NOVEMBER 2019 PCWorld 45reader hidden beneath the power button. In
my experience, Huawei’s fingerprint readers
do a great job of detecting your fingerprint
and logging you in, but the ThinkBook’s
identification capabilities were equally robust
over the few days I spent testing the laptop.
As for that webcam—well, even though
there’s a keyboard button to turn it off, Lenovo
goes the extra mile. Just above the cutout for
the camera lens is a tiny, almost imperceptible
version of the ThinkShutter slider that can
easily be slid closed or open to physically
reveal or conceal the lens. A tiny red dot
visually signals when it’s blocked, though it’s
so small, against the glare of the screen those
of you with poorer vision may be unable to
tell. Perhaps a brighter shade of paint might
solve the problem? In any event, the webcam
is a fixed-focus 720p camera, just serviceable
enough for Skype calls.
The audio experience that the Lenovo
ThinkBook 13s delivers is surprisingly good.
A fingerprint reader is located to the left of the
power button.When the ThinkShutter slide is shut, a tiny red dot
indicates that the webcam is physically unable
to record you. An extremely thin switch above it
slides it open and closed.
The speakers produce a strident, full-throated
range of sound that’s excellent in the
midrange and not too shabby on the lower
end, either. In testing the ThinkBook 13s
against my normal range of streamed
YouTube music and other prerecorded
samples, there were several occasions that I
simply leaned back and enjoyed the music.
The ThinkBook 13s builds in Harman speakers
that are enhanced by Dolby Audio, turned on
by default. There aren’t any presets for rock,
pop, and the like, though the Dolby algorithm
itself seems to understand and adjust. This
may be an inexpensive notebook aimed at
small businesses, but the audio was definitely
designed with the consumer in mind.
Lenovo can’t quite get away from the usual
mix of Windows bloatware and third-party
apps. But one real plus is the Lenovo Vantage
app, which provides comprehensive tools for