Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 review: A business laptop that takes more than it gives

Who doesn’t love a good ThinkPad? Well, apparently the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 because it doesn’t deliver the goods.

For $1,451, the ThinkPad offers a colorful 13.3-inch screen, a punchy keyboard, and a smooth touchpad. However, those highlights are spoiled by a dim display and a cramped deck. That’s made worse by its Intel Core Ultra 7 155U’s middling performance and short battery life.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 isn’t winning a place on our lists for best business laptops or best ThinkPads, but let’s dive into why and which competitors you should seek out instead.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Specs and benchmarks

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Price and configurations

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 that I reviewed costs $1,451 and is outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1200, 60Hz, touchscreen display.

You can drop to an Intel Core Ultra 5 125U with 256GB of storage for $1,250, but that is not worth it just to save $200. You can also max out the rig at $2,242, which gets you the Core Ultra 7 165U vPro CPU, 64GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, IR webcam, fingerprint reader, Smart Card Reader, and 4 Cell Li-Polymer 54.7Wh battery.

I want to specifically highlight that last feature. If you custom-build the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5, the upgrade to a 54.7Wh battery from the 41Wh battery of our review model is $15, and I cannot fathom skipping that upgrade.

As always, business notebooks are overpriced relative to mainstream laptops, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone pay over triple digits for the hardware in this review unit.

See our best laptops under $1,000 if you want to save some cash in exchange for less security.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Design

I knew that the ThinkPad X13 was a 13-inch laptop, but that didn’t change my initial shock when I took it out of the box. I can’t remember the last time I held a laptop this small (14-inch notebooks are way more common now). Outside of that fun little moment, the ThinkPad looks like, you guessed it, a ThinkPad. With a soft-black lid accompanied by a ThinkPad, Lenovo, and X13 2-in-1 logo in separate locations. It’s as standard as a business laptop can get.

The interior isn’t much different, with an all-black deck plus a few red accents. Vents wall-in the keyboard while the power-button/fingerprint reader sits above them. To my surprise, the bezels are built into the display like a glossy panel, except there’s an anti-glare layer atop it (more on that later). At the top, there’s a webcam with a privacy shutter.

As a 2-in-1 laptop, the ThinkPad X13 flips and bends to your heart’s content. The hinges are quite sturdy, so it maintained its form no matter how much I tried to wobble it. When in tablet mode, it relies on the weight of the hinges to keep it down, but it would’ve been nice to have some magnets to support it. It even features a garaged stylus pen on its bottom right side, which is so discreet that I missed it the first time.

At 2.65 pounds and 11.88 x 8.46 x 0.65 inches, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is quite thin and light. Here’s how it compared to its rivals:

• Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) — 2.8 pounds, 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) — 2.7 pounds, 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
• Acer TravelMate P6 14 — 2.6 pounds, 12.3 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Ports

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Despite its size, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 offers enough ports to get your business going.

• 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, USB 40Gbps, power delivery 3.0 / DisplayPort 2.1)
• 2x USB-A (USB 5Gbps)
• 1x HDMI 2.1 (supports resolution up to 4K@60Hz)
• 1x Headphone / mic combo
• 1x Nano SIM (optional)
• 1x Smart Card Reader (optional)
• 1x Kensington Nano Security Slot

Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Battery life

Business laptops tend to excel in battery life. Afterall, you don’t want your laptop dying on you before your workday is up. Well, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 had other plans in mind.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which sets the machine to continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the ThinkPad X13 lasted a measly 7 hours and 25 minutes. For context, the MacBook Air doubled that time, and the ExpertBook P5 came pretty close at over 14 hours.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Security and durability

There are a slew of security features available for the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5, including a Kensington Nano Security Slot, Smart Card Reader, fingerprint reader, dTPM 2.0 security chip, and IR camera for Windows Hello (with webcam shutter). On the software side, there’s Intel vPro (if configured) for security and remote management.

You also want your business notebook to be durable, which is how the ThinkPad X13 was built. It met or exceeded tests based on the US Department of Defense's 12 MIL-STD 810H standards. That’s 26 procedures and 200+ quality checks under extreme conditions, including arctic wilderness, desert dust storms, extreme temps, pressure, humidity, vibration, and more.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Display

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5’s 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1200, 60Hz, touchscreen is decently colorful, but doesn’t meet my spec expectations. I’d forgive that, however, if it was bright. It’s not, and that’s arguably the most critical display feature of a business laptop.

I watched the new Snow White trailer, and while the forest came to life with its lush greenery contrasted against the pink-purple flowers, I had a number of issues with the screen. The anti-glare panel does good work diffusing the light, but that’s not enough to keep dark screens from being washed out. There just isn’t enough brightness. Not only that, but the details of Snow White’s hair are a bit hazy due to the anti-glare film. That would be less of an issue if the screen was sharper than the bare minimum 1200p.

