03 Dec
Blog

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook Review: OLED For Cheap

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook open on a table.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook

RRP $ 500.00

"The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook brings OLED quality to a surprisingly affordable 2-in-1."

advantages

  • Acceptable productivity performance

  • Very long battery life

  • Excellent advertisement

  • Solid build quality

  • Payable

disadvantage

  • The display has the old school 16: 9 aspect ratio

  • Limited to WiFi 5

  • Stand add-on is impractical

Chromebooks don't often beat Windows in the market for implementing new technology, but Lenovo's IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook did just that. It is the first detachable tablet with OLED display, launched just before the Asus Vivobook 13 Slate, which is the first detachable Windows 11 tablet with OLED technology. The IdeaPad Duet 5 is based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, an ARM chip, and is thus another first. It's a bigger tablet, but still an alternative to other low-cost devices like the Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Go 3.

I tested the midrange configuration of the IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook, which costs $ 500 and includes the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 and a 13.3-inch 1080p OLED display. I found the tablet to be way above its price and one of the best 2-in-1 tablets at this price point.

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The Asus ZenBook 14X OLED in its case.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The first thing you'll notice about the IdeaPad Duet 5 when you take a closer look is that the display is old-school, 16: 9. The laptop world is moving in the direction of larger displays, 16:10 or 3: 2, which is particularly useful for tablets that mimic a standard sheet in portrait format. In comparison, a 16: 9 tablet is longer and slimmer, making it less convenient to view documents and take notes with a pen.

The bezels of the IdeaPad Duet 5 are small on the sides and a bit thicker at the top and bottom. They're not huge for a tablet, and the IdeaPad Duet 5 is reasonably large considering the display. Compared to its closest Windows 11 competitor, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 with its 13-inch 3: 2 display, the IdeaPad Duet 5 is almost an inch wider, while the Surface Pro 8 is almost an inch higher.

At 0.37 inches, Microsoft's tablet is thicker than the 0.28-inch of the IdeaPad Duet 5, but the Surface Pro 8 has its kickstand built in – more on that in a moment. Of course, the IdeaPad Duet 5 is significantly larger than the Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Go, which are built around 10.2-inch and 10.5-inch displays. If you can take the size, the Lenovo is a viable competitor.

Another competitive tablet with a 12.3-inch 3: 2 display, the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable is roughly the same size as the Surface Pro 8 thanks to the smaller bezels. In terms of weight, the IdeaPad Duet 5 alone weighs for the tablet 1.54 pounds, compared to the Surface Pro 8 at 1.96 pounds and the ThinkPad X12 Detachable at 1.67 pounds. The IdeaPad Duet 5 is not a small tablet, but it is manageable. Using the smallest tablets from Apple or Microsoft would save you about half a pound.

Close-up on the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED stand.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Now for this stand. As with the HP Chromebook x2 11, the IdeaPad Duet 5's stand is an add-on that clicks into place on the back of the tablet and is held in place by strong magnets. That makes the tablet thicker and impractical – it's another thing to carry around with you. The Surface Pro 8 and ThinkPad X12 Detachable are much more convenient to use with their built-in kickstand, although the version of the IdeaPad Duet 5 works just as well. It also holds the tablet upright without wobbling and extends just as far until the tablet rests almost flat on a surface. If you don't mind fiddling with another piece, then the version of the IdeaPad Duet 5 will be just fine. And let's not forget that this is a $ 500 tablet, while the Lenovo and Microsoft versions are more than twice as expensive when fully configured.

The IdeaPad Duet 5 is made of plastic, with the upper part of the back being a soft-coated version. It feels solid enough in the hand, and your first clue that it isn't made of a metal alloy like the other laptops I mentioned is that it doesn't feel as cold after a while. If you don't mind plastic gadgets, that's no real blow to the IdeaPad Duet 5 – especially given its price point.

Aesthetically, the tablet is a dark gray (Storm Gray) or blue (Abyss Blue) plate, with only the two-tone part on the back giving it a little pizzazz. Minimalist designs are pretty much the standard for tablets, however, with the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable having the most exotic look.

There are two USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one on each side of the tablet (both can be used for charging).

The pogo pin connector on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook for the detachable keyboard.

