Form and function in perfect balance
Premium laptops are nothing new, and pricey systems built for portability are among the best products manufacturers are making today. But the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 (starts at $1,355.40; $1,851.85 as tested) challenges the best ultraportable laptops you can buy with a luxurious design that is sure to draw attention. The stylish leather-covered design is notable on its own, for its fashionable looks and eco-conscious materials. This isn’t your grandfather’s ThinkPad, but this svelte system isn’t just a runway model, either. It’s got both beauty and brawn, with excellent performance that will take you through a full day of work or more. Designer Looks, Premium Materials
Breaking from staid ThinkPad tradition, the Z13 just oozes style. It’s obvious that Lenovo was looking to one-up the rest of the premium, thin-and-light ultraportable laptop crowd. At 0.55 by 11.59 by 7.86 inches (HWD), it’s similar in dimensions to the Dell XPS 13 Plus (0.6 by 11.63 by 7.84 inches) and the Apple MacBook Air (2022, M2) (0.44 by 11.97 by 8.46 inches), but the materials are a step above, accenting the all-metal aluminum construction with vegan leather. It’s also available in a more standard-looking bare-metal version with an Arctic Gray finish.
It’s not the first laptop to mix things up with leather—the HP Spectre did it in 2018, and the Lenovo Yoga used imitation leather back in 2012—but Lenovo has other tricks up its sleeve for the Z13. The all-metal construction uses recycled aluminum, and the leather on the lid is actually vegan, made from recycled PET. Even the packaging is eco-conscious, made of sugar cane and bamboo for better biodegradability.A Re-Imagined TrackPoint
But the materials aren’t the only impressive part of the laptop design. The keyboard is remarkably comfortable to type on. The key travel isn’t particularly deep, but the individual key presses are distinct, and the full-size keyboard layout is comfortable to type on. There’s even a fingerprint reader key for easy biometric security.
Joining the keyboard is a glass-surfaced touchpad with haptic tap response and pressure sensitive control. The sleek surface has almost imperceptible travel when you tap or click, using pressure sensitivity to register increased force for clicks and gestures. Lenovo has also re-imagined the iconic red TrackPoint, adding a new double-tap feature that calls up a quick menu of communication tools with tools for adjusting camera settings, muting the mic and adjusting noise suppression modes, and even a tool to transcribe speech right into a document.Deluxe Display
The laptop’s display is also quite nice, with a 13.3-inch IPS panel that uses a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1,920-by-1,200-pixel touchscreen. The slimness of the surrounding bezels is impressive, giving the laptop a 91.6% screen-to-body ratio, and that prominent display looks very good.
Colors are vivid and bright, the contrast provides a crispness to details, and the viewing angles are so wide that I couldn’t find a bad angle—the colors stayed clear and bright regardless of where I viewed the panel from.
It’s also, interestingly enough, not the best display Lenovo offers on the machine, with a different 2,880-by-1,800-pixel OLED touch screen available on the most expensive models.
Above the display is a protrusion that Lenovo calls the Communications Bar, a distinctive housing for a full HD webcam with electronic shutter and IR functionality for facial recognition. Alongside are dual microphones with Dolby Voice noise cancellation to eliminate unwanted ambient noise. While it serves a clear purpose when the Z13 is open, the Bar also provides a convenient lip that makes it easy to open and close the slim laptop.Minimalist Port Selection
The only part of the Z13 that feels lacking rather than luxe is the port selection, which is decidedly minimalist. On the right you’ll find a single USB-C port and a headphone/mic jack.
