Over the years, business laptops have been stuck in a bubble. They are looking at all black (you, the ThinkPad) or gray (the area pioneered by the MacBook). With its ThinkBook lineup, Lenovo is now trying to break that mold and offer something different.
The company feels that it has found a right balance between design and security features for commercial laptops. Honestly, it is a tall claim that considering “one size fits all” never works in the enterprise market. But no one knows about business laptops like Lenovo and this is an investigative claim.
First of all, the ThinkPad is not replacing the ThinkPad, which has been dominating the industry for a very long time. It, however, wants to target enterprise users who are no longer limited to a certain location.
Lenovo is trying to woo people. Not only are they young, but prefer to work from a cafe rather than an office. These are people who go to WeWork or Coworks to work. So, did Lenovo create a better product for such users? Answer briefly – yes. For a longer answer, you must read.
Lenovo Thinkbook 14: Design and Display
Last month, I reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad T490 and without a doubt, I would say that it is one of the best business laptops right now. However, I was wondering what would happen if Lenovo made a cheaper version of that machine and the answer seems to be Thinkbook 14 in some ways.
In terms of design, Lenovo is taking a lot of inspiration from its own product line such as Yoga Series and ThinkPad. The immediate thing you notice is that the Thinkbook 14 comes in a silver or metallic finish, as opposed to the black color trim seen on the ThinkPad model. This serves as a huge departure for enterprise customers who have risen to see the same mat ready model in all locations.
While the ThinkPad has a branding on the top right corner of the top panel, the Thinkbook has a branding in the lower left corner. It appears to be inscribed in a metal chassis using a laser and does not pose as an aggressive branding task.
This is in contrast to commercial laptop designs that scream with their branding and work hard to prove their loyalty. On the keyboard deck, Intel is a branding for the 10th generation CPU and all the stickers on this device are very rounded. You can easily open the laptop with one finger and the power button is embedded with a fingerprint sensor.
I found this fingerprint sensor very quickly. Sometimes it certified me so quickly that I wanted it not to work that way. As soon as you press the power button for the first time, the laptop starts and authenticates you. This is actually a clever design borrowed from smartphones.
Lenovo appealed to millennials and people working from co-working spaces. After using it for about a month, I can say that this thinkbook design will definitely appeal to them. This is not correct, but this business successfully digs out the traditional design associated with laptops.
Lenovo is introducing two models in India as part of the new ThinkBook lineup – Thinkbook 14 and Thinkbook 15.. Our review unit – the Thinkbook 14 – has a 14-inch IPS display with full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. Lenovo also includes instructions to set the custom zoom to 124 percent, which is ideal for this panel. The display has a peak brightness of 250 nits, which is fine when indoors but struggles outdoors.
When you view this display at an angle, it can be washed away. I found that the display could be seen at 60 percent brightness or higher. I left the device at peak brightness for this review period. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad display, but I would love to see nits with 350-400 flashes. Thinkbook lineup by including it on my wish list for 2020. The performance is fine for both work as well as watching Netflix.
Lenovo Thinkbook 14: Hardware and Battery Life
The ThinkBook comes with a 10th generation Intel Core processor, 24GB RAM, and an option for 1TB SSD or 2TB HDFC storage. Our review unit is configured with Intel Core i7-10150U in 1.8GHz, 16GB RAM and 512GB PCIe SSD storage. It also has optional Intel Optane memory and dual drive storage. With a machine like this, the first thing you notice is the time it takes to boot.
It usually takes between 15 and 30 seconds. Compared to laptops provided by most organizations to mid-level employees, it can be described as super fast. My work laptop, which is an HP ProBook 440, takes at least five minutes to boot and load all apps. I need to wait another 5-10 minutes to get started with my work. On the thinkbook, there is no such thing as waiting.
