44 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2019REVIEWS LENOVO THINKBOOK 13S
has been tested for up to 25,000 open-close
cycles, Lenovo says—about 8 times per day
for 8 years.
A practical number of ports split the
difference between the consumer and
business user. On the left,
there’s a plain-jane USB-C 3.1
Gen 2 port, (without
Thunderbolt capabilities) a
full-size HDMI 1.4b port, a
headphone/mic 3.5mm
jack, as well as a proprietary
power plug—one of the only
slightly disappointing
features on the ThinkBook
13s. On the right, Lenovo has
included a pair of USB 3.1
Type A ports, managing the
transition between the Type
A and Type C generations.Lenovo includes a 73-watt charger using its own
plug, rather than a USB-C connector.One of the Type A ports is labeled with a small
battery, alerting you that it can be used to
charge a phone or other device, even while
the laptop is otherwise powered off. Lenovo
doesn’t pack in any adapter dongles within
the ThinkBook box.
Lenovo is known for its keyboards, and
typing on the ThinkBook keyboard was
comfortable enough. The keys are resilient
and springy, though, without much travel—I
prefer the deeper keyboards found on the
ThinkPad series. Note that the function keys
were designed with an eye toward privacy:
There are dedicated buttons to disable the
webcam and mic, as well as the trackpad.
Interestingly, the ThinkBook 13s also has
dedicated calling keys for Skype.
There’s no Windows Hello–certified
webcam, but there is a certified fingerprintThe keyboard of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13s.