What you need to know
- Lenovo announced the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 3) at CES 2022.
- The laptop has a 17.3-inch ultrawide 3K panel (21:10) with a secondary 8-inch touch display.
- It's powered by 12th Gen Intel Core H-series CPUs, LPDDR5 RAM, and PCIe 4.0 storage.
- The ThinkBook Plus (Gen 3) is expected May 2022 and starts at $1,399.
Lenovo is on a roll at CES 2022, with many of the best Lenovo laptops getting upgrade announcements. Perhaps none is more intriguing than the third-gen ThinkBook Plus, revealed today as the industry's first laptop with 17.3-inch ultrawide main display and 8-inch secondary touch display with inking capabilities.
The primary 17.3-inch display has a 21:10 aspect ratio, 3072x1440 (3K) resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 400 nits brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color, touch functionality, and Dolby Vision. It also has TÜV Rheinland certification for low blue light. This display is seriously stacked, and it's not alone.
The secondary 8-inch LCD touch display comes with an integrated active pen for inking, and it includes Pantone and ColorKing Plus digital libraries. The screen is covered with glass and has an 800x1280 vertical resolution. It can be used as a drawing board, notepad, launcher, phone mirror, calculator, and more. Lenovo has really tried to make it a crucial part of the laptop, adding a waterfall function (where the main screen extends below to the secondary screen) and screen mirroring. The secondary display is installed next to the keyboard (on the right side); the rest of the keyboard and palm rests are sized much closer to a 14-inch device.
Overall, the laptop weighs in at about 4.4 pounds (2kg) and measures just 0.70 inches (17.9mm) thin. That's quite respectable for a device with two screens. It's made mostly of aluminum and comes in a Storm Grey color. To prove its durability, it has undergone MIL-STD 810H certification.
Take a look at the specs Lenovo lists for the ThinkBook Plus (Gen 3).
| Category | Spec |
|---|---|
| OS | Up to Windows 11 Pro |
| Processor | 12th Gen Intel Core H-series |
| RAM | Up to 32GB LPDDR5 Dual-channel |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe (UMA) Integrated |
| Storage | Up to 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD |
| Main Display | 17.3 inches 3072x1440 21:10 aspect ratio 120Hz refresh rate 100% DCI-P3 Touch Dolby Vision |
| Second Display | 8 inches 800x1280 LCD, touch Pen support |
| Pen | Lenovo Integrated Pen Lenovo E-color Pen |
| Ports | Thunderbolt 4 USB-C Two USB-A HDMI 3.5mm audio |
| Audio | Dual 2W speakers harman/kardon tuning Dolby Atmos |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Camera | Front-facing FHD IR camera |
| Security | Fingerprint reader IR camera TPM 2.0 ThinkShutter |
| Battery | 69Wh 100W Type-C adapter |
| Dimensions | 16.14 x 9 x 0.70 inches (410mm x 228.7mm x 17.9mm) |
| Weight | 4.40 pounds (2kg) |
| Material | Top: CNC aluminum Lid: Mylar Bottom: Stamped aluminum |
| Color | Storm Grey |
| Availability | May 2022 |
| Price | From $1,399 |
The laptop is powered by Intel's new 12th Gen Intel Core H-series CPUs, up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 2TB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. There's no dedicated GPU option, but it does come with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics with unified memory architecture (UMA). It's packing a sizable 69Wh battery that Lenovo claims will get through a workday; we'll have to test that ourselves.
Dual 2W speakers have Dolby Atmos for better sound, and you can get a front-facing FHD webcam and IR camera hybrid for facial recognition. There's a webcam shutter for added privacy, and a fingerprint reader built into the power button acts as a nice backup.
The ThinkBook Plus (Gen 3) is expected to launch May 2022 starting at about $1,399.
Cale Hunt is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on laptop reviews, news, and accessory coverage. He's been reviewing laptops and accessories full time since 2016, with hundreds of reviews published for Windows Central. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.
