Review: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5)

Windows 2-in-1s have been doing the tablet-laptop hybrid thing for a while now, but the tablet part of that equation always feels lacking. While iPads and Android tablets have refined the experience for more than a decade and have vast ecosystems of tablet-optimized apps at the ready, Windows remains a bit of an ugly duckling.

But what if you combined a Windows laptop with a full Android tablet? That’s the idea behind the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5), and it’s an interesting beast.

The closest analogue to the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) is Microsoft’s now-dead Surface Book line but without the need to split shared hardware between the screen and the base. Instead, the ThinkBook packs all of its laptop internals into the keyboard base and the separate tablet hardware in the display. What you end up with is a laptop that can instantly (well, nearly instantly) switch between Windows and Android at the press of a button, or operate separately when you detach the screen.

The hardware is no slouch either. My review unit Lenovo has an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive for storage. The tablet portion of the machine includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset (the flagship Android processor from 2022), 12 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. Those are fairly beefy specs on both ends of the equation and help keep the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) feeling snappy with both Windows and Android.

As you’d expect from a $3,500 machine, the build quality of this ThinkBook Plus is exceptional, with an all-metal chassis that feels like it can survive being run over by a pickup truck (please don’t do that). It features a 2,880 x 1,800-pixel-resolution 14-inch OLED touchscreen display that looks as good as you can get in a premium laptop. Combined with a set of robust speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, you have a great overall media experience.

The idea is neat, and it’s fun to pull the screen off the keyboard and place it on the included easel to use as a second-screen Android tablet for streaming some Netflix while you work. With the screen detached, you can plug an external monitor into the keyboard base to continue working on the Windows half. Lenovo includes some smart software tricks, like a shared folder that allows you to share files between the Android and Windows systems or the option to open Android as a separate window on your Windows desktop when the screen is attached.

When you’re in laptop mode with the screen attached, you can press a button on the keyboard to switch the screen between Windows and Android. It’s nearly instantaneous, but I noticed a small delay where the screen went black for a second or so during each switch. Using a keyboard and trackpad with Android feels almost like a Chromebook at times, though some apps are easier to use with touch.

This is a very nice high-end laptop; you feel it in every detail. Performance and polish aren’t the issues with Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5). Rather, it’s figuring out who it’s for.

That’s not new for the ThinkBook Plus series. The previous generation packed a second E Ink screen on its rear cover that could be twisted to face you, while the one before that had a small, 8-inch touchscreen that flanked the side of the keyboard. In other words, the ThinkBook Plus line is where Lenovo experiments with some of its wackier ideas that might not have mainstream appeal.

Unfortunately, this can lead to some questionable omissions and decisions. Most notable is a lack of ports: The ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) has two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the keyboard base. The tablet portion only has a single USB-C port accessible when detached from the keyboard.

You could connect the laptop to a Thunderbolt dock for more ports when you're at a desk, but the lack of more than two Thunderbolt ports on such an expensive laptop is a major disappointment. You need to bring a separate dongle if you have to work with SD cards or standard USB peripherals on the go, which reduces the portability gained from a tablet and laptop in the same device.

Diminishing portability even further is the fact that this is a hefty laptop at nearly 4 pounds. You’re going to notice that weight in a bag, especially when you have to carry around its relatively large 100-watt power brick. You may need to keep that brick handy as well, as I only reached around 7.5 hours of battery life on my video-streaming test, though general productivity work lasted a little longer at just over eight hours in laptop mode. The good news is each half uses its own batteries, so you can likely more than double battery life if you are OK with switching from Windows to Android, or vice versa when the battery dies on one.

There’s also the process of detaching the display from the base, which is a little finicky. You can only pull the display off if it’s at a precise 90-degree angle with the base. It also required an amount of force that left me feeling a little nervous each time I wanted to separate the screen from the keyboard.

With those qualms aside, this is an interesting device with some fantastic hardware. However, it’s tough to recommend at its $3,500 MSRP unless you have specific needs the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 5) happens to meet. Fortunately, Lenovo often deeply discounts its laptops during big sale events, and this laptop has already dropped down to around $2,000 at the time of publication.

For most people, I’d still recommend picking up a good 2-in-1 laptop instead if you need to occasionally sign some documents or want a pseudo-tablet laptop setup. Our current favorite hails from Lenovo itself— the Yoga 9i 2-in-1. Otherwise, snagging a good laptop and tablet separately is probably more cost-effective and less likely to cause headaches in the long run.