When buying a business laptop, there are a few things you might usually look for, and laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 check most or all of those boxes. Whether it’s the high-end Intel processors with vPro support, the tall 16:10 display (with an optional privacy screen), or a wide range of connectivity, this laptop has it all. And among those connectivity options, one that businesses often appreciate is cellular connectivity, such as 5G. If you’re wondering whether the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga has you covered on that front, fret not – you can get it with either 5G or 4G LTE support.

As usual with just about every other laptop, cellular network support is optional, and it’s a fairly expensive add-on on top of the base price. Adding 4G LTE to the laptop costs just under $200 (excluding discounts) in addition to the laptop’s regular price. The 5G option isn’t available yet at writing time – new configurations tend to roll out over time, so that’s not surprising – but in the past, it’s been close to $200 more than a 4G LTE upgrade, too.

Do you need 5G or LTE on the ThinkPad X1 Yoga?

Considering it’s a fairly expensive upgrade, you might be wondering why you would even need to add cellular network support to your laptop at all. That’s a valid question, so let’s explain it briefly. Cellular networks are what your phone uses to make calls, send messages, and most importantly these days, connect to the internet from anywhere you go. With cellular support on a laptop, that’s the most immediate benefit – accessing the internet from wherever you are, even if you don’t have a Wi-Fi network nearby. For mobile workers, it’s hugely important so you can get work done while on a train, for example.

But there’s another important benefit to it, and that’s security. If you’re using the Wi-Fi network in your home or office, you’re probably safe from attackers on the same network, but it’s a different story if you use the Wi-Fi network at your local Starbucks or something. Those networks are public, and someone may be able to connect to them and spy on whatever you’re doing while you’re using your computer. That’s a serious security risk, and having a cellular network bypasses that problem since you don’t need to connect to insecure Wi-Fi networks at all. Of course, that’s entirely dependent on your use case – if you only work in your office, you probably don’t need cellular support at all.

As for why you might prefer 5G over 4G LTE, it’s mostly about speed and future-proofing. 5G networks are newer, and they can offer higher speeds, though it varies. You might have heard that 5G networks can get into multi-gigabit speeds, but that’s really only possible when using high-frequency mmWave networks, which aren’t widely available and aren’t supported on most laptops. Still, even for lower frequency ranges, you’ll notice increased speeds and reliability, especially as 5G networks become more developed. It’s still relatively new technology, so we’re going to see improvements in the next few years.

What that means is that if you’re buying a laptop now and it will only last you a couple of years, you might be better off saving some money by choosing 4G LTE. If you want to use it for a few more years to come, 5G support might make a big difference later down the line.

And that’s all you need to know about 5G and LTE support on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga. As we’ve mentioned above, the laptop does officially support both options, though at writing time, only the 4G LTE configuration is available. The 5G option should roll out in the near future.

Either way, you can check out the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga using the link below and choose the configuration that fits your needs. Lenovo allows you to choose the exact specs you want, so you can be sure it has everything you need. If you want to explore other options, we do have a list of the best laptops you can buy, which may be worth checking out.