Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 2023, Core i5-1235U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Gray

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 is a budget business laptop with a capable i5-1235U processor and a touchscreen, but it's held back by 8GB of soldered RAM and a small 256GB SSD. It's fine for basic office work and school tasks, but not for gaming or heavy multitasking. At around CAD 810, it's a decent deal if you know what you're getting into.

The i5-1235U is a solid little workhorse. With 10 cores split between performance and efficiency, it handles multitasking better than you'd expect from a budget laptop. Our database puts its CPU performance in the middle of the pack for this category, which sounds underwhelming until you remember this thing costs less than a flagship phone. It'll chew through browser tabs, Office apps, and light photo editing without much complaint.

But the 8GB of soldered RAM is the real bottleneck here. That's a 14th percentile score in our rankings, and it means you can't upgrade later. With Windows 11 and a few Chrome tabs open, you'll start feeling the squeeze. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are fine for video playback and basic tasks, but gaming performance lands at a dismal 11.1 out of 100. This is not a gaming laptop, not even close. The 256GB SSD is also on the small side, sitting in the 16th percentile, so you'll want to lean on cloud storage or an external drive.

Stacked against something like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, the ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 looks pretty basic. The Surface has a much better display, better build quality, and longer battery life, but it also costs significantly more. The Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro is in a completely different universe in terms of performance and screen quality, but you're paying three to four times the price. For pure gaming, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or Acer Predator Helios Neo will run circles around this thing, but again, totally different price brackets and use cases.

Where the ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 makes sense is if you want a cheap, reliable Windows laptop for office work and don't care about gaming or creative tasks. It's not trying to compete with premium ultrabooks or gaming rigs. It's a fleet machine, and it does that job fine. The MSI Vector 16 HX AI is a powerhouse by comparison, but it's also huge, expensive, and overkill for checking email.

At CAD 810, the ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 is priced like a budget laptop but carries the ThinkBook name and a one-year onsite warranty. That's a decent deal if you need a dependable machine for work or school. But the value proposition gets shaky when you look at what's missing. The 8GB of soldered RAM and 256GB SSD are both near the bottom of our rankings, and you can't fix the RAM later. If you can stretch your budget a bit, you'll find laptops with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSDs that will age much better. Still, for the price, it's hard to complain too loudly about a machine that includes a touchscreen and Thunderbolt.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 is a budget-friendly business laptop that lands in that sweet spot where you're not paying for flashy extras, just the basics done reasonably well. It's built around a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U, a 10-core chip that handles everyday office work without breaking a sweat. You get 8GB of soldered DDR4 RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 14-inch 1080p IPS display with touch support, all wrapped in a 1.69kg chassis that won't wreck your shoulder on a commute.

At around CAD 810, this is firmly in the affordable business laptop category. It's the kind of machine IT departments buy in bulk, but it also works for students or anyone who needs a reliable Windows 11 Pro machine for spreadsheets, email, video calls, and the occasional Netflix session. The touchscreen is a nice bonus at this price, even if the 45% NTSC color coverage means you won't be doing any serious photo editing on it.

Is the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 good for everyday use? For most people, yes. It's not going to win any speed records, but it's dependable, compact enough to carry around, and has the kind of no-nonsense build quality Lenovo's ThinkBook line is known for. Just don't expect it to do much beyond the basics.

Skip the ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 if you do any kind of gaming, video editing, or heavy multitasking. The integrated graphics are weak, the 8GB of RAM will choke on demanding workloads, and the 256GB SSD is too small for large media files. If you need more power, look at something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 for gaming or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition for a premium everyday experience. Also skip it if you're picky about displays, since the 45% NTSC color coverage makes everything look a bit washed out compared to modern laptops with better panels.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4? If you need an affordable, no-frills Windows laptop for work or school and you're okay with the limitations, it's a reasonable choice. The i5-1235U is capable, the build feels solid, and the touchscreen is a nice touch at this price. The one-year onsite warranty adds some peace of mind for business buyers.

But if you can afford to spend a bit more, do it. The 8GB of soldered RAM is a dealbreaker for anyone who multitasks heavily, and the 256GB SSD will have you constantly managing storage space within months. This laptop is fine for what it is, but it's not a machine that will grow with you. It's a stopgap, not a long-term companion.