Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid overview: Nice concept! However…

At CES 2024, Lenovo stunned us tech journalists with a model new machine we weren’t anticipating: a Home windows laptop computer that’s additionally an Android pill. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid (sure, it’s a ridiculous identify) was spectacular at first look, not simply to us but in addition to you: our hands-on video with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid we filmed in Las Vegas is crammed with excited feedback from viewers speaking about how a lot they might like to get one.

There have been additionally feedback from people who remembered that units like this have been obtainable a few years in the past. Some dual-booted Home windows and Android, just like the ViewSonic ViewPad 10, whereas others had devoted {hardware} for each working programs. Lenovo itself made one within the early 2010s: the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid. It’s attention-grabbing that the corporate ought to attempt now, in 2024, to deliver that concept again. The query then turns into, was that a good suggestion?

Nicely, it took some time, however Lenovo quietly made the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid obtainable on the market on the finish of August. The corporate kindly despatched me one to overview, and I got down to discover out simply how helpful an Android/Home windows hybrid machine actually is. The TL;DR is that the concept is sound, however the execution is the place Lenovo must focus its efforts on the following attempt.

Bear in mind the Microsoft Floor E book? It was a short-lived hybrid laptop computer with a detachable show (Microsoft has since moved on to a extra easy design, as seen within the Seventh-gen Floor Laptop computer). It allowed customers to have the consolation of a clamshell Home windows laptop computer after they wanted it and a Home windows pill after they wanted one thing extra cell. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is principally the identical factor, besides while you detach the display, you don’t proceed utilizing Home windows 11: you bounce into Android 14.

Lenovo calls the 2 halves of the laptop computer the Hybrid Station (the keyboard, the place Home windows lives) and the Hybrid Tab (the display, the place Android lives). Every half is its personal separate factor: except for the show, cameras, keyboard, and trackpad, nothing is shared between them. Meaning the Android pill has its personal processor (a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1), RAM, battery, Wi-Fi module, and many others., whereas the Home windows machine additionally has its personal processor (an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H), RAM, battery, and many others.

However, while you join the 2, you’ve got a system that works collectively to provide the better of each worlds. When connected, with the contact of a button (proper subsequent to the F12 key), you’ll be able to swap forwards and backwards between the 2 working programs. You possibly can even window Android, plug in an exterior monitor, after which have each Android and Home windows working concurrently on two screens. Since every system runs natively on devoted {hardware}, there aren’t any efficiency hits for doing this: you might play Genshin Impression at full tilt on one display and render a video in Adobe Premiere Professional on the opposite display and face no points (in addition to warmth!).

Clearly, cramming all these things collectively into one 14-inch laptop computer isn’t any small feat, so some sacrifices wanted to be made. For instance, there are solely 4 ports on all the system: two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports (one on both aspect of the Hybrid Station), a combo mic/audio jack on the left aspect of the Station, after which a single USB-C port on the Hybrid Tab that lives on the hinge close to the place the 2 halves join (that is additionally the place the pill’s energy button lives).

Talking of the hinge, eradicating the Hybrid Tab doesn’t require any button presses or twisting. You actually simply yank it off the Hybrid Station. This takes some getting used to, as you actually want to drag it off. It took me some time to get it down as a result of I felt like I used to be going to interrupt it. The factor is a tank, although, so there’s nothing to fret about there.

Along with the mixed system and a 100W wall charger, you additionally get a powered stylus and a foolish little steel easel within the retail field. The stylus is okay — it’s a stylus that does stylus issues on both working system. The easel is a bizarre alternative, however I suppose it’s good to have if you wish to prop the Hybrid Tab someplace. I’m simply undecided it wanted to be manufactured from steel and include the machine.

I’ll be trustworthy: the geek in me completely loves this factor. The thought of having the ability to use whichever working system is finest for the duty without having to hold round two totally different units is solely genius. Actually, there’s a lot right here that Lenovo nailed out of the park.

First, the specs listed below are top-notch. The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 within the Hybrid Tab is just a few years outdated however nonetheless a beast. Not many tablets have landed with this processor, however our benchmarks present it being very near a Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely by way of sustained CPU and GPU efficiency, which is attention-grabbing as a result of the S23 Extremely has the technically superior Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This result’s primarily because of the dimension and building of the pill — the Hybrid Tab is solely higher at maintaining cool, so it may be fairly near the real-world output of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Likewise, the Intel Core Extremely 7 155H within the Hybrid Station isn’t any slouch, both. It might probably deal with all of your productiveness wants with ease and might even do high-level duties like video and picture enhancing. The Intel Arc iGPU will even help you play most AAA video games, assuming you’re OK with turning the standard settings method down.

The actual spotlight of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, although, is its 2.8K OLED touchscreen show. It’s merely attractive, no matter whether or not you’re utilizing Android or Home windows (or each). It’s not good — it solely has a 60Hz refresh fee, which is a bit disappointing, and the bezels are very thick — however I discovered it an absolute pleasure to make use of.

I’ve already instructed you about how simple it’s to swap between Home windows and Android with the contact of a button, however Lenovo has additionally included some attention-grabbing software program instruments that additional join the 2 programs. All these instruments reside within the Hybrid Heart program, which comes pre-installed on the Home windows aspect. One characteristic right here is Hybrid Folder, which lets you share recordsdata between Android and Home windows by merely dragging and dropping them. Something you add to this particular folder is shared throughout each the pill and the keyboard, which is nice. One other instrument means that you can obtain any images you are taking with the pill robotically. If you join the 2 halves, your images are immediately synced to the Home windows Footage folder.

This being a Lenovo laptop computer, it additionally has the model’s iconic digicam shutter that bodily disconnects the front-facing 1080p webcam, stopping individuals from needing to place a chunk of tape there. This works on each Android and Home windows!

