable of widescreen gaming.

It's only a concept, so there's no actual product to get your mitts on, but as far as concept products go, I actually quite like this one. I love narrower 14-inch and 16-inch form factors for portability, and the aspect ratio is great for work and general use, but for gaming I prefer a standard 16:9 ratio. Not only does it feel more immersive, but because of the way they're designed, many games will actually cut off a little of your field of view when you chop off some real estate.

That latter point isn't a major issue unless you're a seriously competitive esports gamer, of course, and that seems to be the market Lenovo's aiming at with this one: "The Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable Concept was designed to answer the call from athletes who need pro-level performance in a device that can travel with them."

Lenovo isn't specifically referring to the field of view thing, though, rather it sees the expandable screen as a way to "replicate competition conditions" because "championship esports athletes compete on 24” and larger displays."

"When training peripheral awareness, rotation drills and team coordination", Lenovo says, "the screen expands to 21.5-inches in Tactical Mode. When it’s time to focus on elite competitive training and overall team cohesiveness, the screen can expand to a full 24-inches in Arena Mode, allowing professional esports athletes traveling around the world to carry small but train big."

I'm not entirely sure why Lenovo's focusing on this market so much, to be honest. I can't imagine the market of travelling esports professionals wanting to train on their portable devices while they travel is anywhere near as large as just your average gamer, who will also benefit from this rollable screen. I do get it, of course: pro gamers might benefit the most from replicating tournament conditions and so on. But it's just a strange thing to hone in on, and that's coming from someone with a lot of love for esports.

Anyway, Lenovo's marketing aside, it is a cool concept. Assuming all that extra rolled up screen doesn't add too much size and weight, if it ever comes to market, the Legion Pro 7i-based rolly polly device should make for a nicely portable gaming laptop that can out-immerse even beefy 18-inchers.