Connectivity is limited to two USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one on each side of the tablet – each can be used for charging – and a pogo-pin connector for the detachable keyboard. That's it. And yes, Lenovo has done without a 3.5mm audio jack. That's a huge disappointment in my book, and it's the first tablet I know that got disconnected.

You will be limited to bluetooth headphones which I consider liability. Speaking of wireless connectivity: the Snapdragon chipset limits the tablet to Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. There's no always connected internet option like the HP Chromebook x2 11.

power

Asus ZenBook 14X OLED open on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebooks use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 System-on-Chip (SoC), a slightly updated version of the same ARM processor used in the HP Chromebook x2 11. As far as I can tell, the only significant difference is a tiny speed threshold from 2.4 GHz to 2.55 GHz. Unsurprisingly, the IdeaPad Duet 5 performed similarly to the Chromebook x2 11. In other words, the ARM CPU could keep up with Chrome OS as long as I didn't open too many tabs in Chrome or too many Android apps were running in the background. I'm sure the 8GB of RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage had something to do with it.

We don't have all of the benchmarks available for Chromebooks, but the IdeaPad Duet 5 scored 599 in single-core mode and 1718 in multi-core mode in the Android Geekbench 5 app. That's just a tiny bit faster than the 590 and 1,689 of the Chromebook x2 11. It lags far behind faster Chromebooks like the Asus Chromebook Flip C536 with a Core i5-1115G4 that scores 1209 and 2849 points, and the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 with a Core i5-1135G7 that hits 1,190 and 4,151. The IdeaPad Duet 5's score in the Speedometer 2.0 web benchmark was 47, just ahead of the Chromebook x2 11's with 45. In comparison, the Chromebook Flip CX5 achieved 163.

Overall, you will be satisfied with the performance of the IdeaPad Duet 5 as long as your productivity workflow is not too demanding. As I said, with a reasonable number of tabs and Android apps open, the tablet ran fine. However, if you exceeded that amount, things got noticeably slower. And limit yourself to occasional Android games – Asphalt 9, the Android game I use to test Chromebooks, was choppy and showed significant lag when I tried to run it on the IdeaPad Duet 5, which is a more usable gaming tablet .

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Close up on the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED display.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

From the moment I turned on the IdeaPad Duet 5, I could tell that something was different. OLED displays are so much more dynamic and eye-catching than IPS displays, and the 13.3-inch Full HD version of the IdeaPad Duet 5 is no exception. The colors were pleasant and natural, the contrast was deep with inky black tones, and the display was more than bright enough for all of my work environments.

My two complaints start with the 16: 9 aspect ratio, which, as mentioned earlier, isn't nearly as functional as 16:10 and 3: 2 displays in portrait mode, and it looked squashed too. It's not a deal breaker – many 16: 9 laptops and tablets are still made today – but it's far from ideal. Next, the Full HD resolution was just okay with a display size of 13.3 inches. A sharper screen would have helped, especially with text, and while black text showed up on a white background, they did it with a few pixels. A higher resolution display would have been nice too, but for $ 500, it's hard to complain about.

Close-up on the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED display without keyboard attachment.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Even so, most users will love this display. Even creatives looking for a Chromebook to view photos and videos will love the colors and contrast. This display will please everyone except the pickiest of pixel peepers and those who use a pen to take lots of notes.

Unfortunately, the sound does not do justice to the display despite four speakers radiating from the side. First off, there's not much volume even when it's all the way up, and worse, there's distortion that cuts out the little bass and makes a very tinny sound. The mids and highs are clear at about half volume, but the bass is missing. Overall, you'll want to use bluetooth headphones or speakers for anything but system sounds and the occasional YouTube video.

Keyboard and touchpad

Close up on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook keyboard.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook case with keyboard.

Lenovo includes a detachable keyboard with the IdeaPad Duet 5 that shares the same basic design as most keyboards – with one exception. It is attached to the tablet via magnets and connected via pogo pins, but unlike most keyboards, it has no way of supporting it at an angle. They're stuck when you lay it flat, which isn't nearly as comfortable. Thanks to the 13.3-inch display and the width it offers, there is plenty of key spacing and the keycaps are large and comfortable. The switches offer a lot of spring travel and have a snappy bottom movement. The keyboard feels great – if only Lenovo had built in an angle.

