Whether you’re in search of highly effective {hardware} or an superior keyboard, Lenovo laptops are extremely rated and very dependable. At PCWorld, we’ve been personally utilizing and testing Lenovo laptops for years, from ThinkPads to Yogas and every little thing in between.
In a crowded area, there’s one laptop computer that actually stands out from the remaining—the Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon Gen 9. It earns our prime spot due to its massive show, wonderful keyboard, and surprisingly quiet operation. But Lenovo has loads of different noteworthy fashions to fulfill a wide range of private {and professional} wants.
Read on to be taught extra about our suggestions for one of the best Lenovo laptops, and make sure to go to our information to the best laptops overall if you wish to see our picks throughout all laptop computer makers.
Updated 04/07/2023: To embrace the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming as our alternative for greatest Lenovo Chromebook for gaming. Read our abstract beneath for more information on this new decide.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 – Best Lenovo laptop computer general
Pros
- Roomy 16:10 show
- Thin and lightweight but rugged
- Stellar keyboard
- Quiet operation
- Booming audio
- Two Thunderbolt 4 ports
Cons
- Webcam restricted to 720p
- Display coloration is a bit cool
Price When Reviewed:
$1,799.60
ThinkPads are usually hailed as being superior enterprise laptops due to their comfy keyboards and silent operation. With its quiet keyboard, security measures, and booming audio, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is one such laptop computer. It’s packing a quad-core Core i7-1185G7, 16GB of RAM, and built-in Iris Xe graphics. That means it’s well-equipped to deal with “Office and other productivity apps” and “a variety of multitasking scenarios.” The actual star of the present is the 16:10 show, although, because it provides you loads of room to work with. If you take into account your self a enterprise skilled, you’ll positively need to decide this one up.
Read our full
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 review
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (2022) – Best convertible Lenovo laptop computer
Pros
- Sturdy and modern all-metal chassis
- Long battery life
- Impressive audio output
- Comfortable keyboard
Cons
- 16:9 display screen feels cramped
- Included stylus is just too skinny
- Undersized touchpad
- Limited ports all on left facet
Price When Reviewed:
$1,230 (entry stage) | $1,449 (as reviewed)
The Lenovo Yoga 9i is a improbable convertible. It has a horny design, a blinding OLED show, and nice sound high quality. Plus, the 12th-gen Intel processor actually boosts efficiency. According to our tester, the processor “packs four performance cores and eight efficiency cores.” That’s fairly a little bit of energy. The 74 watt-hour battery is kind of massive for a compact 2-in-1 as effectively. When we put the laptop computer by means of our battery take a look at, it died in about 12 hours. You can count on this laptop computer to final by means of the work day. There’s a few minor nitpicks to pay attention to, although. The 19:9 facet ratio makes the display screen really feel a bit squished and the touchpad is smaller than we like. If you’ll be able to dwell with these small drawbacks, the Yoga 9i is effectively price contemplating.
Read our full
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (2022) review
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano 20UN000EUS – Most moveable Lenovo laptop computer
Pros
- Perfect steadiness of efficiency and battery life
- Premium keyboard
- Facial recognition and presence detection
- Weighs lower than 2 kilos
Cons
- Only two ports (Thunderbolt 4, no less than)
- No touchscreen on this specific SKU
If you’re in search of all-day battery life, you’ve come to the appropriate place. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano lasted about sixteen hours throughout our battery take a look at, through which we looped 4K video. That’s fairly spectacular for a 48-Watt-hour battery. And, weighing simply shy of two kilos, the Nano can also be shockingly light-weight. In our evaluate, the tester “loved toting it around” from room to room. If you’re in search of a transportable laptop computer with improbable battery life, the Nano is a superb possibility.
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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano 20UN000EUS review
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming – Best Lenovo Chromebook for gaming
Pros
- Large, shiny 2560×1600 show
- Ideal wi-fi and wired connectivity
- Good show, robust audio system
Cons
- Unimpressive design
- Mediocre keyboard and touchpad
- Lackluster webcam and microphone
Price When Reviewed:
$569.99
It’s been a tough 12 months for gaming Chromebooks, however Lenovo is maintaining the hope alive with the IdeaPad 5 Gaming. It sports activities good efficiency with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. It additionally comes with a shiny 16-inch 2560×1600 show and surprisingly good audio system—a rarity for any laptop computer.
