CES 2024: Lenovo’s Android-Windows Frankentablet Is the Show’s Wackiest Gadget Yet
A 14-inch Android tablet and a full-fledged Windows 11 laptop, rolled into one device.
We've seen laptops with touchscreens and tablets with keyboards, but we haven't seen anything quite like Lenovo's new Frankentablet, which is the best word I can come up with to describe one of the weirdest gadgets of CES 2024. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 is a Windows 11 laptop...until you detach its display, at which point it transforms into an Android tablet. It's two fully functioning devices for the price of one, each with its own OS. It's priced at $1,999 and is scheduled to launch in Q2 2024.
Perhaps this is the ultimate solution to finding work-life balance: Keep all your work on the Windows laptop, and the moment you're off the clock, you can detach the tablet to take home with you to play games, stream a movie, or scroll dog reels on Insta.
The Gen 5 truly is two independent devices, which makes the spec sheet a bit of a nightmare to follow. There are two processors, two sets of RAM, two storage sizes, and even two device names for this... thing. And yes, you can connect the keyboard dock to an external display to run Windows 11 while using the tablet independently. Lenovo calls the Windows device a "Hybrid Station" in its spec sheet and it appears to be surprisingly powerful, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, an Intel Arc GPU, two USB-C ports, wifi 6E, and a fingerprint reader too.
The Android tablet is dubbed a "Hybrid Tab," and it has a 14-inch dis Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, dual rear cameras, and a front camera. The tablet runs Android 13 and weighs 1.73lbs (785g). The combined device weighs 3.87lbs (1.75kg), which is on the heavier side when compared to many modern laptops.
Why is this necessary? I can't say. All I can say is, I cannot wait to review this thing and see if it actually works as seamlessly as advertised, and whether it can be considered a practical hybrid device for everyday use.