Lenovo ’s ThinkBook card is not just aim at small businesses . It ’s where Lenovo experiments with unlike form agent like dual displays . TheThinkBook Plus Gen 4 , for case , incorporate an Es - ink presentation on the swivel palpebra that bestow a unexampled property to the convertible2 - in-1 form ingredient . The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid take things a step further , adding a detachable Android tablet to the traditional Windows clamshell laptop .

I was excited to review this one , because I ’ve often wondered how a tablet might mix into a laptop — something that many Apple fans would love to see in an iPad / MacBook mash - up . And Lenovo mostly follow , with a very nice Windows laptop and a militant Android pad of paper . But there ’s a couple of pregnant flaw that holds the machine back and leave me waiting for the second generation before I can amply recommend it as one of thebest laptopsto buy .

Specs and configurations

There ’s one configuration of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid , and it ’s not meretricious . In fact , it ’s quite expensive at $ 3,518 , but you ’re paying for two disjoined political machine . The Windows laptop portion includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chipset , 32 GB of RAM , a 1 TB SSD , and a 14.0 - inch 2.8 K OLED showing . Then , the Android pad share has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 + Gen 1 chipset , 12 GB of RAM , and 256 GB of UFS memory board . Of of course , it ’s built around the excellent OLED display , which is basically “ shared ” with the Windows laptop computer .

That ’s a bunch of money , but consider . Many exchangeable premium Windows laptops cost between $ 1,500 and $ 2,000 , and a reasonably high - end Android tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is around $ 1,200 . The iPad Pro 13 is more expensive than that . You ’re therefore pay a agio of a few hundred dollars to have two machine integrated into one bundle . As we ’ll see , it ’s an strange approach , but it has its charm .

Design: Windows laptop

First , lease ’s evaluate the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid ( “ ThinkBook ” from here on out ) as a Windows laptop . And in that respect , it ’s a pretty decent effort .

To commence with , it ’s well - build , with a caveat or two . It ’s incredibly solid in its chassis , keyboard deck , and the exhibit that does double - duty as an Android tablet . It ’s as good as any premium laptop computer we ’ve reviewed , including the excellentLenovo Yoga 9i Gen 9,Dell ’s XPS 14 , and theApple MacBook Pro M3 . These are all examples of heavy plan and manufacturing .

My caveats are regarding the flexible joint and the mechanism for attaching and come away the tablet . When I first have the laptop and started using it , I was convince that the hinge only allowed circumscribed apparent movement and , worse , would n’t conclude all the way to make for a standard clamshell laptop . But that was only because the hinge was very compressed when I take it out of the box , and I did n’t want to impel anything .

When I looked at the commentator ’s guide , it was obvious that it was hypothecate to close . Once I ( carefully ) close it a few times , the hinge loosened up . It persist too mean to launch the lid with one hired man even after double usance , but that was nothing unusual .

The other issue is that the mechanics for attach and detaching is a minute knavish . pick out it off is n’t a problem , but putting it back on is voiceless than it should be . Perhaps most disappointing is that the organization struggled at times to take up up . It seemed to get broken as to whether it should be running Windows or Android when the tablet portion was attach .

It seems more intuitive that it should mechanically switch from Android to Windows mode , and possibly it ’s opine to . But I often had to gain the power button and wiretap a couple of Francis Scott Key to get it to awaken up in Windows , or to awaken up at all .

Otherwise , it mat like a courteous Windows laptop . It ’s thin enough at 0.63 inch immix ( roughly ) to be competitive with laptop computer like the Yoga 9i Gen 9 and MacBook Pro M3 . It ’s quite gruelling at a sum of 3.87 dog pound , but it does have the guts of two machine include two set of barrage fire . And aesthetically , it ’s a mod - face auto with clean lines and diminished top and side bezels . The bottom mentum is quite large , but that ’s to be expected give the overall design .

Design: Android tablet

As an Android pill , the ThinkBook is an interesting product . I do n’t review Android machine , but I use an iPad Pro 13 , so I ’m loosely familiar with orotund - covert devices running mobile operating organisation . As a non - reviewer , I ’ll say that the Lenovo ZUI 15 cutis run on Android 13 is very fluid and feels spookily alike to iPadOS .

I ’m not going to spend a lot of meter on the Android software package functionality because I just have n’t used enough modern Android tablet to do the theme much DoJ . But outside of the common Android phone apps that did n’t interpret well to the pad of paper format , I like using it as an choice to my iPad Pro .

