Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 Review: Affordable, Upgradeable Business Convertible

If you read my review earlier this year of Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 and agreed with my conclusion that it’s too expensive unless your organization is making volume purchases, then the ThinkBook line might be of interest. Geared toward smaller shops and individual buyers looking for a solid and secure two-in-one laptop, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 offers a low-cost alternative to pricier ThinkPads for business buyers. 

Not only is it more affordable than a ThinkPad, but it is also more upgradeable. Most modern laptops and two-in-ones, including Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 and ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 as well as its consumer-oriented Yoga 9i 14 Gen 9 and Yoga 7 14 Gen 9, feature RAM that is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded after purchase (the case with most laptops now). The ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4’s upgradeability can increase your ROI by letting you (or your IT department) add more RAM and a second SSD instead of needing to purchase a new machine at the first signs of it slowing down. The rest of the package is fairly basic — from the plain overall look to the dim display — but the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4’s solid build quality and expandability could lend it a long and useful life for budget-conscious business buyers.

This fourth generation of Lenovo’s ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 is based on Intel Core Ultra processors. The baseline model has been consistently discounted to $939 at Lenovo and features a Core Ultra 5 125U, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 14-inch IPS touch display with a 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution. 

Lenovo offers a few customization options for the CPU (to a Core Ultra 7 155H), RAM (up to 32GB) and SSD (up to 1TB). Our test system cost $1,046 and included 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD as well as the upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro.

The ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 starts at £708 in the UK and AU$1,683 in Australia. 

Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 performance

There are fewer differences than you might think between the Core Ultra 5 125H CPU in our test system and the step-up Core Ultra 7 155H that Lenovo offers for an extra $209. The Core Ultra 7 155H runs at slightly higher CPU and GPU frequencies than the Core Ultra 5 125H, but both chips feature a total of 12 processing cores — two performance cores, eight efficient cores and two low-power efficient cores.

Given the two processors have the same number of cores and the differences in frequencies are slight, I was surprised to see the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 trail a pair of Core Ultra 7 155H-based systems in the HP Spectre x360 14 and Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 9 on the Geekbench 6 single- and multi-core tests by such wide margins. It even finished behind the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 with a previous-gen Core i7 U-series CPU and a pair of AMD Ryzen 7 8860H-based models in the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 7445 and Lenovo Yoga 7 14 Gen 9. 

The ThinkBook managed to top the ThinkPad X1 Yoga on PCMark 10 but trailed the other Intel and AMD models on this benchmark, which measures overall application performance across mixed workloads.

It also produced a lackluster result on 3DMark Time Spy. It finished ahead of the previous-gen ThinkPad X1 Yoga and narrowly edged the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, but the Arm-based Surface Pro 11 had to use emulation to run the test, which holds back performance. Neither of these 3DMark Time Spy victories ought to be celebrated.

After a series of disappointments in lab testing, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 flipped the script with battery testing and produced an excellent runtime of roughly 13.5 hours. That’s the best among this group of laptops and two-in-ones and more than enough to get you through most workdays on a single charge. 

Plain looks, solid build

The ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 is designed not to turn heads but to put your head down and work. It features a sturdy, all-aluminum enclosure in a dull gray color with a dull gray keyboard to match. The only hint of a design flourish is the two tones of gray on the lid, with the standard dull offset by a slightly lighter but still dull gray on the bottom third.

While it may be lacking in the looks department, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 boasts a rock-solid build quality. This laptop is a workhorse that will be able to stand up to daily abuse. The metal chassis has little to none of the flex felt in flimsier enclosures, and the display hinges feel firm and keep the display rooted in place with little to no wobble in its many modes, from laptop to tablet with tent and presentation modes in between. The ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 has passed MIL-STD 810H tests to prove its ability to withstand drops, vibration, shock, dust, extreme temperatures and more.

Unsurprisingly, the tank-like laptop is heavier than the average 14-inch two-in-one. It weighs 3.6 pounds, which is not too heavy for daily travel and the same weight as the Lenovo Yoga 7 14 Gen 9. The 2.9-pound Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 9, 3.1-pound Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 and 3.2-pound HP Spectre x360 14 are better options if you’re looking to travel lighter.

The keyboard is spill-resistant to protect the internals from coffee, Diet Coke or whatever beverage helps you get through the workday. It feels roomy, but the keys themselves lean toward mushy and lack the snap you get with a ThinkPad keyboard. I do like getting four nearly full-size arrow keys instead of the half-height buttons usually on offer.

I also like the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 upgradeability. We are in an era where most laptops feature RAM that’s soldered to the motherboard and not upgradeable after purchase. So, it’s refreshing to see a laptop with an actual RAM module that can be removed or replaced. Better yet, there’s a second RAM slot so you — or the IT department managing a small fleet of ThinkBook 14 — can easily add more memory as needed. 

There’s also an open M.2 slot to add a second SSD for storage. And getting inside the laptop is easy as long as you have a Torx screwdriver; nine Torx screws hold the bottom panel in place.

Like the overall design, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4’s display is unremarkable. It’s a standard 1,920×1,200-pixel IPS touch panel rated for a ho-hum 300 nits of brightness. The resolution suffices for the display’s size — text and images look sharp enough — but I wish it was brighter. 

In testing with a Spyder X Elite colorimeter, it failed to hit its meager rating and measured a peak brightness of just 285 nits. This is a display in which you’ll have the brightness dialed all the way up at all times. And you’ll wish you could push it higher when you are sitting in a sunny room or under bright artificial lights. Color performance was better than expected, though. The display covered 100% of the sRGB gamut and a decent percentage of the larger color spaces — 78% for AdobeRGB and 80% for P3. 

Lenovo includes the Slim Pen 4.0, an active pen that can be charged via USB-C and attached magnetically to the laptop’s right side. Its flat shape isn’t the most ergonomic for writing, but it’s wide enough that I grew comfortable using it.

The 1080p webcam produces a fuzzy, poorly balanced image that looks more like the quality you’d get with an older 720p cam. It’s not great, but it does feature a physical privacy shutter. Lenovo offers an IR cam upgrade, but the upgrade doesn’t include a bump in resolution. Without the webcam upgrade, you can use the fingerprint reader that’s integrated into the power button on the system’s right side for secure biometric logins.

The external port selection is excellent with Thunderbolt 4 on board along with a pair of USB-A ports, HMDI and even a microSD card slot. With just Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 6E to say nothing of the current Wi-Fi 7 standard, however, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4’s wireless networking is behind the times. 

Is the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 a good laptop?

Given that it costs hundreds less than similarly configured ThinkPads, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 offers good value despite its shortcomings. And its value will only increase if you plan to take advantage of its upgradeability to add more RAM or a second SSD to extend its lifespan. Plus, with its rugged build, the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 ought to hold up for years and years.