Lenovo has brought a new 2-in-1 device to CES 2024 that solves the biggest problem with the current crop of 2-in-1s out there.
It’s called the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, and the “hybrid” in the name refers to the fact that this truly is two devices in one. Not a single device with two modes, but two fully functioning computers in a single package — one a Windows 11 laptop and the other an Android tablet. Now there’s something that hasn’t been tried before.
Heck, you can even put both to use at the same time using something called “Hybrid Stream.” Once enabled, you’ll get a picture-in-picture window right on your laptop screen of streamed Android apps, which Lenovo claims is “high quality” and “low latency.” It’s not hard to imagine how immensely convenient this could be, although, at the demo I used, it was extremely slow to respond and laggy.
From the outside, the 14-inch device looks like any other ThinkBook laptop, and in that form, it uses an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor running Windows 11. Lenovo calls this mode the “Hybrid Station,” where it functions more or less like a basic clamshell laptop. It weighs just 2.1 pounds and is only 0.37 inches thick. That makes it an extremely compact device just on its own.
But yank the screen off, and you’ll ignite an entirely different system, run by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and Android 13. It makes for quite a large tablet to hold at 14 inches, 1.7 pounds, and 0.26 inches thick.
Fortunately, you can use the keyboard and touchpad while it’s disconnected as wireless peripherals for the Android tablet too.
The screen looks crisp with its 2.8K resolution and OLED panel, though the refresh rate is locked at 60Hz.
I like the concept of this design because the tablet mode in Windows 11 has always felt half-baked. Despite the small tweaks Microsoft has made to improve its touch functionality, it still feels like something that wasn’t designed to be used without a cursor. It’s what has made Windows tablets as a category completely collapse.
But with a working version of Android — and dedicated hardware to support it — this could be the first 2-in-1 device that doesn’t sacrifice something in either mode.
There appears to be just a single configuration available, which comes with 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage. The tablet itself also has 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid will be available at an expected price of $1,999 starting in the second quarter of 2024.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.