The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is one of the best convertible laptops, full stop. If I could end that sentence with a TrackPoint red full-stop, that would be even better because convertible laptop users will love this, ThinkPad users will love it, and you'll love it too if you give it a chance.

It's not (quite) as expensive as the carbon fiber ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but it's more user-friendly than the Yoga range, which has been the gold standard for convertible laptops for some time now. The keyboard is best-in-class, the TrackPoint hasn't disappeared as in the affordable ThinkPad range, and there's an OLED display option.

That's also the option we think you should pick, as the IPS model we were sent is good, but it's not good when you consider OLED displays come on products half this price, and you really shouldn't settle for IPS these days. Besides that, battery life exceeds everything I've tested recently, and I love how fluid the hinge feels.

Lenovo sent XDA the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition for review. It had no input on the contents of this article.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 pricing and availability

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is now available from $1,913. At least, that's the lowest configuration straight from Lenovo, but we all know Lenovo.com pricing tends to fluctuate, and one of the higher tiers may be cheaper on sale. You can also get some versions from Best Buy; we assume other purchasing options might turn up later in the year.

It's a ThinkPad* so you know what to expect

(* with a twist... err I mean backflip)

ThinkPads come in black or gunmetal gray these days, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is the latter. It's stylish enough without being too bland, and doesn't really show up fingerprints. I like how Lenovo has used the dot of the i in ThinkPad as a red LED indicator for whether the laptop is turned off or in sleep mode, and the camera bump at the top makes it easier to open the lid.

On the left side, you get two ThunderBolt 4/USB4 ports and one USB-A port, which has a 5 Gbps speed but can be always-on for charging other devices. The right side has a recessed power button, 3.5mm audio jack, another USB-A port (there is no always-on here), and a full-size HDMI port. ​​​​​​

The right edge of the lid also has a magnetic area for holding the Yoga Pen when it is not in use. Lenovo used to have the pen in a dock in the keyboard side, and while people liked that, it made the pen smaller and not as nice to hold. And at 2.97 pounds, it's not the lightest laptop around but it's easy enough to cart around or use in tablet mode without you feeling like it's too hefty.

The IPS screen isn't the best

It even struggles with outdoor use

The ThinkPad X1 2-in1 Gen 10 nails almost everything about the core experience, except the lackluster IPS panel with three variants (for why?) when the only screen any business laptop of this caliber should be getting is OLED. There is an OLED display option, and if it's the same 2.8K panel that's used in other Lenovo laptops I've tested, you want that one.

The IPS display is 60Hz, and isn't the best for color gamut coverage. It's decently bright, but it isn't enough for using it outside unless you're in a shady part of a café. It's not particularly consistent either, with 2.6 DeltaE at its worst for brightness consistency. It fares better for color accuracy, at 0.69 DeltaE, except for teal, which is 5.06 DeltaE, and possibly due to the antiglare coating on this unit.

Yes, it still has a TrackPoint

Classic nostalgia with one of the best keyboards around

This is a ThinkPad, through and through, and don't let the convertible nature of its touchscreen and stylus say otherwise. It has TrackPoint with its jaunty red nubbin there to give power users who won't use anything but a ThinkPad all the mouse control they need.

After all, we've all been frustrated by touchpads not registering taps or mistakenly thinking we were swiping instead of two-fingering, and having physical mouse buttons is fantastic once you get used to tapping them with your thumb. You could opt for a haptic touchpad which makes the buttons virtual but still keeps the TrackPoint, if you prefer.

Maybe it's partly nostalgia on my part, since the first laptop I remember using was a black, boxy ThinkPad in the early 90s, with that TrackPoint helping me play NHL 95. I wouldn't have been able to play with the touchpad, it was terrible, and trying to use keys only was a losing proposition. That keyboard wasn't great, either, but the one on this X1 2-in-1 is excellent to type on, one of the best Lenovo has created, and having the fingerprint reader on the bottom row instead of the top was an inspired choice.

Lunar Lake is still lovely

And the battery life is out of this world

By now, it shouldn't really be any surprise that a Lunar Lake laptop loves to churn through your daily workload. Synthetic benchmarks only go so far, but using these laptops shows another thing. Intel hasn't sacrificed daily utility while chasing benchmark numbers, which can't be said about the company in the past.

This ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 happily handled voice and video calls, with clear and crisp audio and video. The 1080p webcam that's paired with the IPS models isn't great, with washed-out images unless there is plenty of room lighting. But everything I did from document or image editing went smoothly, whether using the keyboard or the Yoga Pen. That pen is a real help for image editing, and I think my next personal laptop needs stylus support.

But Lunar Lake also enables two other things—battery life and graphical power. I fired up the Procyon productivity battery test, and it outlasted me that day. When I woke in the morning, it had clocked an impressive 14 hours and 8 minutes of use. That's impressive for a productivity test, when most of the long battery life tests are done with a video looping at 50% brightness, not exactly a hard test of modern CPUs.

That means you don't really need to worry about carrying a charger anymore, although the 65W USB-C charger for this is easily carried and not really much bigger than a phone charger. If you already carry a charger for your smartphone or anything else, you don't need to add another to your bag.

And let's talk about that hinge

It's perfection

Convertible laptops need to nail the feel and function of the hinge. The Yoga 7i I recently used was too stiff, and it always felt like it would snap instead of swivel. On the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10, that's not a worry at all, with smooth, silky hinges that easily convert from clamshell to tablet, and anywhere in between. It's smoother than my foldable phones, which I spent hours fiddling with when they first arrived, and I spent hours with this hinge too. It's marvelous, and I wish it came on everything.

It's got a nice weight distribution, too, and can almost open one-handed with only the slightest momentary lifting off when it gets near standard screen angles. I like this a lot, as I hate using both hands to open a laptop. Even with the sleek hinge, I've not had to worry about it opening in my bag or flopping open when held, and it's been a joy to use.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition?

You should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition if:

• You want a fantastic user experience in all modes
• You want a solidly built laptop
• You like TrackPoint
• You like using a stylus

You should NOT buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition if:

• You have a smaller budget
• You prefer a traditional form factor
• You need the power of a discrete GPU

I've used many convertible laptops, and they often feel like they've been designed for a use case that doesn't exist or that they come with too many compromises. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is the first one that is genuinely good in every mode, and a lot of that is down to how good the hinge is. The Yoga Pen feels natural, and while I feel it should be magnetically charged, at least it's USB-C and not using tiny batteries like some of the competition.

It keeps what is quintessentially ThinkPad in nature and brings it into the future, with a stylish, solidly built exterior, a fantastic keyboard, and a red TrackPoint mouse that is still hard to beat.