The latest laptop from Lenovo, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 is a laptop built for productivity. The laptop features a stunning 17.3″ ultrawide 3K primary display works seamlessly with an innovative 8″ secondary screen. In terms of hardware, the new ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 offers up to 12th gen Intel Core i7-12700H, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, up to 32 GB of LPDDR5 and 2TB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage capacity.
As for connectivity, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 offers Thunderbolt 4, USB C & A ports, HDMI, as well as Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Specifications
| CPU | 12th Generation Intel Core i7-12700H Processor (E-Core Max 3.50 GHz, P-Core Max 4.70 GHz with Turbo Boost, 14 Cores, 20 Threads, 24 MB Cache) |
| RAM | 16GB 4800 MHz LPDDR5 on board Up to 32GB LPDDR5 |
| GPU | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD |
| Display | Main display: 17.3″, 21:10, 3K (3072 x 1440), 120Hz, 400 nits, >90% STBR, Dolby Vision Secondary display: 8″ (800 x 1280), multitouch |
| Ports | 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Always On) 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4) 1x Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 40Gbps (support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4) 1x HDMI 2.1, up to 4K/60Hz 1x Headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm) |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Camera | FHD 1080p + IR hybrid, with privacy shutter, fixed focus |
| Audio | 2x 2W Harman Kardon stereo speakers Dolby Atmos Speaker System |
| Battery | 70Whr battery 100W USB-C with Rapid Charge |
| Dimensions | 410.9 x 230.2 x 17.95 mm (WxDxH) 2.00 kg |
The model we received for this review is the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 IAP
Packaging
The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 arrives in a white cardboard box. Inside the box, there’s the laptop itself, 65W power adapter, Lenovo Integrated Pen and manuals.
Design & Build Quality
The notebook is aesthetically pleasing overall and retains the iconic Thinkbook logo on the lid and comes in a single shade of what Lenovo calls ‘Storm Grey’. The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 has excellent build quality with most of the body and chassis is a unibody design and seems to be made of CNC aluminium. The lid itself is very sturdy and has no wobbling even while typing. Weighing at about 2kg and a thickness of 17.95m, this is a portable laptop considering its size and secondary screen.
Ports
Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 comes with quite a good number of ports. There are no connections on the right side, all ports are on the left and back side of the laptop.
On the left side is the Headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm) and USB-C 3.2 Gen 2.
At the back are dual USB Type-A ports, and a USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 port with DisplayPort, power delivery, and storage-array and docking-station support.
The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader, allowing you to login with Windows Hello quickly.
Webcam & Display
The display lid is equipped with the infrared camera with a resolution of FHD 1080p, with privacy shutter, fixed focus and biometric face recognition supported by Windows Hello. There is also Dual-microphone array with AI-based noise-cancelling.
The main 17.3in 3K (3072×1440) IPS Anti-glare display looks fantastic; with bright, beautiful colors covering 99% DCI-P3 color gamut and 120Hz refresh rate. The widescreen display also has slim bezels and wide viewing angles.
The screens are calibrated as accurately as possible right out of the box. The panel has excellent readability and a brightness of up to 400 nits.
Secondary Display
As an extension to the main display, on the lower right side to the keyboard, you will find the secondary display to interact with content or applications. This is an 8” IPS panel with a resolution of 800 × 1280 pixel and offers the same viewing angles as the main display and looks equally good with 60% NTSC color Gamut and 60Hz refresh rate.
The secondary display can be used like any other display. Windows recognizes it as a separate display and apps can be dragged here to automatically launch instead of the main screen. You can tap to swap apps between the upper and lower screen. The secondary display is useful for a number of scenarios, and it worked great during the short period of time we had to review it, such as:
- YouTubing while working on the main screen
- Using messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger etc.
- Notes or other information for reference
- Moving apps from one screen to the other for later
Once you discover the features, functions and the shortcuts apps the secondary display has to offer, it becomes a lot easier with multi-tasking – you can make it into shortcut bay for apps or even secondary toolbox holder for your photo and editing apps.
Keyboard & Trackpad
The keyboard is backlit and has a short key-travel, while the first row of function keys is smaller in size which allows adjusting simple things like power mode, screen brightness, keyboard lighting, volume setting, etc. The keyboard feels good to type on and has snappy feedback, although the layout can take some time getting used to.
The trackpad has a buttonless glass surface with support for multi-touch and the accuracy is great.
Performance
The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 we tested comes with Intel Core i7-12700H processor with integrated Intel Xe graphics, 16GB 4800 MHz LPDDR5 on board and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.
CPU, GPU & RAM
The 12th Gen Alder Lake chips features two sets of performance and efficiency cores, providing unprecedented boost in multitasking.
The Core i7-12700H comes with 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores for a total of 14 cores, 20 threads and 24 MB of cache. The P-cores are clocked at 2.5 GHz base and 4.7 GHz boost, while the E-cores get a 1.8GHz base and 3.5 GHz boost clock with a default TDP of 45W.
Graphics is powered by the new Intel Xe graphics which is powerful enough for daily tasks, work and photo editing. However, gaming performance is really poor and most games fail to achieve playable frame rates in full resolution/quality.
In terms of RAM, The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 is equipped with 16GB of LPDDR5 4800Mhz RAM.
Storage
Storage is handled by a M.2 NVMe SSD with a capacity of 512GB that offers good performance, and can be replaced. The SSD offers good performance with 5,498MB per second and 4,202MB per second in reading and writing respectively.
Performance Benchmarks
| BENCHMARK | SCORE |
| Cinebench R20 single core | 643 |
| Cinebench R20 multi core | 5,349 |
| PCMark 10 Benchmark | 5,574 |
| 3DMark Time Spy | 1,988 |
| 3DMark Fire Strike | 5,252 |
| 3DMark Night Raid | 17,843 |
Temperature & Noise
Cooling is powered by two fans with two heat pipes between them. The hot air comes out from the back via large exhausts, and the overall cooling is pretty efficient, which results in the fans being absolutely quiet.
With typical day-to-day tasks and using the silent profile, the noise and heat remained at very low levels. But during resource-intensive tasks, the noise is quite audible and the laptop does gets warm.
Upgradability
The RAM module is soldered onto the motherboard and is inaccessible. Only the NVMe M.2 SSD can be replaced on the Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3.
Software
The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 comes with Lenovo Vantage app. you can check warranty, perform system updates, scan the hardware, contact customer service, and more.
Audio
The speakers are located on the bottom of the laptop, one on each side, with an output of 2 watts, support for Dolby Atmos and sound tuned by Harman Kardon. The speakers are loud enough to fill small to medium-sized rooms, but they lack bass. The quality is good enough for calls or conferences, while media playback will be better with headphones.
Battery
The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 comes with a beefy 70Wh 4-cell lithium-polymer battery and a 100W USB-C charger with support for with fast charging. On paper, it’s rated for 11 hours of battery. The laptop also offers a fast charge function that charges the battery from 0% to 50% in under 30 minutes.
In our test, the Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 lasted for about 7 hours of usage on battery, which included watching videos, some photo-editing, typing, web browsing, all with the secondary display turned on.
Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 features an excellent chassis design and an innovative dual-display setup with good hardware. While this may not be the ideal notebook for the general consumer, the Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 will be useful for programmers, multitaskers and designers who need more screen real estate.
The lack of a dedicated GPU and upgradability options are some of the main drawbacks as the primary display has the colors and features for graphics editing while the secondary display can be more useful with a dedicated GPU.
