What you should know
- The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a mixture Home windows 11 laptop computer and Android 13 pill.
- You may change between the 2 modes with a button press, with every OS utilizing its personal {hardware}.
- The Android pill has a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 CPU, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
- The Home windows laptop computer has an Intel Core Extremely 7 Processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and discrete graphics.
With CES tech, you by no means know whether or not a cool-sounding prototype will work in the actual world. With Lenovo’s new 2-in-1 Home windows 11 laptop computer and Android 13 pill hybrid, I had the possibility to place it by means of its paces at a non-public occasion final month. One evident difficulty apart, it appeared to completely dwell as much as its potential, and I actually need one for myself.
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has the shape issue of a Floor Professional or Lenovo’s personal Chromebook Duet, with a removable pill magnetized to the keyboard. The distinction is that it is not one system with completely different docked and undocked software program. It is actually two gadgets in a single: an Intel laptop computer and a 14-inch Snapdragon pill.
Why would somebody purchase a hybrid Home windows/ Android laptop computer as an alternative of each individually? The Lenovo engineers I spoke to instructed that it is tailored for frequent fliers who dislike having to pack each a laptop computer and pill (or having to go away one behind).
Plus, after all, there’s the advantage of getting each a high-quality laptop computer and an enormous pill for $1,999, when shopping for each individually may find yourself costing rather more.
You may see within the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid specs pill beneath how every half of this hybrid features totally by itself. Each the “Hybrid Station” (aka the laptop computer) and Hybrid Pill have their very own CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, audio system, and battery. And in each circumstances, the {hardware} is fairly darn sturdy.
| Specs | Home windows laptop computer | Android pill |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core Extremely 7 Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 |
| OS | Home windows 11 | Android 13 |
| Reminiscence | 32GB LPDDR5x | 12GB LPDDR5x |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD | 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| Graphics | Intel Arc GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 730 |
| Show | 14-inch 2.8K OLED contact, DCI-P3 100% | Similar |
| Audio | 2x 2W Harman Kardon audio system | 4x 1W super-linear audio system |
| Battery | 75Whr | 38Whr |
| Safety | Fingerprint reader; Kensington Nano lock | Digital camera (Face Unlock), digicam shutter |
| Connectivity | 2 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 3.5mm jack, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 | 1 x USB-C, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Dimensions | 313.5 x 234.5 x 9.4mm; 970g/ 2.14lb. | 313.5 x 224 x 6.6mm; 785g/ 1.73lb. |
On the Android facet, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 falls between the Gen 2 discovered within the Galaxy Tab S9 Extremely and Gen 1 discovered within the Galaxy Tab S8 Extremely. A former flagship chip with 12GB of RAM to again it, it is now a few generations behind however nonetheless greater than sturdy sufficient for many pill software program. For something extra superior, nicely, that is what the Intel facet is for!
In comparison with the finest Android tablets, you get a 14-inch, high-res show, Android 13 software program with multitasking methods, and a very good attachable keyboard. Some specs just like the 1W audio system aren’t flagship-level — they match the scale of Lenovo’s $400 Tab P11 Professional Gen 2 — however in most respects, you’ve gotten little to complain about.
The $1,199 Tab S9 Extremely and $349 keyboard cowl add as much as $1,548 complete; you’d save $450 in comparison with the ThinkBook Plus and get higher efficiency and software program assist, plus an S Pen. However put it one other manner: if you need an enormous productiveness pill, would you spend an additional $500 to make use of Home windows 11 as an alternative of Samsung DeX, and get a much better Home windows-style keyboard as an alternative of Samsung’s mediocre keyboard? I believe loads of individuals would say sure.
Actually, my solely actual grievance is that the ThinkBook in pill mode weighs 1.7 kilos, barely heavier than the Tab S9 Extremely. Similar to that pill, the Gen 5 Hybrid is not one thing you are going to wish to maintain for lengthy. I can image watching it in mattress whereas it rests on my abdomen or lap, however in any other case, that is going to want a flat floor and one thing to prop it up.
The Lenovo crew did exhibit an official “Common Easel Stand,” seen within the first photograph above, which you’ll be able to fold right into a journey bag after which unfold out to prop up the ThinkBook. However in a case of refreshing truthfully, the Lenovo reps admitted they don’t seem to be the most important followers of how massive the easel is. They even claimed a TSA agent thought it regarded like a weapon, making it an adjunct you in all probability will not usher in your carry-on.
Since you may’t put a removable pill in a ebook cowl keyboard with out interfering with the magnet mechanism, I am undecided there’s one other good approach to hold it propped. It is one thing to bear in mind.
As for the Home windows facet of issues, I am going to flip to my more-informed colleagues at Home windows Central as an alternative. Introduced in December 2023, the Intel Core Extremely 7 has six efficiency cores, eight effectivity cores, and two low-power effectivity cores. In response to WC’s Daniel Rubino, this CPU places a serious emphasis on sturdy battery life, a cool-running processor, and a sturdy NPU for AI positive factors.
A number of well-known laptop computer lineups will use the Intel Core Extremely 7 of their 2024 fashions, just like the Dell XPS 14 and Acer’s Swift sequence. So on this case, you are getting a correctly cutting-edge processor, which is able to in all probability matter greater than a current-gen Snapdragon for severe productiveness customers.
Backed by 32GB of reminiscence, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid ought to provide some actual energy. Plus, it presents an Intel Arc GPU; Lenovo would not specify what mannequin, and its reps appeared to counsel that its graphics won’t compete with high-end Home windows-only laptops. However I am nonetheless glad that it’ll provide discrete graphics, not built-in.
Lenovo’s reps instructed me that its ThinkBook Plus lineup is all about experimentation. The ThinkBook Gen 4 had an e-ink show on the again, seen once you closed the primary OLED show; the Gen 3 had a phone-sized touchscreen constructed into the laptop computer’s backside half, proper subsequent to the touchpad and keyboard. They had been enjoyable and weird ideas, ones that nobody actually requested for.
I do not suppose anybody requested for a Home windows/Android hybrid laptop computer, however the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid experiment seems like a extra severe possibility this time round, one that customers will discover intriguing. And I am impressed by the execution.
Say you are working in Home windows and wish to change to Android. There is a devoted change button on the keyboard; press it, and after a brief stylized animation, you are proper into inventory Android 13 view, with a totally separate set of apps and instruments.
It is about as seamless as you might hope for, with minimal lag in my testing. You even know that the Home windows facet is ready in stasis, able to wake again up with one other button press. You additionally change to or from Android mechanically when you yank the show away from the keyboard or reattach it.
I did not get lengthy with the ThinkBook Plus, however I discovered the efficiency reliably quick for both working system, and I liked the OLED show. I might say you must await a full evaluate to make certain, since this can be a distinctive and untested function. However you’ve gotten each purpose to be optimistic.
In the event you do not care in any respect about Home windows, or about Android, then the 2-in-1 ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is not for you. However when you’re the form of particular person that desires flagship-quality specs for each, the ThinkBook Plus skirts the road and will theoretically prevent cash and desk house within the course of.
Lenovo says it is going to be out there in Q2 2024 — between April and June — with “an anticipated beginning worth of $1,999.” The Lenovo reps initially instructed me a decrease quantity, which makes me surprise in the event that they realized that they had a winner on their fingers and will cost extra money for it.
Regardless, I might commerce my present Dell laptop computer for this funky hybrid in a second, for its versatility and the possibility to entry Android on my desk with a correctly tactile keyboard — and no have to hold a number of gadgets charged directly.
