Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 review: A pricey convertible business laptop with Intel Core Ultra

When you think of a ThinkPad, an old business laptop might come to mind. However, in 2024, Lenovo’s ThinkPad lineup is expansive and includes a variety of different laptops, form factors, and price points. Sure enough, the new Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is the latest version of the brand’s convertible business laptop, which receives Intel Core Ultra processors and not much else. That makes it faster than the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 4, but identical in most other ways.

To get a ThinkPad with a touchscreen and a 2-in-1 form factor, you’ll have to pay a premium. Even the discounted $1,500 price of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 feels light considering that its performance is closer in line with the best laptops in the $1,000 range. The thing is, there’s nothing else quite like this laptop on the market. If you need a ThinkPad with a touchscreen, pen support, and custom configuration options like 4G LTE support, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 stands alone.

About this review: Lenovo loaned us an X13 2-in-1 for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in this review, and did not see its contents before publishing.

Pricing, specs, and availability

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 received an update this year to its fifth generation, where it was upgraded to feature Intel Core Ultra processors. Otherwise, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is very similar to the previous Gen 4 revision, which brought a more significant design overhaul. My ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 review unit came equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of SSD storage. That configuration is available on Lenovo’s website for around $1,500 at the time of publishing, but its official retail price is advertised as roughly $2,700.

Design and ports

It’s not about the design, it’s about what you can put inside

It’s always impressive to me that Lenovo manages to make modern ThinkPads incredibly versatile devices while preserving the brand’s iconic design language. Even though this is a convertible laptop with an internally-housed pen, you wouldn’t know that at first glance. Instead, this laptop looks like any other ThinkPad, with a black chassis and a compact build. At a time when most laptop screens are exceeding 14 inches in size, the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is like a breath of fresh air.

The ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 measures 0.65 x 11.88 x 8.46 inches and weighs under three pounds, and that makes it a surprisingly thin-and-light convertible business laptop. While it might feel strange to do for the first time, the convertible nature of this ThinkPad means that it has a touchscreen you can use in laptop mode or tablet mode. Simply flip the display all the way around to use it like a tablet, prop it up like a tent for easy watching or gaming, or lay it flat to annotate documents or draw with the optional Lenovo stylus.

Some people love convertible laptops, others hate them. I think they’re somewhere in between a gimmick and an essential feature. Having a touchscreen is useful and the versatility of a 2-in-1 is unmatched, but the thickness of a laptop and its built-in keyboard makes it less usable as a tablet. Plus, the more you use the touchscreen, the more you’ll have to clean it. Of course, this will be nothing new for people familiar with the last-gen ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 4 (previously using the Yoga name), since the new model is just a spec bump. In terms of ports, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 has everything you need. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which are always appreciated on Windows laptops. On top of that, you get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and an HDMI 2.1 port supporting displays up to 4K at 60Hz. Finally, there’s a 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack. Optional configurations include the inbuilt Lenovo stylus and a nano SIM tray.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is solid for its size, and features ThinkPad staples

The 13.3-inch size of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 might make the keyboard, trackpad, and palmrest area feel cramped for those who have already extensively used bigger laptops. However, I found this laptop’s keyboard and trackpad to be quite good, even if ThinkPad layouts take some getting used to. The trackpad is responsive, there are physical left and right-click buttons, and we can’t forget about the iconic TrackPoint. In terms of key travel, there’s a good amount of it, and the keycaps have a soft-touch feel.

Like any ThinkPad, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 has the TrackPoint, a circular nub that can be used as a pointing device and much more. Using the TrackPoint over the trackpad just didn’t make sense to me, but I did enjoy the quick menu you can open with it.

Essentially, you can use the TrackPoint to open a quick menu of four commonly-used options that can be accessed from anywhere with the double-press of the nub. It turns what could be an unused element of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 for some into a useful macro, and I love it.

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Display

A solid touchscreen with decent color accuracy and pen support

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 features a matte display that feels great to use whether you’re using your finger, a stylus, or the trackpad. It uses a 13.3-inch display panel that is similar to those we’ve seen on other Lenovo laptops before. The screen is an IPS panel with a supported brightness of 300 nits, a 1920×1200 resolution, and decent color accuracy. Lenovo claims full coverage of the sRGB color gamut, and that’s something we confirmed in our display testing of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5.

The ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 indeed covers 100% of the sRGB color space, and there’s a slight dropoff in accuracy after that. This laptop screen supports 75% of the NTSC, 80% of the AdobeRGB, and 83% of the DCI-P3 color gamuts. While maybe not perfect for color-accurate work, these results are more than enough for basic productivity work, which this business convertible is aimed at.

Additionally, we recorded about 294 nits of peak brightness on the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5, which is within the margin of error of Lenovo’s 300-nit claim. I like to see extremely bright laptops that can be easily viewed outdoors, and the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 isn’t quite at that level of quality. But the matte display covering and the 300-nit brightness means it’ll be possible to use this machine outdoors.

Performance

The ThinkPad X13 is a solid performer, but you’re paying a premium for the form factor

Lenovo overhauled the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 4 last year, improving the design and adding 13th-generation Intel processors to the business convertible. The changes are much more minimal this time around; the laptop’s only real upgrade is the new Intel Core Ultra Series 1 processors inside. There are configurations of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 with Intel Core Ultra 5 through Intel Core Ultra 7 chips inside, and mine had the Intel Core Ultra 155U. It’s one of the higher-performing processors available on this laptop, but will be slower than the Intel Core Ultra 155H.

Real-world usage and benchmark testing of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 paint a pretty clear picture. As far as Intel Core Ultra machines go, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is snappy and reliable. However, you’re clearly paying a premium for the convertible nature of this machine. There are some alternatives, like the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6, that near or beat the performance of the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 for a fraction of the price.

Another thing to consider is the emergence of the HP Spectre x360 14, which we’ve reviewed as “the new best laptop.” It has the better Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, a bigger screen, and is still a convertible 2-in-1 laptop. It’s also cheaper than the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 at the time of publishing, while beating it handily in every benchmark tested.

The other two references devices to watch are Lenovo’s own ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. Neither are convertible laptops, but they could be a better value if you don’t absolutely need 2-in-1 functionality. The former gives you the same level of performance as the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 at a lower price, while the latter gives you better performance and the Snapdragon X Elite platform at the same price.

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Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5?

You should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 if:

• You want a ThinkPad with Intel Core Ultra processors
• You need a 2-in-1 laptop
• You want niche features like the TrackPoint, an inbuilt stylus, and 4G LTE support

You should NOT buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 if:

• You’d rather have a non-convertible Intel or Snapdragon laptop
• You can live with the HP Spectre x360 14 instead
• You have the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 4

It’s not that the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is a bad performer. It handled everything my daily work required during the review period, and proved capable in synthetic benchmarks. At an MSRP of $2,700, though, the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 doesn’t provide the raw performance you’d expect at this price point. You’re paying more for the luxury of having a ThinkPad convertible. If that’s worth it to you, go ahead and buy the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5. You’ll probably enjoy it.

Convertible business laptop

Lenovo 13.3-inch ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5

$1562 $2739 Save $1177

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is a convertible business laptop powered by the Intel Core Ultra platform. It includes everything ThinkPads are known for, down to the keyboard layout and iconic TrackPoint. On top of that, there’s a stowable pen that comes in handy if you want to use this laptop in tablet mode.