While the ThinkPad X13 makes a strong effort with regard to color against its rivals, it’s by far the dimmest of the bunch.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Keyboard and touchpad

I love a good ThinkPad keyboard, and while the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 carries the same punchy, bouncy keys as the rest of its siblings, it is smaller. It’s not just the deck; the keys and their shapes are smaller. You may forgive this, but there are top-firing speakers taking up a good chunk of the deck. I would happily sacrifice the top-firing speakers for a wider keyboard.

I did type 81 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which matches my usual average. If you have smaller hands, the ThinkPad X13 may be easy to get used to, but otherwise, I’d recommend a discrete keyboard or a bigger laptop.

There are technically two inputs for the cursor — the touchpad and the tracking point. The 4.5 x 2.3-inch touchpad is pleasantly smooth and provides a bassy click, but it’s just too small, its growth stunted by the discrete clickers for the tracking point. The touchpad could’ve been 4.5 x 2.7 inches, but you tracking point users just had to have your way.

Then there’s the touchscreen input. The screen is surprisingly smooth to the touch and your finger won’t catch on it as long as your hands don’t get clammy. The stylus is small but electronic, and it is charged via the garage within. It has two clickers that you can use to erase or right-click (you can configure these in the Lenovo Pen Settings). One issue I had, however, was that the screen wouldn’t register input when the stylus was touching it at its lightest point (this is an issue if you want to draw quickly).

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Audio

Lenovo sacrificed my keyboard space for this? These top-firing Dolby Audio-tuned speakers aren’t bad, but they aren’t good enough to warrant their position.

I listened to my new earworm, “Akari” by Soushi Sakiyama. The opening vocals and guitar were crisp and bright. However, I realized the issue as soon as the percussion came in. The speakers highlighted the mids and highs, but the lows were practically muted. With no bass to back the instruments, the chorus collided into a muddy mess, forcing the vocals to remain the only face.

The Dolby Access app does feature some audio settings and presets, like Dynamic, Game, Movie, Music, and Voice. There’s a decent change between each one, but not enough to remedy the audio woes.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Performance and heat

Packing an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor with 16GB of RAM, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 should’ve provided optimal performance given its price point. However, the Ultra 7 155U drastically underperformed, especially against competitors within its weight class (in price).

I popped open a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos and noticed some slowdown. We’re talking 0.1 to 2 seconds. It’s not terrible, but if you're in a business where you need a hundred tabs open, you’re going to suffer a bit on this end. Although, the 1TB SSD is quick enough for a business laptop.

One benefit from the ThinkPad X13’s relatively poor performance is that it doesn’t get very hot. Its hottest point falls below our 95-degree comfort threshold, so you can throw it on your lap without worry.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Gaming and graphics

I can’t imagine you’re buying the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 to play games, but I’ll say it anyway — don’t. More likely, though, you might be editing videos for a presentation. Unfortunately, the answer I have to that is also: don’t. Not unless you want to go on a coffee break while your video is processing. The integrated Intel Graphics chip won’t get you far.

Our minimum gaming benchmark is Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm at Medium, 1080p settings, but the ThinkPad couldn’t cross that 30-fps playability threshold. And in case you’re wondering, we did stab some folks in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and jumped into vaults in Borderlands 3 at 1080p, max settings, both of which didn’t make it past 12 frames per second.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: AI features

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5’s Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor is outfitted with an NPU for AI processing, and it’s lovingly called Intel AI Boost (yeah, I know). However, that does give you access to some AI features, even though the ThinkPad doesn’t support a native Copilot button.

Similar to Copilot+ PCs, you get access to features like Windows Studio Effects and Live Captions. Of course, the biggest and most controversial feature is Recall, which lets you browse your past PC activity similar to your browser history. AI Art programs and writing tools are available, too, but your mileage may vary on their utility.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Webcam

Quality doesn’t mean quality. Confused? Well, unlike most laptops, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 is packing a 1440p webcam. I’ve seen some laptops with a 1440p webcam that produce stunning image quality (for a laptop). The ThinkPad is not one of those laptops.

The image I took washed out the color of my shirt and the vivid My Hero Academia poster behind me. It also made my face look rosier than it should be. It couldn’t handle contrast either, as it overexposed the light from the window behind me. Then there’s the detail: my face looked fuzzy and blotchy. This is a rough webcam, especially for a business laptop, so I recommend snagging one of the best webcams on your way out.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5: Software and warranty

Thankfully, Lenovo consolidates most of its branded features within one app: Lenovo Vantage. It offers warranty information, updates, cleanup, and settings for power, microphone, display, camera, inputs, and accessories. There are also options for additional Wi-Fi security and hardware scans. Outside of that app are the Lenovo Pen Settings and Lenovo View, which offer video tools for privacy and collaboration during meetings.

The ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 ships with Windows 11 Home, which can be upgraded to Pro. Lenovo offers a standard one-year limited warranty.

Bottom line

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 Gen 5 didn’t graduate from business school. Sure, it’s got the pretty screen, bouncy keyboard, and silky touchpad, but that won’t get you far when each one of those is weighed down by something else. And middling performance is one thing, but poor battery life? This thing is DOA.

Just buy the Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405). It’s cheaper and better in almost every way. In fact, it’s at the top of our best business laptops page.