The touchpad is also good and big enough to be comfortable using the Chrome OS suite of multitouch gestures. The surface can be wiped comfortably and the buttons have a nice click without being too loud. The display is of course touch-enabled and supports an optional Lenovo Active Pen. One was not included with my test device, so I could not test the coloring with the IdeaPad Duet 5.

Battery life

OLED displays can sometimes be the death knell when it comes to battery life. But that's mainly because most OLED laptops use 4K resolution. The IdeaPad Duet 5 uses a 1080p screen and combines it with a Snapdragon processor with low power consumption. It also contains 42 watt hours of battery, a decent amount for this device – and more than the 32 watt hours found on the HP Chromebook x2 11. I was curious to see how long the detachable tablet would last on one charge.

I was positively surprised. In our web browser test, which ran through a number of popular and demanding websites, the IdeaPad Duet 5 lasted for 15.5 hours – an excellent score that beat the Chromebook x2 11's 12.75 hours. The 10.1 inch Lenovo IdeaPad Duet with its 27 watt hour battery and the MediaTek Helio P60T ARM processor lasted about 13 hours. In our video test replaying a local 1080p movie trailer, the IdeaPad Duet 5 achieved a whopping 21.75 hours – one of the longest-lasting devices we tested. It outperformed the 11 hours of the Chromebook x2 11 and the 12.5 hours of the IdeaPad Duet.

Simply put, the IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook will last you a full day while you still have some time to watch Netflix. Chromebooks with ARM CPUs should have great battery life, and the IdeaPad Duet 5 keeps that promise.

Our opinion

At $ 500, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is excellent value for money. You get adequate productivity performance and great battery life. The OLED display looks great too, even if it's not perfect.

Anyone looking for an affordable Chrome tablet that they can use for web browsing, email triage, and media consumption will find that the IdeaPad Duet 5 is a great choice.

Are there alternatives?

the HP Chromebook x2 11 is a close alternative with almost the same CPU and very similar performance. At the same time, the display is good, but not great, and the battery life is wasted. You can also get it for $ 100 less, albeit with half the space.

Another option is the Microsoft Surface Go 3. It's a Windows 11 laptop and it's smaller, but its build quality and performance are just as good, and it has its own great display. It's more expensive when you add the cost of the keyboard, but it's well worth it too.

After all, the Apple iPad is a good tablet, although it is also a bit smaller. You might want to stick with the entry-level model of $ 329 or risk spending a lot more. But it's faster thanks to a faster ARM CPU and a highly optimized operating system, and it has a great display. It's also thin, light, and well built.

How long it will take?

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook could be made of plastic, but that doesn't mean it won't last for years. You'll also get a lot of performance out of Chrome OS for some time. The one-year warranty is fine for a $ 500 laptop.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 is fast enough for the price, which makes it a long-lasting secondary device with a beautiful display for media consumption. It's the best tablet you will find for the money.

Editor's recommendations



19 Nov
Blog

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 Review: An E-Ink Experiment

Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen 2 review

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2

RRP $ 1,696.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad Plus Gen 2 is just fast enough for productive users and has reasonable battery life, but its e-ink display stands out as a unique and useful feature."

advantages

  • Innovative e-ink panel

  • Excellent IPS main display

  • Very good keyboard and touchpad

  • Good build quality

  • Thin and light

disadvantage

  • Expensive

  • There is a lack of performance

  • Insufficient connectivity

If you're an avid reader like me, e-ink is magical. You will likely appreciate the way e-ink makes reading more comfortable, while causing far less eye strain and putting a minimal drain on battery life.

But is there any application that goes beyond simple e-readers? Lenovo has been at the forefront of experimenting with e-ink, and its latest creation embeds a 12-inch e-ink display right on the lid of a laptop called the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2. The laptop is an upgraded version of the thin and light ThinkBook 13x, a device for small businesses.

I tested a high-end configuration of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 with a Core i7-1160G7 and a 13.3-inch 16:10 WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) display that came at a premium price of US $ 1,696 -Dollars is being sold. Like the ThinkBook 13x, it is a bit overpriced for a basic business laptop. However, the e-ink screen may be worth the premium for anyone looking to read e-books, write notes on a more comfortable display, or take lots of notes without running out of battery.

