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2017 Newest Lenovo Business Flagship High Performance Laptop Pc 156 Review

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A major force in business laptops, Lenovo also makes mainstream models, two-in-1s, and gaming machines in a wide range of prices and styles. See the elevation-rated models nosotros've tested from the maker of the IdeaPad, ThinkPad, Legion, and Yoga lines.

Updated February 24, 2022

Our Experts Have Tested 130 Products in the Laptops Category in the Past Twelvemonth

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It's been more than 15 years since IBM stopped making ThinkPad laptops, nonetheless yous're still likely to see them in the halls of industry, virtual or actual. That'south thanks to Lenovo.

The company formerly known equally Legend Computers of Beijing, China, still produces the well-regarded laptop line, with its beloved AccuType keyboard. And indeed, a big office of the ThinkPad's longevity has to practice with those rugged, inimitable keyboards. But Lenovo machines nowadays range well beyond the classic black ThinkPad slabs. (For one thing, you can go some of them in silver.)

Rather, year afterward year, Lenovo continues to introduce with radical designs. Take the rotating-screen Yoga family unit, which influenced other major PC manufacturers similar Dell, HP, and Acer to adopt its basic mechanism in their ain 2-in-1 convertible laptop designs. Lenovo's high-concept devices besides include the start foldable-screen PC, a ThinkPad.

Lenovo's conventional Windows laptops include ThinkPads, ThinkBooks, and IdeaPads. (Gaming machines and 2-in-1 hybrids are another affair; more on them in a bit.)


The Classics: The ThinkPads (and Now the ThinkBooks)

ThinkPads are Lenovo's classically styled, business-oriented laptops, with a wide range of configurable features: touch screens, cellular connectivity, biometric login hardware, docking options. Their primary commonality? They well-nigh ever come colored in Lenovo's classic matte blackness.

These machines tend to offer more than in the fashion of It-friendly features for monitoring, management, and business-oriented wired and wireless connectivity. To aid position certain models inside the larger laptop market, Lenovo divides its ThinkPads into a host of sub-classes indicated by a letter. These include the ultraportable ThinkPad Ten and top-of-the-line X1 lines, the entry-level ThinkPad L family unit, and the ThinkPad P mobile workstations. The 14-inch X1 Carbon is the company's executive flagship, joined by the xiii-inch X1 Nano, the lightest ThinkPad at 1.99 pounds.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9

(Photograph: Molly Flores)

The bread-and-butter ThinkPads, though, are the T series, widely deployed business laptops that deliver a good rest of toll, durability, and feature set, along with the famous ThinkPad keyboard. Electric current T-series models include 14- and fifteen.6-inch notebooks, some with an "south" suffix after their model numbers to indicate a slimmer and lighter arrangement. You may also run across models with a small "g" at the end (indicating a detached Nvidia graphics chip) or a "p" for "professional," an upper-echelon model with improve specs.

Beyond L, P, T, and X, Lenovo has also pushed two other, newer lines: East and Z. The E series is more than of a hodgepodge than well-nigh, resolutely upkeep-minded, with CPUs from both Intel and AMD and models in both 14- and 15.half dozen-inch screen sizes. The newest ThinkPad expansion, the Z line, emphasizes aesthetics and sustainability, and employs AMD Ryzen processors.

Meanwhile, Lenovo ThinkBooks are a distinct line from ThinkPads. They serve small and medium concern (SMB) customers and also lean toward the value terminate of the spectrum. (Encounter our picks for the best business concern laptops overall.) The ThinkBook line has grown, now coming in 13-, 14-, and 15-inch versions in slim and normal-thickness variants.

You lot'll need a quick decoder to ThinkPad model numbers, whose logic changes every few years according to the moods of Lenovo'south marketing braintrust. Until recently, the company used iii-digit numbers with the first digit signifying screen size: Models that start with "three" have thirteen.3-inch, "4" take fourteen-inch, and "5" have 15.half-dozen-inch displays. Model numbers ending in "5" are based on AMD processors; "0" at the end indicates Intel. That scheme still holds for some older models still in the line.

More recent models, withal, deport a series letter such as Eastward, T, or X plus 2 digits marking the screen size. So a ThinkPad E15 is a budget-minded model with a 15.6-inch screen, while the ThinkPad T14 is the classic business fleet machine with a xiv-inch panel. The premium ThinkPad X1 models don't point a screen size in their model names. ThinkBooks simply utilise two digits in the proper noun, for the screen size, with an "south" at the end if it's a slim diverseness.


