Summary
- Lenovo announces the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, a 2-in-1 laptop that can switch between Android and Windows on the fly, offering versatility and convenience.
- The ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 SPE features an E Ink Prism display on the lid, allowing users to customize the laptop's appearance.
- Lenovo introduces the ThinkBook 14 i Gen 6+ and ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 laptops, offering powerful performance with Intel Core Ultra processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics.
CES is right around the corner, and Lenovo is kicking off the event with a series of announcements for its business-oriented ThinkBook lineup. This is where the company usually puts out its coolest and most unique devices, and this year is no different. The lineup includes the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, a 2-in-1 laptop that not only works as a laptop or a tablet but also gives you the option to switch between Android and Windows on the fly.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is clearly the highlight of Lenovo's announcements today, and it's another take on Lenovo's craziest laptop, after last year we got the ThinkBook Plus Gen 4 with a rotating lid featuring an OLED display and an E Ink panel. This year, Lenovo is changing things up with a totally new concept, and it's pretty wild.
For starters, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a 2-in-1 laptop that looks totally normal at first glance, but you can detach the screen from the base. The crazy part is that both parts of this device can function on their own.
The base of the laptop, officially called the Hybrid Station, can be connected to an external display and used as a desktop computer running Windows 11. It has an Intel Core 7 Ultra processor with Intel Arc graphics, 32GB of RAM, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, along with a headphone jack.
Meanwhile, the screen (or Hybrid Tab) functions by itself as an Android 13 tablet, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and featuring 12GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 245GB of storage. The Hybrid Tab includes a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display, plus a 13MP rear camera along with a 5MP front-facing camera with an IR sensor.
When connected to each other, you can use the main Windows 11 experience and use the Hybrid Stream feature to open your Android apps from within Windows, keeping both operating systems readily available.
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 will be available in the second quarter and start at $1,999.
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 (SPE)
That's not all in terms of cool devices from Lenovo's ThinkBook brand, though you can't buy this one. The Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 SPE is a proof of concept, but it's also very interesting. This laptop features an E Ink Prism display on the back of the lid, which isn't totally new, but the goal here is to use it for customization. The E Ink panel allows users to set a pattern or image of their liking to always be displayed on the outside of the laptop, so you can make it look however you want. And because it's E Ink, power consumption is nearly non-existent, meaning it won't affect battery life and the look can even stay on when the laptop is off.
Aside from the E Ink display, however, the rest of this laptop is fairly standard, and in fact, the ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 (not the SPE edition) is a real product you can buy. It's a 13-inch laptop with a 3:2 aspect ratio for the display and a 97% screen-to-body ratio, meaning bezels are practically invisible. That display also has some cool features, like being able to adjust the brightness and refresh rate of the display depending on whether you're looking at it, allowing you to save battery. It also comes in a limited edition using "stainless magnesium", which comes in a soft gold-like colorway.
In terms of specs, it's packing Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel Arc graphics and up to 32GB of RAM. It also has a 74Whr battery, which Lenovo says is the largest in a 13-inch laptop, so you should get pretty good battery life. Otherwise, it has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack, and pogo pins to support Lenovo's Magic Bay ecosystem of accessories, including the all-new Magic Bay Studio. This accessory contains a 4K webcam, speakers, and microphones, promising a much better experience for video calling, but also for media consumption.
THe Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 will be available in the first quarter starting at $1,399. Unfortunately, the SPE edition isn't expected to be available.
Lenovo ThinkBook 14 i Gen 6 and THinkBook 16p Gen 5
The rest of Lenovo's ThinkBook lineup is a bit more standard, but still interesting in its own right. First off, the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 i Gen 6+ is a 14.5-inch laptop with Intel Core Ultra processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and a big 85Wh battery. It also comes with up to a 3K display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and in addition to the NPU in Intel's own processors, it also comes with the Lenovo LA3 AI chip, enabling features like Lenovo Smart Meeting to enhance video and audio quality.
What makes this laptop interesting is actually the port situation, though, specifically the inclusion of a custom TGX port, to be used with the new ThinkBook Graphics Extension. This is an external GPU enclosure that supports Nvidia GeForce RTX desktop GPUs, providing a boost in graphics or AI performance for more demanding workloads at a desk.
Then we have the ThinkBook 16p Gen 5, a more powerful PC featuring up to a 14th-generation Intel Core i9 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics. The laptop has up to a 200W TDP, so you should have plenty of performance available to you for graphics and AI-related tasks. On that note, it also features the Lenovo LA3 AI chip, enabling features like adaptive dimming for the 16-inch 3.2K display. Just like the ThinkBook 13x Gen 4, the ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 also support Magic Bay accessories.
The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 i Gen 6+ will be available in the second quarter alongside the ThinkBook Graphics Extension in a bundle starting at $2,199, though Lenovo says availability will be limited in the U.S. The Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 will be available this quarter starting at $1,599. As for the Magic Bay Studio, it's set to launch in April for $199.99.
There are some desktops, too
Rounding out the announcements, Lenovo also announced a couple of desktops in the ThinkCentre lineup. The highlight is the ThinkCentre neo Ultra, a small 3.7-liter PC that promises plenty of performance. It comes with up to an Intel Core i9 processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and an independent NPU for AI tasks, which can even be upgraded later on. It also has 64GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 7 support.
There are also a couple of all-in-one PCs, the ThinkCentre neo 50a 27 and 50a 24 Gen 5. As the name suggests, these are 27-inch and 24-inch all-in-one computers, and they come with up to an Intel Core i7 processor and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. The displays themselves have a 100Hz refresh rate, and they can even be used as external monitors for a connected PC. What's more, the store on these machines can be used as a private cloud so you can access our files from anywhere.
The ThinkCentre neo Ultra is set to be available in the second quarter, starting at $1,499, while the ThinkCentre neo 50a will be available in the first quarter, starting at $799 for the 24-inch model and $899 for the 27-inch version.