In term of the hardware , there ’s little to kvetch about . As mentioned above , the build quality is excellent . The tab portion is thin at 0.26 inch and reasonably light at 2.14 pound . That ’s almost as thin as the iPad Pro 13 ’s 0.20 inches , but the Apple tablet is a lot lighter at just 1.28 pounds . Some of the extra weight , I ’m certain , is required by the complex hinge and connexion mechanism .

Lenovo include an interesting appurtenance in the bod of a very robust easel that ’s great for propping the tablet up on a desk . It ’s not really a portable root , though , so a case with an integrated kickstand would be more useful for a raft of people . I do n’t know if Lenovo will ever release such an add-on , and the production is n’t likely to be pop enough to appeal a lot of third - party options .

And , of course , the centerpiece is the 14.0 - inch 2.8 K OLED video display . I ’ll dig into the objective measure below , but it ’s a bright , colorful display with OLED ’s common inky-black black . The tablet ’s a picayune large for using the let in participating penitentiary for writing and drawing , at least without catch one’s breath it on a table . But it ’s awesome for determine gamy dynamic range ( HDR ) capacity , although the iPad Pro 13 ’s tandem OLED display does get a mickle bright .

The bottom line is that if you want both a very estimable Windows tablet and a very good Android tab — although not needs the best of stock in either category — then the ThinkBook is well worth considering as a single purchase .

Windows/Android hybrid

In summation , Lenovo includes several utilities on both the Windows and Android sides that support the ThinkBook ’s dual - equipment nature . They ’re a nice value - MBD that enhances the benefit of having both platforms in a single machine .

In Android , the consolidation is limited to a Hybrid Folder public utility company that allows you to access a shared space for expire single file between the two system . It expect a wide-eyed pairing summons .

In Windows , there ’s also the same Hybrid Folder usefulness that allows you to get at the shared space . But\ there ’s also a more useful Hybrid Stream utility that open Android in a windowpane , give you the power to use both surroundings at once . Furthermore , the gadget Companion Mode lets you use the tablet as an external gadget for note - taking and draftsmanship , as well as a second display . That ’s a lot likeApple ’s Continuityfeature with the iPad Pro and a MacBook .

Again , all of this might be of most interest to a specific niche of users , but if that ’s you , then you ’ll like it .

Keyboard and touchpad

The ThinkBook has Lenovo ’s standard keyboard with its large , sculpted keycaps and wad of key spacing . The switches provided a light , crisp experience during my examination , and I was up and running quickly enough . It ’s as good as most laptop keyboards I ’ve critique , with perhaps only Apple ’s Magic Keyboard being skillful . And when used in Android , it ’s the good keyboard I ’ve used for Google ’s nomadic operating arrangement .

The touchpad is reasonably big , although there ’s way on the palm sleep for a declamatory version . It ’s mechanically skillful , where I much prefer haptic touchpads especially at these price , and its bottom clicks were a bit meretricious . It ’s not my favourite .

The exhibit is touch- and pen - enabled , and it put to work well . As I mention above , the 14 - inch tablet is a footling heavy for writing and pull in while holding it in one hand , so most people will likely lay it on a surface .

Connectivity and webcam

One limit as a Windows laptop computer is the comparative shortage of connectivity . There are just two USB - coulomb ports with Thunderbolt 4 on the laptop computer portion and one USB - carbon 3.1 larboard . Other than a 3.5 mm audio recording jack and the Smart Connector for the tablet , that ’s all you get . Many 14 - inch laptops have a selection of legacy ports . Wireless connectivity is all right , with Wi - Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 offer by a ratio in the tablet serving .

There are two webcams , a 1080p version on front with an infrared photographic camera that supports facial recognition in both Windows and Android , as well as a 13MP rearward camera .

Performance

The Wind0ws laptop is powered by a 28 - W Intel Core Ultra 7 155H , a 16 - core , 22 thread chipset that ’s now a generation behind . It was a very popular chipset that power some very quick laptop , and it ’s still in economic consumption as Intel ’s tardy Lunar Lake chipsets start rolling out . Its primary competition comes fromQualcomm ’s Snapdragon XandAMD ’s Ryzen AI 300 , both of which have been released in the last several months .

According to our benchmarks , the ThinkBook is a sanely quick Windows laptop for demanding productivity user . Its Intel Arc artwork limit its usefulness for gaming and creative apps , but in terms of CPU functioning , it ’s a firm machine .

