Lenovo decided to serve the business world with a laptop with a below $1,000 price point. The ThinkBook 14s Yoga comes with a solid build and it stands out with the placement of the fingerprint reader. Lenovo went against all odds by integrating this with the power switch.
The all-aluminum chassis also comes with the Smart Pen and its dedicated silo for rapid charging while not being used. The performance is also decent but not one that will blow you away. Although the price point doesn’t leave much room for complaint about the performance. Lenovo is learning from how Apple sell MacBook laptops.
Design
The ThinkPad 14s Yoga comes with a minimalist style that gives an urbane look suitable for business people. Also, it balances it with a clean-cut, toned-down look that shows some level of seriousness. Overall, it is not a design that will leave heads spinning but one that will earn you respect in professional settings.
The quality of the build is also great. The hinges are a 360-degree one that allows the 2-in-1 laptop to morph into different forms, which includes tablet mode and tent mode. The bezels on the side are extremely thin and it has a prominent chin. The bezels at the top us also somewhat slim and it accommodates the 720p high definition camera.
It is not the most lightweight laptop but it is heavy at 3.3 pounds and its thickness is 0.7 inches.
Display
The display is a 14-inch sized screen with, 1080p resolution, and the glass is a gorilla one. It has an 86% screen-to-body ratio. The brightness level is not the best at 313 nits max brightness. Although the current average for top laptops is 297 nits, which means that the 313 nits are above the average.
It comes with a touch display that promotes screen interaction. The tablet mode gives a good experience during web browsing.
Performance
The CPU is the Core-i7 from Intel, and it is supported by a RAM of 16GB. This is enough power to open 36 browsing tabs at once while watching a video on YouTube. The storage is a 512GB solid-state drive. The Iris Xe GPU from Intel is not ideal for graphics-heavy tasks such as gaming. Although it could handle some games. Overall it’s a best Lenovo laptops in the cheaper category.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard on the Yoga 14 is decent. It is an island-style keyboard and it does a decent job. Although the shallow keys take some time to spring back and it could be faster. The typing experience is satisfactory and the keys are quiet during typing.
Situated beneath the space key is the touchpad measuring 4.1 by 2.8 inches. It has a silky touch but it is quite resistant to speedy movements. It has all the Windows 10 gestures such as the two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing, and they all had a super response.
The fingerprint scanner stands out from the usual as it is embedded with the power switch instead of the deck.
Battery life
The battery life is great as it performs better than the average. When put through the test, it only felt five minutes short of 10 hours. The average battery life for mainstream laptops is about 9 hours and 7 minutes.
Ports
There is a decent array of ports on the ThinkBook 14s Yoga. It is a good feature for business users, who are the target market for the laptop.
There is a Type-C USB port (3.2 Gen), a Type-A USB port (3.2 Gen), a port for Thunderbolt 4, the headset jack, and a 1.4b HDMI port on the left. Although the 1.4b HDMI port has less bandwidth compared to the HDMI 2.0, it is compatible with all standard HDMI cables. Although we wished that the HDMI port was better, it is not a deal-breaker.
On the right, you will find the lock slot by Kensington, the Type-A USB port (3.2 Gen), the card slot for a microSD, and the Smart Pen’s stylus garage.
The Smart Pen
There is a dedicated Smart Pen that comes with the ThinkBook 14s Yoga located on the right. There is a stylus garage that charges the Smart Pen when not in use. It can charge fully within 5 minutes.
Final Verdict
This laptop is a good 2-in-1 laptop for businessmen and women. The Smart Pen is also located in a good place that is easy to reach.
Although the performance is not the best in its market it is good enough. This laptop is under $1,000 and at that price is one of the best business-oriented 14 inches you will find in the market.