E Ink display

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 in e-ink mode.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

We'll start with the e-ink display, because that's what sets this laptop apart, of course. It's a 12-inch panel compared to the previous generation's 10.8-inch version – it takes up more space on the lid, with large bezels that would have looked normal on a standard display just a few years ago. The e-ink screen is 16:10 like the main display and sharp at the same WQXGA resolution.

It's also not backlit, so like all e-ink screens, it can only be used with direct lighting. There will be more to that shortly, but in general, it's a good thing. It's designed to protect your eyes from the blue light that standard displays emit and, in theory, make it less tiring to use for long reading sessions.

In order to be able to use the e-ink display comfortably, I needed a lot of ambient light.

The e-ink display works just like the one you find on the Amazon Kindle and other specialty e-book readers. Its image is made up of tiny black and white particles that electronically align themselves in the right direction to create a grayscale image. As such, the display will freeze until it is updated, which takes noticeably time and causes the typical warping effect you get with the technology. This makes the display suitable, for example, for showing documents and other information, for reading e-books and for taking notes. It doesn't work well for watching video or any other thing that requires a fast refresh rate.

When the laptop is idle or turned off, the static image offers some personalization – you can choose your own wallpaper that will become the aesthetic of the lid. When enabled, by default you will be presented with a number of panels of customization information, such as: B. Your Outlook calendar (if configured), the weather, a notebook, and customizable buttons to open supported applications.

I was able to add and run every application I had installed on the laptop, including the full suite of Office apps, Google Chrome, and the Kindle reader for PC, although not every application works well with e-ink technology. Gaming is certainly out of the question, and you should avoid apps that require immediate response to input.

If I bought the laptop, I would upgrade to Windows 11, join the Windows Insider Program, and install the Android version of the Kindle app. That would give me a huge e-book reader that is as good as a Kindle without lighting.

The e-ink display of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 in tablet mode. Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

And for me there is the catch. In order to be able to use the e-ink display comfortably, I needed a lot of ambient light. My home office, which is normally lit by indirect sunlight, did not have enough light by default. I had to actively turn on a lamp just above the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2's e-ink display to get a clear view of the image. It's the same with my Kindle Paperwhite, where the lights are switched off and don't knock on the e-ink display itself. It's just that the technology requires good lighting, and that limits its usefulness.

If you want to take something to the beach at the same time (in a plastic bag or something to protect it from the sand) the display looks amazing in direct sunlight. In fact, that's one of the e-ink display's greatest strengths. It gives you something to use when outside or in an unusually bright setting. Standard laptop displays are rarely bright enough to beat the Southern California sun, and I can imagine using the e-ink display on such occasions for things like email triaging, web browsing, and of course, e-booking. To use reading.

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Close-up of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 webcam.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 shares an almost identical case with the ThinkBook 13x, a thin and light brother of the ThinkBook 13s Gen 2. Chassis. The ThinkBook 13s is a bit more solid than the other two, which have a slight bend in the lid, while the keyboard deck and lower case are solid. This bending is a little more worrying about the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 given its e-ink display.

The Dell XPS 13 is an example of a more rugged 13-inch laptop, as is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 benefits from the same military durability tests as all ThinkBook and ThinkPad laptops.

In terms of size, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 and ThinkBook 13x are equally wide and deep thanks to identical 16:10 13.3-inch displays with small bezels. The ThinkPad 13x is slightly thinner at 0.51-inches and lighter at 2.49 pounds than the 0.55-inch and 2.56-inch ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 – likely due to the e-ink display. The ThinkBook 13s is only slightly thicker at 0.59 inches and heavier at 2.78 pounds.

The XPS 13 is slightly smaller in width and depth, measuring 0.58 inches and 2.8 pounds, while the ThinkPad X1 Nano is slightly thicker at 0.68 inches and the lightest of them all at 2.14 pounds. If you're sticking an e-ink screen onto a clamshell laptop, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 is a relatively thin and light candidate.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has almost identical aesthetics to the ThinkBook 13x, with slightly tapered edges on the sides and a rounded back edge on the case. It's the darker Storm Gray color compared to the silver Cloudy Gray on our Thinkpad 13x test device, and it has a comfortable, soft coating on the keyboard deck that the ThinkPad 13x lacks. Overall, the design is tasteful and no-nonsense, following a current trend towards minimalist designs that I noticed.