But when compare with AMD ’s and Qualcomm ’s late chipsets in standardized laptops , you are n’t return up much performance . The big enquiry will be on - twist AI operation , which will suffer from the Core Ultra 7 155H ’s slower Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) .

We do n’t have the same set of benchmarks for Android tablets , so I ’m a bit limited in evaluating the lozenge ’s carrying out . The pad portion is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 + Gen 1 , which is a propagation behind the chipset in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra .

The laptop did n’t do all that well in the Geekbench 6 benchmark , at 1,850 individual - core and 4,740 multi - substance . But , throughout my testing , I find oneself its functioning to be buttery smooth and without lags . secret plan ran well , too .

I ’m certain that the 12 GB of consecrated RAM helps keep things go well . Overall , I was pleased with the ThinkBook ’s carrying out as a tablet and could n’t notice much difference from the iPad Pro 13 that I use with Apple ’s later M4 chipset — even though that tablet performed much faster in Geekbench 6 at 3,705 exclusive - core and 14,221 multi - gist .

Battery life

The Windows laptop computer portion has 75 James Watt - hours of battery capacity and the Android tablet portion has   38.7 watt - hours . Both promise solid battery life in each surroundings , although the 14 - inch 2.8 one thousand OLED showing is a bit exponent - hungry .

In our Windows internet - browsing test , the Windows laptop computer hold up for 9.75 hours , and it carry off just 8.5 hour in our television - intertwine trial . Usually , those result are invert , and neither continue up with the later Qualcomm Windows on Arm laptops that last for more than a full day .

Again , we do n’t have objective battery biography tests for Android , but from my testing , it ’s safe to assume around 10 60 minutes or so of battery life . That ’s competitive with other tab like the iPad Pro 13 . When you ’re connected to the keyboard base , you could tap into the much enceinte battery and can expect multiday electric battery biography as a rsult .

Display and audio

The hybrid solution is built around a 14.0 - column inch 2.8 K ( 2880 x 1800 ) OLED showing running at 60Hz . That ’s more than sharp enough for the screen size and , subjectively , the presentation is bright and colorful with OLED ’s common inky blacks . It ’s awesome for both Windows laptop and Android tablet use . The only charge is the 60Hz refresh rate , as many agio exhibit are running at 120Hz . That includes the Surface Pro 11 and iPad Pro 13 panel .

According to my tintometer , this is a character video display . It ’s hopeful at 411 nits , which is n’t the brightest around ( the Surface Pro 11 ’s comes in at 532 nit , and while we ca n’t test the iPad Pro 13 ’s tandem OLED show , that one in all probability comes in at over 1,000 nits with standard dynamic range content ) , but it ’s still more than bright enough for most environment . Its colors are very full , at 100 % of sRGB , 97 % of AdobeRGB , and 100 % of DCI - P3 , compared to the Surface Pro 11 at 100 % , 85 % , and 100 % , respectively . And , those colouring material are improbably accurate at a DeltaE of 0.68 ( less than 1.0 is consider excellent ) . Finally , the dividing line ratio was a striking 28,760:1 , with perfect blacks .

For productivity users and creators , this is a great display . And medium Jehovah will love it as well , although the iPad Pro 13 ’s display will have the highest brightness in gamy dynamic chain of mountains ( HDR ) TV with upwards of 1,600 nit .

Audio is put up by four side - firing speakers , like to the iPad Pro 13 ’s apparatus . I found the sound to be a slight lacking by comparability , without the deeper bass of Apple ’s pad .

A nice idea with a one significant flaw

When I signed up to look back the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid , I was looking forward to seeing how well a intercrossed twist could meet two very unlike needs . rent ’s confront it — what you want in a laptop computer is n’t exactly what you want in a tablet . And I can comfortably say that the two modes work well enough , separately and together , that you ’re not compromising the experience to gain the desegregation .

But outside of some challenges that are potential package - related , namely begin the machine to start up when interchange modes , there ’s one elemental flaw that software package ca n’t address . Namely , it ’s how the tablet touch base to the laptop base . It ’s too finicky , and I often felt like I was pull something that might wear out . Given that the tablet serve as the top portion of a clamshell laptop , the more robust mechanics make sense . But for this to feel like one fluid system , it postulate to be more seamless .

There is inevitably a target market for this unique equipment . Someone who likes to play fluid games on their tablet while on the go , for example , or likes the melodic theme of being capable to journey with just one twist . I ’d love to see a second generation with improved software package and hardware , but for now , this is n’t quite up to sniff .