Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G3 First Impressions

We have to give Lenovo some credit for experimenting with new form factors and usage scenarios. But can the old-fashioned laptop learn new tricks?

I’m not sure, but the ThinkBook Plus G3 is a fascinating foray into an alternate universe in which your laptop has not one but two displays. And unlike with the previous-generation ThinkBook Plus, which featured an E-Ink screen on the outside of its display lid, this time around you can use both displays at the same time: the ThinkBook Plus G3 features a 17.3-inch ultra-wide main display panel and an 8-inch secondary display next to the keyboard.

And, yeah. Weird.

Whether this configuration makes any sense at all is open to debate, and I’ll certainly give it the old college try in the weeks ahead. For now, of course, I’ll just note that it will take some getting used to. Even if you ignore the secondary display, the main panel is an incredible widescreen vista view that’s about half again as wide as a traditional display and would probably meet the needs of most people who prefer to use two displays side-by-side. It has a 3K resolution (3072 x 1440), which seems ideal for the size, and a 21:10 aspect ratio.

Aside from the width, the position of the keyboard, which is offset to the left but otherwise full-sized and what one would expect from a 14-inch Ultrabook or laptop, is also weird. The effect is similar to that caused by the addition of a numeric keypad but even more exaggerated because the secondary display is even wider. I can’t imagine Lenovo or any other PC maker would build such a PC, but I can’t help thinking that there is an audience for this PC minus the secondary display and with the keyboard and touchpad centered. That would be very interesting.

It’s worth pointing out, too, that the webcam is centered on the display and not on the keyboard. That seems like a mistake to me: anyone using this PC will be positioned in front of the keyboard and not in front of the middle of the device. But perhaps there is user-tracking technology in there that will make you look centered. I will investigate.

OK, let me at least address that secondary display. It’s 8 inches, as noted, and offers a relatively low resolution of 800 x 1280 in its portrait orientation. And like the main display, it offers multi-touch and smartpen compatibility. So it’s basically like those Windows 8.1 mini-tablets that enjoyed 15 minutes of fame back in 2013. But because it’s flat on the keyboard deck, it looks a bit dim when viewed from a normal position, so it doesn’t have very wide viewing angles.

When you first sign in to your Microsoft account, the secondary display explains how it can be used, and there are a variety of apps, widgets, and other unique features you can take advantage of. I’ll look at those in the review but you could also just use it as the weirdest secondary display imaginable.

Check out how it’s arranged in Display settings.

Internally, the ThinkBook Plus is your standard laptop, with a choice of powerful 12th Gen Intel Core H-series processors, integrated Intel Iris X3 graphics, up to 32 GB of RAM, and up to 1 TB of PCIe SSD Gen 4 storage. And there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1 for connectivity. The webcam, disappointingly, is only Full HD. That’s inexcusable in 2023.

There are, at least, plenty of expansion ports, but most of them are on the back of the device, which can be inconvenient. There, you’ll find one Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port, two full-sized USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and an HDMI port.

On the left side is a combo headphone/microphone port and a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port.

And on the right is… nothing.

The battery is large, at 70 watt-hours, but we’ll see what kind of toll the large primary display and secondary display take on battery life.

Pricing, at least, is reasonable: though Lenovo’s site seems to change from day to day, the ThinkBook Plus starts at just $1200 using today’s prices, and you can upgrade to more RAM and storage, and a higher resolution main display, with prices not really rising all that much.

Well. Here goes nothing.