What you have to know
- The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a mixture Home windows 11 laptop computer and Android 13 pill.
- You possibly can 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 true world. With Lenovo’s new 2-in-1 Home windows 11 laptop computer and Android 13 pill hybrid, I had the prospect to place it by way of its paces at a personal occasion final month. One obvious subject apart, it appeared to totally reside 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 isn’t one machine with totally different docked and undocked software program. It is actually two units 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 recommended 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, in fact, 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 way more.
You possibly can see within the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid specs pill beneath how every half of this hybrid capabilities fully 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 instances, the {hardware} is fairly darn strong.
| 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 aspect, 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 strong sufficient for many pill software program. For something extra superior, nicely, that is what the Intel aspect 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 means: 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 folks would say sure.
Really, my solely actual criticism 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 need 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 staff did exhibit an official “Common Easel Stand,” seen within the first picture 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 are not the largest 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 herald 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 preserve it propped. It is one thing to remember.
As for the Home windows aspect 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 accordance with WC’s Daniel Rubino, this CPU places a serious emphasis on robust battery life, a cool-running processor, and a strong NPU for AI beneficial properties.
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 can 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 supply some actual energy. Plus, it affords an Intel Arc GPU; Lenovo does not specify what mannequin, and its reps appeared to recommend that its graphics may not compete with high-end Home windows-only laptops. However I am nonetheless joyful that it’s going to supply discrete graphics, not built-in.
Lenovo’s reps advised me that its ThinkBook Plus lineup is all about experimentation. The ThinkBook Gen 4 had an e-ink show on the again, seen if 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 have been enjoyable and weird ideas, ones that nobody actually requested for.
I do not assume 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 buyers will discover intriguing. And I am impressed by the execution.
Say you are working in Home windows and need 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 would hope for, with minimal lag in my testing. You even know that the Home windows aspect is ready in stasis, able to wake again up with one other button press. You additionally change to or from Android routinely 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 cherished the OLED show. I might say you must look forward to a full overview to make sure, since this can be a distinctive and untested function. However you’ve gotten each purpose to be optimistic.
Should 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 type of particular person that desires flagship-quality specs for each, the ThinkBook Plus skirts the road and will theoretically prevent cash and desk area within the course of.
Lenovo says will probably be obtainable in Q2 2024 — between April and June — with “an anticipated beginning worth of $1,999.” The Lenovo reps initially advised me a decrease quantity, which makes me marvel in the event that they realized they’d 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 prospect to entry Android on my desk with a correctly tactile keyboard — and no must preserve a number of units charged directly.