Of course, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 does not share the two-tone lid of the ThinkBook 13x, but instead has the E-Ink display. The XPS 13 is slimmer and more elegant, but the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 stands out even more thanks to its unique lid.

Two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left side of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2.

Power button on the right side of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2.

Just like the ThinkBook 13x, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 is a challenge when it comes to connectivity. There are two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5mm audio jack, and that's it. It's the same unfortunate compromise in connectivity that is required to produce a thinner case. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 offer wireless connectivity. An interesting option that is available on certain models (and not on my test unit) is wireless charging. These versions come with pogo pins on the bottom of the case connected to a $ 200 wireless charging kit – just place the laptop on the pad and you can charge without plugging it in. That is a nice comfort.

power

Like the ThinkBook 13x, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 is equipped with an energy-saving 11th generation Intel Core CPU, in this case the Core i7-1160G7. It also runs with up to 15 watts compared to the 28-watt Core i7-1165G7, which is more popular in thin and light laptops. That promises longer battery life, but slower performance. I didn't notice any slowdowns during my tests, but my verification process isn't very demanding. The 16GB of RAM and swift 512GB SSD helped keep things moving, and that's how I found the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 fast enough for most productivity workers.

My benchmark results weren't impressive. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 took third place in Geekbench 5, ahead of the ThinkBook 13x and the ThinkPad X12 Detachable. The Handbrake result, which reflects how long it takes to encode a 420MB video as H.265, was the last time, although the results improved from 303 seconds to 206 seconds when I used the Lenovo utility to switch from standard to performance mode – faster but still behind the pack.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 took penultimate place in the Cinebench R23 test, beating only the ThinkPad X12 Detachable, and its multi-core test jumped from 3,949 to 4,254 when I enabled performance mode. In the PCMark 10 Complete Benchmark, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 was more competitive and took third place. The results were decent in both the essentials and productivity areas of the benchmarks and not as competitive in the content creation area.

Overall, the benchmarks confirmed my subjective experience: The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 is fine for a reasonable productivity workflow, but demanding users and particularly creative professionals will want to look for their primary laptop elsewhere. As with the ThinkBook 13x, Lenovo chose a low-power CPU to better fit into the thinner case, and it was a poor compromise.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 (Core i7-1160G7) 1396/5115 303 1377/3949 4861 1580
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x (Core i5-1130G7) 1337/4863 271 1282/4037 4590 1363
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 (Core i5-1135G7) 1406/5379 178 1357/5502 4668 1511
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 detachable (Core i5-1130G7) 1352/4796 185 1125/3663 4443 926
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1185G7) 1549/5431 204 1.449 / 4.267 3,859 1,589
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (Core i7-1165G7) 1327/5201 170 1469/4945 5147 1776
Samsung Galaxy Book (Core i5-1135G7) 1401/5221 175 1361/5391 4735 1584
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Ryzen7 5700U) 1184/6281 116 1287/8013 5411 1247

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 does surprisingly well in the 3DMark Time Spy test. However, that didn't carry over to our Fortnite test, which only managed 18 frames per second (fps) at 1200p and epic graphics. This is not a gaming laptop.

Main display

I mentioned that the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 and ThinkBook 13x are almost identical outside of the former's e-ink display, and I noticed this similarity when I started working with the main 16:10 IPS display. It looked the same to me, with the same high resolution, the same dynamic and natural colors and the same deep contrast (for an IPS display). I couldn't tell the two apart when I looked at them side by side.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has an excellent IPS display that creative types can operate in no time at all.

According to my colorimeter, these are actually the same panels. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 was bright at 418 nits, had a slightly above average color width at 76% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, very accurate colors at a DeltaE of 1.03 (1.0 or less is excellent) and a strong contrast at 1,440 :1. The ThinkBook 13x achieved 417 cd / m², the same color width, a DeltaE of 1.04 and a contrast of 1,430: 1. Lenovo has opted for an excellent display for both devices. The 4K display of the Dell XPS 13 was equally good with 420 cd / m², 79% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, an accuracy of 1.3 and a contrast of 1,360: 1.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has an excellent IPS display.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has an excellent IPS display that creative types can operate in no time at all. The colors aren't wide enough to be a full-time creative laptop, but the colors are accurate and the contrast is high enough for less demanding developers to get some work done. It's more than good enough for productive users, and Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR) support makes for great Netflix and Amazon Prime Video bingeing.