The IdeaPad Line: The Consumer Clamshells

Lenovo IdeaPads, on the other hand, are aimed mainly at consumers, though design-forward business users and entrepreneurs may gravitate toward using an IdeaPad every bit a main PC. You'll detect some preloaded apps on many IdeaPad systems, particularly those bought from big-box stores. Look for IdeaPad models prepped by the Microsoft Store ("Microsoft Signature" versions) if yous're dead-set up on avoiding preinstalled bloatware.

Lenovo IdeaPad

(Photograph: Zlata Ivleva)

Note that the screen-size and 0-for-Intel, 5-for-AMD numbering scheme of the ThinkPads does non apply to the IdeaPads. The line for a while was divided into 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 series, with higher numbers for more premium designs with fancier features (and higher toll tags). Most current models, though, conduct merely 1 digit, such as IdeaPad v or Slim vii. Screen size isn't specified; for example, yous can find IdeaPad 5 models with both 14- and 15.6-inch displays.

Lenovo also offers a host of IdeaPad Chromebooks, which are popular choices for buyers on a budget. Google's Chrome Os is uncomplicated to manage and use, since it centers on the Chrome Spider web browser and related apps. Lenovo's Chromebook lineup includes inexpensive IdeaPad consumer models, as well as more rugged ThinkPad-branded Chromebooks for businesses and schools. (See our picks for our best overall Chromebooks.)


Yoga and Flex: Lenovo's Hybrids

Under the larger ThinkPad and IdeaPad umbrellas autumn most of Lenovo'southward wide range of touch on-screen hybrids, which can function every bit both laptops and tablets: the Yoga and Flex laptops. Introduced in 2012, the offset Yoga pioneered the 2-in-i convertible laptop concept. Yoga laptops' 360-caste screen hinges let you flip and fold the system into 4 positions: a conventional laptop mode, an easel-similar stand mode for presentations, an A-frame or tent style for viewing videos or using touch apps on an airline tray table, and a tablet mode for reading or for scribbling and sketching with a stylus.

In improver to high-end consumer systems called merely Lenovo Yogas, you'll detect ThinkPad Yogas and ThinkBook Yogas that target a business audience. They follow the naming and numbering schemes for the lines they fit into, such as the ThinkPad X1 series.

Lenovo Yoga 9i

(Photograph: Zlata Ivleva)

The Flex models, meanwhile, are broadly similar merely tend to be cheaper than Yogas. At various times, the Flexes accept been their own make, though at this writing they're marketed nether the IdeaPad banner. The latest Yogas and Flexes follow the unmarried-digit naming scheme of the IdeaPads, using just 7 and 9, though i Yoga half dozen model throws a curveball into the works...just because.

Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Yoga

(Photograph: Zlata Ivleva)

With these machines, the screen stays attached to the keyboard, meaning they're 2-in-one convertibles as opposed to detachables—Windows tablets with removable keyboards akin to Microsoft's Surface Pro slates. Lenovo also offers a ThinkPad X12 Detachable tablet, a business organization device with ane of the best detachable keyboards on the market. The other prominent detachable 2-in-i we've seen of late from Lenovo is the company'south depression-price, consumer-minded Chromebook Duet for students and budget browsers.


Legion: Run across the Gaming Brigade

Finally, to continue upwardly with the growing popularity of PC gaming, Lenovo launched an all-new laptop line, the Legion family unit, in 2017. It did this to differentiate its gaming systems from the main IdeaPad line, where the gaming rigs were known as "IdeaPad Y" models. (Even today, Legion laptops have a Y-shaped insignia on their lids.) The Legion make includes both gaming laptops and desktops. Some IdeaPad Gaming models continue to be offered for players on tight budgets.

Lenovo Legion 7i

(Photograph: Zlata Ivleva)

Current models bear single digits, either a "5" or a "7" for mainstream and flagship gamers respectively. Legions with an "i" suffix apply Intel Core processors, while others rely on AMD Ryzen power. The Legion family's pricing, given the models' specs and characteristic sets, has been attractive. You lot'll see Legion laptops in not only the familiar 15.half dozen- and 17.3-inch screen sizes, merely also sixteen inches, and in a mix of distinctive designs, with more features specifically aimed at a gaming audience than the IdeaPad Gaming models always had.


So, Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?

For more of our favorite machines (that is, ones outside the Lenovo-sphere), check out our favorite laptops overall, too every bit our guides to the best cheap laptops and business laptops. Just for our electric current, ever-evolving list of Lenovo favorites, scroll on downwards.

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