Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3: An Innovative Dual-Screen Laptop

Designed as a “global recovery” product, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 is a 17.3-inch laptop designed for maximum comfort and productivity.

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It starts with the large 17.3-inch display that offers an incomparable advantage over 13.3 or 14-inch laptops for comfort and productivity. If you’re multitasking or working with large spreadsheets, the extra width will brighten your day.

I often wonder if I should travel with a portable monitor, but I’d rather have a larger screen if the weight doesn’t become a big issue.

The ultrawide IPS touch display has a 3072×1440 resolution (21:10 ratio) with a 120Hz refresh and has blue-light protection if you work long hours or in the evening as blue light disturbs sleep cycles.

The secondary 8-inch display is a pleasant surprise, and that’s an excellent idea! Think of it, there’s never enough display real estate, so we’ll take any additional screen space we can get.

Lenovo has demonstrated several ways to use the 8-inch display, including taking notes with the garaged e-pen, or having apps extended to that screen.

There are even app shortcuts for specific things people might often use, such as the note or calculator apps. Users can also mirror their smartphone screen onto the 8-inch display to access mobile-only apps or read/send texts.

It’s not clear if that secondary screen is considered by Windows 11 as a “true secondary monitor,” so we’ll have to wait until Lenovo’s software is finalized. If it is recognized as a secondary screen, it is compatible with any apps. If not, we’ll have to consider which apps can work with it.

In any case, Lenovo’s secondary display integration is better than having an ultrawide display above the keyboard as others might have. That’s because vertical space is often more important for reading information. Horizontal space is more beneficial to specialized apps like video editing.

I expect this laptop to do well from a performance point of view because it’s powered by an Intel 12th generation Core H-Series CPU, one of the higher-wattage, faster 2022 CPUs for laptops.

Many Creators and Designers would be glad to work with up to 32GB of RAM on this computer, and you can add up to 2TB of SSD storage. It could be a light workstation for many people for everyday creative tasks such as web development or print design.

The chassis is relatively compact, for a 17.3-inch laptop, at 410 x 228.7 x 17.9 mm and the computer is surprisingly lightweight at 4.4 Lbs, which means that it would be an excellent travel companion if you need to do intense computer work.

Carrying a 6.3 Lbs true workstation like the ThinkPad P15 Gen2 feels a lot different in your backpack, especially if you add the massive power supply that accompanies it.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 has many ports, with one full-size HDMI, two USB-C (one is TB4), two full-size USBs, and the audio jack.

I wonder what kind of battery life we will get with the 69Whr battery, but we’ll have to wait for a complete review. 69Whr might not seem like a lot for a 17-inch laptop, but given the overall volume and weight, that’s probably the maximum that would fit.

I’m hopeful that this product will translate into real-world productivity gains. It’s always lovely to see innovations in a market segment that’s been around for so long. Every little bit counts, especially when it’s features that people use every day.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 3

Performance
Processors
Up to 12th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors

OS
Windows 11

Memory
Up to 32GB LPDDR5

Storage
Up to 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD

Graphics
Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics

Displays
17.3-inch IPS 21:10, 3072×1440, 120Hz, TUV EyeSafe

8-inch LCD Touch display (800×1280) with Pen support

Audio
Dolby Atmos Speaker System with Harman/Kardon speakers and dual-array microphones

Camera
FHD 1080p Infrared camera with shutter

Battery
69Whr

Security
Chip
TPM 2.0