Two downward facing speakers handle audio, and I found them to be a bit louder on the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 than on the ThinkBook 13x – but not by much. The mids and highs were nice and clear with no distortion, but the bass was missing. Headphones would be preferred for enjoying Netflix and listening to music, but the sound quality was fine for the occasional YouTube video.

Keyboard and touchpad

Close-up of the keyboard and pen on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo has two keyboards that it uses on most of its laptops, the iconic version of the ThinkPad range and the equally recognizable, but not quite as famous, version on laptops like the IdeaPad and ThinkBook. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has the latter keyboard, of course, and it has the same molded keycaps, wide key spacing, and snappy switches that make for a comfortable floor movement. There isn't much travel, however, which makes the keyboard a little less suitable for long typing sessions than the HP Specter and Dell XPS series keyboards.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro has an upgraded version of the same basic keyboard with even faster switches, and it's unfortunate that it didn't make it into the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2. The three-level backlight is bright and consistent, but it's the lowest setting, and the keyboard is splash-proof with call buttons for video conferencing – two small business nods to it.

The touchpad is just big enough to be comfortable, with a non-slip surface that enables sensitive and precise swiping. It's a Microsoft Precision touchpad, which means all Windows 10 multi-touch gestures are supported. The display was touch and pen capable and supported the Lenovo active pen that comes with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 and docks in a slot on the right side of the case. The pen isn't as convenient to use on the main display, but it works well with the e-ink panel and allows for taking notes that look a lot more like ink on paper.

Use the pen to draw a line on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Passwordless login under Windows 10 Hello is provided by a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. It worked well during my tests and helps wake up the laptop and log in with the lid closed, which activates the e-ink display. Notice that a dialog box appears on the e-ink panel offering you to continue working or to put the laptop to sleep when you close the lid. It's a nice touch that makes it easy to switch to e-ink mode.

Battery life

The e-ink display of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 offers 52 watt hours of battery life, a little less than the 56 watt hours of the ThinkBook 13s and another compromise in favor of a thinner case. Inside is a low-power processor but a high-resolution display so I wasn't sure what battery life to expect. My impressions were also influenced by the results I saw on the similarly configured ThinkBook 13x, which were downright mixed.

In our web browser test, which ran through a number of complex websites, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 lasted 7.75 hours, about 40 minutes less than the ThinkBook 13x. That's not a bad score, but we see more thin and light laptops exceed 10 hours on this test. The ThinkBook 13s lasted 9.3 hours, the Dell XPS 13 4K was worse with 6.3 hours.

In our video test replaying a local 1080p movie trailer, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 only achieved 12.75 hours, less than the 15.57 hours of the ThinkBook 13x and more than the 10.5 hours of the Dell XPS 13. Note that the ThinkBook 13x played very choppy videos during the test, suggesting that it may not have booted up enough to get a smooth video and thus wrongly increased its score. The ThinkBook 13s lasted 13.4 hours in the video test.

I also used the PCMark 10 Applications battery test to see how the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 fares as a productivity device. It reached 9.25 hours which is a good score close to the 10 hours we want to see in this test. The ThinkBook 13x lasted 8.5 hours, while the ThinkBook 13s reached 11.5 hours and the XPS 13 4K 8.7 hours. In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, which shows how hard a laptop works when not connected, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 lasted 2.25 hours, less than the 2.75 hours of the ThinkBook 13x and about the same the ThinkBook 13s. The XPS 13 4K reached 3.5 hours, which suggests it throttles quite a bit during the test, but I didn't notice any chops in its video.

All in all, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 had decent battery life for a thin and light laptop. It should get you through a full day of work which is the standard we like to see. Obviously, using the e-ink display gives you significantly longer battery life, although our benchmark suite isn't designed to test this display technology.