Lastly, battery life is fairly nice. There’s a ten,000mAh battery within the Hybrid Tab — a bit smaller than what we’d usually see in a pill of this dimension, however nonetheless good. In the meantime, the Hybrid Station has a 75Wh battery, which is fairly commonplace for a 14-inch laptop computer. These two batteries mixed help you lengthen your system’s battery life by quite a bit when in comparison with a traditional laptop computer or pill. For instance, you might use the Android pill till it runs down to almost zero, join it to the station, and carry on working with one other full tank of fuel.

Sadly, whereas I clearly have lots of nice issues to say in regards to the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, there are simply as many issues about it that didn’t work out so properly for me.

Though Lenovo had tried to do one thing like this earlier than with the beforehand talked about IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid may be very clearly a first-gen product. As I stated, it took lots of engineering prowess to make two issues turn out to be one, and meaning all of the refined experiences you anticipate with a traditional laptop computer aren’t essentially going to hold over.

Nowhere is that this extra apparent than within the weight of the machine. When the 2 halves are connected, the total system weighs almost 4 kilos. That’s not outrageous or something, however 14-inch laptops with related specs — say, the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405) — weigh greater than a pound much less. Granted, there must be a battery within the show (one thing a traditional laptop computer wouldn’t want), and the hinge mechanism undoubtedly provides some heft. Nonetheless, Lenovo has loads of room to trim off some ounces if it makes a second-gen model of this.

Talking of the batteries, whereas battery life is nice, charging up the batteries isn’t as easy because it might be. In my earlier instance, I stated you might run down the Hybrid Tab to almost zero after which connect it to the Hybrid Station and carry on working. Whereas that is true, when you do run out of juice, there’s no method to decide on the way you cost every half after they’re connected. In different phrases, the charger goes to refill every system at an equal ratio, which you may not need. For instance, you would possibly need to cost the Tab first after which cost the Station when that’s full — however you’ll be able to’t. This might be solved with software program, perhaps, however it doesn’t at present exist. The one solution to remedy this concern is to maintain the 2 halves separated and cost them individually, which might require two cables and, if you wish to preserve working, the usage of an exterior show for the Home windows aspect.

There are different software program points like this. For instance, everytime you reattach the show to the Station, you at all times bounce again to Home windows. You may be OK with this, however it’s unusual Lenovo doesn’t help you management the default conduct there. Equally, while you detach the show, Home windows robotically locks. This may be very inconvenient for those who had the total package connected to an exterior monitor and used it for a Zoom name. If you happen to detach the display on this state of affairs, your laptop locks, messing up your name.

There’s additionally no continuity between the 2 working programs. If I go to a espresso store, I would like to attach each programs to Wi-Fi, which is annoying. There’s additionally no activity continuation. In different phrases, if I’m drafting an electronic mail in Outlook on Home windows, I can’t then proceed that electronic mail after I change over to Outlook on Android, although they’re basically the identical app. This isn’t technically Lenovo’s downside, however it will have been nice to see extra funding in software program continuity.

Outdoors of software program, the {hardware} wants some refining, too. I already instructed you ways troublesome it’s to take the show off, however on high of this, because of the weight of the Hybrid Tab, opening the laptop computer with one hand is principally inconceivable, and even opening it with two is hard. Additionally, Lenovo made the weird choice to incorporate a dual-camera system on the again of the Hybrid Tab. Actually, who wants a dual-camera system on the again of a laptop computer? Yeah, I suppose there may be restricted conditions the place you’ll desire a rear digicam for while you’re utilizing it as a pill, however the system isn’t designed to be taken out on a visit to snap images. In the long run, all this does is add to the machine’s total weight and improve its value.

And that brings me to the ultimate piece of the puzzle: wowzers, is that this factor costly.

I hope you’re prepared for this: the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has an inventory value of over $3,500. That’s some huge cash. Like, quite a bit of cash. To place that into context, you might simply get a 14-inch Home windows laptop computer with related specs for round $1,500 after which get a high-end Android pill for $1,000 or much less. Meaning you’re paying a $1,000 premium for the comfort of getting these two units merge into one.

This turns into much more troublesome to abdomen while you perceive that lots of the cool issues the system can do will be replicated with two separate units. For instance, Fast Share (which is constructed into Android and will be put in on Home windows) makes it lifeless easy to wirelessly share recordsdata between your Android pill and your Home windows laptop computer. Duet software program can help you use your laptop computer’s keyboard and trackpad to regulate an Android pill, too. If you happen to purchase a pill that’s made by the identical producer as your laptop computer — say, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung) and a Galaxy E book 4 ($899.99 at Samsung) — you’ll be able to even use the pill as a wi-fi second display to your laptop computer. Sure, you’d want to hold round two units, however you’ll save properly over $1,000.

To its credit score, Lenovo has already put the machine on sale just a few occasions — it would even be on sale proper now when you’re studying this. However asking $3,500 for a first-gen product you’ll be able to simply replicate with a lot cheaper gear is a non-starter.

That every one being stated, I nonetheless love this machine. The thought of it’s terrific — Lenovo simply must refine it. It must be lighter, cheaper, and the tough design edges — like how difficult it’s to get the show off — must be sanded down. Moreover, higher software program integration between the 2 working programs is required.

I applaud Lenovo for stepping out on a limb and attempting one thing totally different. I actually hope there’s a second era of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid. Nevertheless, I’m involved that this mannequin received’t promote properly due to its value, and Lenovo will erroneously conclude that individuals don’t need an Android/Home windows hybrid. Right here I’m, Lenovo: I need this concept to work. I simply don’t suppose this explicit product is value it. Please give us one other attempt!