Lenovo ThinkPad Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 1 13.3" 2-in-1 Review

This $300 refurbished ThinkPad 2-in-1 is in the 93rd percentile for portability but the 12th percentile for CPU power. It's incredibly light and has a sturdy hinge, but it feels slow and has a small, used-grade screen. Only buy it if being compact is your absolute top priority and you're okay with 2019-level performance.

At $300, the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 1 is a budget-friendly 2-in-1 that makes some serious trade-offs. It scores a 69.6/100 for being compact, landing it in the 93rd percentile for size and weight. That's the headline: this is a very portable machine. But its CPU performance sits in the 12th percentile, and its storage is in the bottom 4th percentile. You're getting a classic ThinkPad build and a convertible hinge for a low price, but you're also getting specs from a different era.

This is a refurbished unit with a 'Grade B' LCD, which is a key part of the value proposition. It's not a powerhouse, and it's not meant to be. Our data shows it's best suited for basic, compact use, scoring 69.6 there, but it's weak for gaming (6/100) and only middling for student or business tasks. Think of it as a highly portable note-taking and web-browsing machine that you don't have to baby.

Let's be clear: performance is not this laptop's strong suit. Its Intel Core i7-10510U CPU ranks in the 12th percentile. That means it's slower than nearly 90% of the laptops in our database. In practical terms, you'll feel that in anything more demanding than having a dozen browser tabs open. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics land in the 44th percentile, which is fine for video calls and basic media, but forget about modern gaming or serious photo editing.

The bright spots are its portability and connectivity. Its compact score is in the 93rd percentile, thanks to a 1.31kg weight and a 13.3" form factor. Port selection is decent at the 73rd percentile, with Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI. But with RAM in the 34th percentile and storage in the 4th percentile (that 256GB SSD fills up fast), you're working with some real constraints. This machine is built to be carried, not to crunch numbers.

The value proposition here is simple: you're paying $300 for a portable, refurbished ThinkPad 2-in-1 with a known brand's build quality. You're not paying for cutting-edge specs. Compared to a new budget laptop at this price, you get better materials and that convertible hinge. But you sacrifice significantly on raw performance and get a used screen with potential blemishes. It's a trade-off between build and brains, and this machine chose build. For the right user who values portability and durability over speed, it could be a sensible deal.

Stacked against its peers, the X13 Yoga's age shows. The ASUS Zenbook Duo offers a dual-screen setup and much newer, more efficient processors for several hundred dollars more. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Copilot+ PC is in another league entirely for AI tasks and battery life, but costs over a thousand dollars more. A more direct competitor might be a newer budget Chromebook or Intel N-series laptop, which would offer better battery life and a brighter screen for similar money, but lack the ThinkPad's sturdiness and Windows Pro OS. The X13 Yoga wins on perceived reliability (71st percentile) and portability, but loses badly on CPU, screen, and storage versus almost any modern machine.

Skip this laptop if you need performance. Its CPU sits in the 12th percentile, meaning it's slower than almost everything else out there. Creative professionals, developers, data analysts, or anyone who regularly uses demanding software should look elsewhere. Also, avoid it if screen quality is a priority (17th percentile) or if you need more than 256GB of built-in storage (4th percentile). This is not a primary machine for getting real work done.

We can only recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 1 if your needs are very specific. You must prioritize extreme portability and a 2-in-1 form factor above all else, and you have a tight $300 budget. Its 93rd percentile compact score and ThinkPad build are legit. For anyone else, the 12th percentile CPU and 4th percentile storage are deal-breakers. This is a machine for taking notes on the go, browsing the web, and handling basic documents—nothing more. If your workflow includes Zoom calls, spreadsheets, and more than 10 browser tabs, you'll feel the strain quickly.