First Impressions
Lenovo’s latest ThinkBook looks to be a wonderfully portable and adaptable device for those looking for a laptop that’s ideal for home and the office. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 isn’t your standard clamshell though, with a 360-hinge and a stylus to give you a variety of use cases to take advantage of.
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Hybrid designA slim 2-in-1 design for adaptable working. -
Latest Intel processorsComes with a new Core Ultra chip -
Works with stylusThe new Magnetic Slim Pen is included
Introduction
Lenovo has a stunningly vast range of laptops, from the gaming-focused Legion range, stylish Yoga options and the legendary ThinkPad series. At MWC 2024, the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 was revealed. It’s part of the “ThinkBook” range that offers flexibility for work and home.
The ThinkBook range is a largely unassuming one. It doesn’t offer up the eye-catching features of the ThinkPad, like the famous red TrackPoint dot, or a dual display like the Yoga Book 9i but it offers a functional look and actually useful design choices.
In particular, the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 brings handy accessories, well-sized keyboard and trackpad along with a bunch of smart and security-related add-ons.
Design
- Thin and light chassis
- 16:10 14-inch display
- Fingerprint sensor and IR privacy camera
The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 is standard “ThinkBook” fare, with a Luna Grey hue that’s jazzed up with a two-tone look on the lid. It comes in at a fairly light 1.64kg and 18.7mm thickness, making it suitably portable for a commute.
The neat worker-friendly touches begin with a 16:10 Full HD display, offering that extra verticality that’s ideal for productivity. It also offers up Low Blue Light technology to help ease eye strain. Above the display is a FHD webcam that comes with Windows Hello support courtesy of its IR camera, and there’s a dual-array digital microphone to help keep your conference calls crisp. There’s a privacy shutter to boot too.
In my short time giving the device a whirl at MWC 2024, I found the keyboard to be a joy to type on, with Lenovo touting 1.5mm key travel this time out. Despite this being a relatively compact deivce, you get a large Mylar (glass-like) touchpad included. There’s a handy fingerprint reader as well if Windows Hello face login doesn’t fulfill your biometric login needs
Then, there’s the intriguing Magnetic Slim Pen. It’s more of a flat design, akin to the Surface Slim Pen 2 from Microsoft, rather than the rounded S Pen from Samsung. It’s comfortable to hold and, in useful fashion, snaps magnetically to the side of the device for easy storage.
Lenovo is eager to show off its sustainability with this machine too. There’s 50% recycled aluminium metal on the bottom cover along with boosted use of PCR materials, at up to 50% for keycaps and 90% for other selected parts.
For ports, you’re getting a Thunderbolt 4, a USB-C 10Gbps, two USB-A 2.0, an HDMI 2.1, a MicroSD card reader and an audio combo jack. That’s a hearty selection for a laptop that’s so portable.
Specs and Performance
- Intel Core Ultra chip
- Up to 64GB RAM, up to 2TB SSD
Lenovo hasn’t revealed the exact processors that’ll be available on the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 laptop, but we do know it’ll come from the Intel Core Ultra range. Our experience with devices like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED and Acer Swift Go 14, which sport Intel’s latest offerings, show boosted graphics capabilities for thin and light machines while still offering impressive productivity chops.
Outside of the CPU, you can put a lot of juice into this laptop, with it configurable up to 64GB RAM and up to 2TB SSD storage. Specifications like this aren’t often present on consumer-facing laptops of this size, so it speaks to the hybrid focus of this machine. This should be able to serve some intensive productivity-related work demands, but we’ll be putting this to the test in our full review.
What will also need thoroughly testing is the 60Wh battery. Lenovo is yet to make claims regarding how long this should last you and 60Wh isn’t far from the biggest battery I’ve seen on a laptop, so hopefully it doesn’t let it down.
Some other onboard features, courtesy of Lenovo, include Smart Power. Smart Power is a first-party feature aimed at balancing power, performance and battery life on this machine. Then, there’s Smart Meeting, providing features like enhanced video options and audio quality management.
Lenovo also showcased some new accessories and software as part of its wider range, but that’ll work with the new ThinkBook. There’s the new USB-C Slim Travel dock, which makes a ton of sense to sit alongside this machine. It offers a range of ports, including support for 4K displays and 65W power. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14t Gen 2 Mobile Monitor (Touch) was also showed off at MWC 2024, a 2240×1440 14-inch panel for giving you more screen on the go.
Smart Connect debuted too. It is Lenovo’s take on the integration across its suite of devices, from its tablets and laptops to Motorola phones, letting you share files, apps and notifications across devices.
Early Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 may not catch too many eyes with its looks but its specifications and feature set points towards a machine that could be a dream for hybrid workers. The versatility of this device being a 2-in-1 and coming with a handy stylus too make it all the more interesting for productivity and creative workloads. This laptop is set to debut in May 2024, with a competitive starting price of €1,099. No word on UK and US pricing at the time of writing.