You usually can’t play trendy pc video games on a Chromebook as a result of video games not being supported by ChromeOS. So you’ll possible must do most, if not all, of your gaming by means of a cloud gaming service. But with web connection, the IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook is greater than able to streaming video games from the cloud at excessive resolutions and as much as 120Hz. You’ll must pay the month-to-month charge for a cloud gaming service to make it work, however when you do, this Lenovo Chromebook may have you gaming with one of the best of them.
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Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook review
Lenovo Slim 9i – Best show
Pros
- Beautifully designed and skinny chassis
- Gorgeous 4K OLED show
- Strong utility and multimedia efficiency
- Impressive audio output
Cons
- High value
- Merely common battery life
- Limited ports require the inclusion of an adapter
Price When Reviewed:
$2,140
The Lenovo Slim 9i brings a ton of nice options, however its 4K OLED actually stands out. It is without doubt one of the most spectacular laptop computer shows we’ve got ever seen and it’s on an ultraportable no much less. The Slim 9i additionally packs some significantly robust efficiency with the most recent Intel Core i7 processor, an ample 32GB of RAM, and a decently sized 1TB PCIe SSD. That is a lot to get absolutely anything you want carried out whereas on the go. Additionally, it has just a few sneaky options that impressed our reviewer, resembling a strong audio system and a 1080p webcam.
For all of those options nonetheless, you need to count on to pay a premium, and the Lenovo Slim 9i isn’t any exception. But when you have the cash to afford it, you may be rewarded with not solely a improbable display screen, but additionally nice efficiency.
Read our full
Lenovo Slim 9i (2022) review
Lenovo Flex 5G – Best battery life
Pros
- Blisteringly quick 5G knowledge speeds
- Bright FHD show
- Incredibly lengthy battery life
- IR facial recognition and fingerprint reader
Cons
- Middling productiveness efficiency
- Limited Verizon 5G protection
- No USB Type-A ports
- Shallow keyboard
When it involves the Lenovo Flex 5G laptop computer, there’s lots to like. It has blazingly quick 5G knowledge speeds, a shiny FHD show, and tremendous lengthy battery life. What extra are you able to ask for? When we put the Flex 5G by means of our battery take a look at, which simulates real-world use, it lasted a whopping 27 hours. While that’s all effectively and good, the laptop computer weighs round three kilos, because it wants more room to accommodate the large 60 Watt-hour battery. That means it’s gained’t overwhelm your backpack, nevertheless it’s not the lightest ultraportable laptop computer round. The Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon processor can also run into some software program compatibility issues with functions that don’t come from the Microsoft Store in Windows. That mentioned, when you stick principally to browser and Office-type work and prioritize all day battery life with on-the-go cellular connectivity, the Flex 5G is a superb laptop computer.
Read our full
Lenovo Flex 5G review
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2022) – Best connectivity
Pros
- Attractive, sturdy design
- Pleasant keyboard and touchpad
- Plenty of wired and wi-fi connectivity
- Excellent recreation efficiency
- Competitive pricing
Cons
- Processor efficiency is midpack
- Display is shiny, however missing in coloration efficiency
- Speakers can sound muddy
Price When Reviewed:
$1,999
Lenovo’s Legion 5 Pro delivers spectacular recreation efficiency with a 12th-gen Intel processor and an RTX 3070 Ti GPU. But the place this laptop computer actually shines is its astounding array of ports. It in some way finds room for a Thunderbolt 4/USB-C 4 port, two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, an ethernet port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The show does have a reasonably flat coloration profile, which implies it will possibly oftentimes lack vividness and distinction. However, with the terrific price-to-performance and excellent connectivity options, the Legion 5 Pro makes for an ideal possibility.
