Lenovo ThinkBook Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 8 14.0" Touch Screen Intel Review

So you're looking for a 14-inch business laptop that's actually portable and has a touchscreen. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G8 IRL fits that bill. It's built around Intel's new Core 7 240H processor, which packs 10 cores for solid multitasking, and it comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. At around $1,250, it's priced as a premium business ultrabook. The real question is whether this specific mix of features—like that touchscreen and the latest Intel chip—is worth it for you, especially when you could get a MacBook Air or a more powerful gaming laptop for similar money. If you need Windows 11 Pro for work and value a compact, reliable machine you can carry all day, this is a strong contender.

Let's talk about what that Intel Core 7 240H can do. Its CPU performance lands in the 71st percentile, which is very good for this class. In practice, that means it'll handle dozens of browser tabs, spreadsheets, video calls, and basic photo editing without breaking a sweat. The integrated Intel Graphics, however, are exactly what you'd expect—they're fine for driving the display and streaming video, but that's about it. The GPU score is right at the 50th percentile, which confirms this is not a machine for gaming or any serious creative work like video editing. Our benchmarks gave it an 18.6 out of 100 for gaming, so yeah, don't buy this to play anything more demanding than solitaire. For general office and business tasks, the performance is more than enough.

At $1257, the ThinkBook 14 G8 sits in a tricky spot. You're paying a premium for the business-ready build, the touchscreen, and that new Intel chip. For pure office work, you could get a MacBook Air with better battery life and a superior screen for less. For the same price, you could also step into a last-gen gaming laptop with far more power, though you'd sacrifice portability. The value here is really for the specific user who needs a compact, reliable Windows Pro machine with a touchscreen right now. If those aren't your top three requirements, your money might be better spent elsewhere.

The competition is fierce. The Apple MacBook Pro (even an M3 MacBook Air) will destroy this in battery life and screen quality, and it'll feel faster in daily use for most people. But you lose the touchscreen and Windows. The ASUS Zenbook Duo is a more interesting comparison—it's also a touchscreen laptop, but its dual-screen design makes it far more versatile for multitasking, though it might be less durable. Then you have the gaming laptops like the MSI Vector or Gigabyte AORUS. Compared to the ThinkBook, they offer massively better performance for the price, but they're heavier, have worse battery life, and lack the business-focused features. The ThinkBook's niche is being the reliable, portable, professional choice in a sea of flashier options.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G8 IRL? It depends. If you're a business user or a student who needs a no-nonsense, portable Windows laptop with a touchscreen and good connectivity, and your work is strictly based on office apps, web browsing, and communication, then yes, this is a solid, reliable pick. Its CPU is strong for those tasks, and it's easy to carry. But if you care about battery life, want a better screen, need to do anything graphical, or just want the best overall performance for your money, look at the MacBook Air or even a 2-in-1 like the ASUS Zenbook Duo first. This ThinkBook does its specific job well, but that job is fairly narrow.