Read our full
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2022) review
Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X – Best Lenovo ultraportable for gaming
Pros
- Attractive, sturdy design
- Thin profile, low weight
- Enjoyable keyboard and touchpad
- Excellent processor efficiency
Cons
- No Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet, or devoted video-out
- Display is sharp, however falls behind OLED options
- Battery life is barely behind the pack
Price When Reviewed:
$1,399 (baseline) | $1,765 (as reviewed)
The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X offers wonderful moveable efficiency at an alluring value. It comes with a Ryzen 6900HS, RTX 3050, an ample 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Given these specs you can find it hits a candy spot, particularly for prosumers who need one of the best of each worlds with a do-it-all laptop computer for productiveness and lightweight gaming.
It does have just a few flaws resembling reasonably weak connectivity with no Thunderbolt 4, ethernet, or a devoted video-out port. Its display screen, whereas high-quality for the typical person, additionally doesn’t examine to the opposite choices from Lenovo which have OLED shows. But finally, these points are minor and might be missed given the spectacular general efficiency and adaptability of the Slim 7 Pro X.
Read our full
Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X review
How we examined
The PCWorld workforce places every Windows laptop computer by means of a collection of benchmarks that take a look at GPU and CPU efficiency, battery life, and so forth. The concept is to push the laptop computer to its limits after which examine it in opposition to others we’ve examined. Chromebooks, alternatively, undergo a collection of web-based exams. It wouldn’t be truthful or potential to run the identical sorts of exams on a Chromebook, as they’re Chrome OS-based machines. Below, you’ll discover a breakdown of every take a look at and the explanation why we run them.
Windows laptops
- PCMark 10: PCMark 10 is how we decide how effectively the laptop computer handles lighter duties like internet searching, phrase processing, spreadsheets, and so forth.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is extra intensive than PCMark 10. It principally measures how lengthy a laptop computer’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a short stress take a look at of the CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene over a brief time frame.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D efficiency stays constant over time by operating graphic-intensive clips.
- Video rundown take a look at: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Windows 10’s Movies & TV app till the laptop computer dies.
Chromebooks
- CrXPRT 2: The CrXPRT 2 benchmark exams a Chromebook’s battery life.
- Speedometer 2.0: This take a look at determines a Chromebook’s internet browser efficiency. It simulates this by including, finishing, and eradicating a to-do listing.
- Basemark Web 3.0: This benchmark gauges how effectively a Chromebook can deal with web-based functions.
- Kraken 1.1: Kraken 1.1 is a JavaScript efficiency benchmark.
- Jetstream 2: Jetstream 2 is a mix of WebAssembly and JavaScript benchmarks. This is a approach to gauge how effectively a Chromebook runs superior workloads.
What sort of laptop computer do you have to get?
Ah, right here we’re on the billion greenback query. Do you spring for a fundamental Chromebook or go for a Windows laptop computer with extra options? Well, it actually is determined by your private life-style and what you intend on utilizing your laptop computer for. For instance, Chromebooks are an ideal low value possibility for individuals who simply need the fundamentals. I exploit a Chromebook as my major work laptop computer, because it has every little thing I would like for each modifying and writing. If you journey a bunch for work, it’s most likely a good suggestion to put money into a laptop computer with strong battery life. If you’re nonetheless uncertain, don’t sweat it. I’ve put collectively an inventory of fast suggestions beneath.
- Laptop sort: The first query you need to ask your self is what sort of laptop computer you’re in search of. There’s conventional clamshells, 2-in-1’s, Chromebooks, and way more. The shows on convertible laptops (aka 2-in-1’s), for instance, can swing round 360 levels. This permits you to use the laptop computer like a pill. They will also be propped up like a tent for viewing films or taking part in video calls. Chromebooks, alternatively, solely run Google’s web-focused Chrome OS and are usually used for on a regular basis duties. All you want is a Gmail account and growth, you’re in. There are execs and cons to every of them. Chromebooks are reasonably priced and customarily have good battery life whereas convertibles are usually light-weight and moveable.
- CPU: If it’s CPU energy you’re in search of, search for processors with increased numerical names. A Core i7 is extra suited to gaming and extra intense work than on a regular basis duties. Intel processors can be found in Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. The increased the quantity, the extra highly effective the CPU. If you don’t want a ton of energy, Intel Core i5 processors are your greatest guess, as they provide good efficiency at a good value. Basic workplace and internet work will get alongside simply high-quality on a Core i3. As for AMD choices, the Ryzen 3 is nice for fundamental productiveness and internet searching, whereas Ryzen 5 chips rival Intel’s Core i5 as strong all-arounders. If you want extra energy, the Ryzen 7 chip is effectively suited to content material creation like video modifying. Finally, when you’re coping with 4K video, spring for a Ryzen 9.
- Graphics: You’ll desire a discrete graphics card for hardcore gaming or modifying movies. It’s separate from the processor, so you’ll be able to count on increased efficiency out of it. Integrated graphics, alternatively, are connected to the CPU and makes use of much less energy because of this. This is completely high-quality for on a regular basis duties, particularly when you’re not doing something that’s graphics-intensive.
- RAM: 8GB of RAM is zippy sufficient for common use. If you’ve bought a gaming laptop computer, 16GB of RAM is the best way to go, and content material creators will need much more.
- Display measurement: If you’re a video editor or somebody who does a variety of multimedia work, you’ll desire a show that’s anyplace from 15- to 17-inches. The candy spot is admittedly anyplace from 13- to 14-inches, although. The larger the show, the heavier your laptop computer goes to be. A 13- or 14-inch show is one of the best by way of portability and worth.
- Battery life: If you intend on taking your laptop computer anyplace with you, intention for one thing that may final 10 to 12 hours on a single cost. That’s greater than a full work day, so it ought to theoretically get you thru lengthy flights or a day of lessons. Obviously, extra is at all times higher. Just know that the larger the battery, the heavier the laptop computer.
- Price: The value actually is determined by your price range. If you’re strapped for money (been there, belief me), go for a Chromebook or an entry-level enterprise laptop computer. These laptops are good selections for college kids or younger professionals. If you’ll be able to afford to spend extra, the flexibility of a 2-in-1 laptop computer is admittedly price it.
- Ports: A wide selection of ports is at all times a plus in my guide, because it eliminates the necessity for an adapter. I’d advocate a laptop computer that has each USB-C and USB-A. An HDMI port is nice, too. This is very helpful for if you need to hook as much as an exterior monitor.
FAQ
Can you additionally recreation on a Lenovo laptop computer?
It primarily is determined by the kind of GPU your Lenovo laptop computer comes geared up with. Typically, Lenovo laptops are aimed extra for the skilled enterprise and work crowd, in order that they don’t are inclined to concentrate on GPU efficiency. They favor productiveness operations and due to this fact concentrate on optimizing CPU efficiency, sturdiness, and flexibility of use of their design.
Most possible, your Lenovo laptop computer will come geared up with some type of built-in graphics reasonably than the extra sturdy discrete graphics wanted for gaming. This doesn’t imply you’ll be able to’t do some gaming on them, nevertheless it isn’t their supposed use and if gaming is a precedence, it could be greatest to look elsewhere.
Can built-in graphics be used for gaming?
Yes, a few of the newest processors with built-in graphics can run trendy PC video games at first rate settings. For instance, Intel’s newest Iris Xe line of processors with built-in graphics have been proven to run a few of the newest video games at 1080p and 30 fps. Luckily, it appears that evidently Lenovo favors the Iris Xe, and we’ve got seen many new fashions come geared up with these new line of built-in graphics. Be cautious, nonetheless, as not all built-in graphics are as much as the duty.
Intel—and even AMD’s—built-in graphics have made large leaps in recent times with regard to gaming efficiency. So, when you’re out there for a brand new Lenovo and also you need to do some gaming on the facet, with the most recent built-in graphics you don’t should sacrifice one for the opposite. We advocate trying out Intel’s Core 12th-gen Iris Xe or AMD’s brand new Ryzen 6000 RDNA 2.
What measurement laptop computer is greatest?
This is admittedly private desire. If you propose to journey lots together with your Lenovo laptop computer then a smaller, extra moveable measurement within the neighborhood of 13 to 14 inches is really helpful. If you need to additionally watch films or want a big touchscreen on a Lenovo laptop computer, then you need to search for one thing within the 15 to 17 inch vary. Also, take note the burden of the laptop computer before you purchase it. Ultra skinny fashions or 2-in-1s can weigh a featherlight 2 kilos whereas sturdy high-processing machines prime the scales at three or 4 instances that.