Our opinion

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 is simply judged to be a thin and light notebook and doesn't offer any convincing features to recommend it. It's very similar to the ThinkBook 13x in that regard – yes, it's slightly thinner and lighter than its bigger brother, the ThinkBook 13s, but it's also slower, has less battery life, and lacks the connectivity of the larger device. Those are unfortunate compromises for just a tiny bit less thickness and weight.

Throw in the e-ink display, however, and that changes the dynamics. It's not for everyone, but if you are an e-ink lover and want to use your laptop in bright light environments while taking a break from your eyes, then this is a great feature. It offers just enough value to make the ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 a standout laptop for those looking to take advantage of this unique feature.

Are there alternatives?

If you don't care about the e-ink display, the ThinkBook 13s is the better choice. It's less expensive and does the same small business features, it's faster with better battery life, and has better connectivity. There are two versions to choose from, with the Gen 2 running with either Intel or AMD or the slightly updated AMD Gen 3-only model.

Again, the Dell XPS 13 remains a better alternative if you aren't interested in the e-ink panel. The XPS 13 isn't more expensive but has a superior and better looking build, is faster and more durable depending on the display, and you get the option of an incredible 3.5K OLED display.

If a convertible 2-in-1 is more your thing – and you don't care about the e-ink display either – then the Specter x360 14 from HP is a good option. It looks even better, has an excellent 3K OLED display in the preferred aspect ratio of 3: 2, and is better built. You spend the same money but get more value.

How long it will take?

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 has enough build quality that you can be confident that it will last for years and its components are state-of-the-art. The one-year warranty is always disappointing and care should be taken with the e-ink display.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you use the e-ink panel for longer reading and note-taking sessions. It's a competent thin and light laptop with some tradeoffs, but the e-ink display beats it.

Editor's recommendations



17 Nov
Blog

Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Review: Thinner, Lighter, Less Capable

The Lenovo ThinkBook 13x sits at an angle on a desk /

Lenovo ThinkBook 13x

RRP $ 2,000.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad 13x is a small business notebook that costs more than it's worth."

advantages

  • Thin, light and durable housing

  • Very good IPS display

  • Competent productivity performance

  • Good keyboard and touchpad

disadvantage

  • Inconsistent battery life

  • Insufficient connectivity

  • Way too expensive

Lenovo's ThinkPad series offers a wealth of company-specific features that make them great business laptops for businesses. But for many smaller businesses and remote office workers, a ThinkPad is overkill.

This is where the ThinkBook comes in – it contains a handful of features that appeal to small businesses and avoid costly extras. We tested the ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 and found it a solid choice for its target market. With the ThinkBook 13x, Lenovo has now introduced a new version that promises the same features in a thinner and lighter case.

I tested the next entry-level version of the ThinkBook 13x with a Core i5-1130G7 and a 13.3-inch 16:10 WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) IPS touch display, which is currently at $ 2,000. That's significantly more money than the ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 ($ 780) and the AMD-based ThinkBook 13s Gen 3 ($ 1,340) that Lenovo also recently released. Yes, the ThinkBook 13x is a bit thinner and lighter, but at the cost of too many compromises and at a price that is far too high.

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The Lenovo ThinkBook 13x is tilted backwards.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkBook 13x looks very similar to the ThinkBook 13s. It has a silver chassis (Lenovo calls it Cloud Gray, but a darker Storm Gray is available) with tapered edges on the sides and a rounded rear edge. It's a very minimalist design – something I've been seeing a lot more lately – with an aesthetic flourish that is a two-tone finish on the lid that is attractive and helps the laptop not to get boring. It's not as streamlined and sleek as the Dell XPS 13, but the ThinkPad 13x has its own unobtrusive charm.

Thanks to a combination of an aluminum lid and an aluminum-magnesium alloy housing, the ThinkPad 13x is robust. The lid bends a little under sufficient pressure, but the keyboard deck and the lower chassis resist bending. It is almost on par with the ThinkPad 13s and just behind the XPS 13 and Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Nano.

Lenovo subjected the ThinkBook 13x – like all ThinkBooks and ThinkPads – to military tests for durability. This is one of those business features that you won't find in Lenovo's consumer products. Lenovo has also added its self-healing BIOS, a feature usually found on ThinkPads, to ensure easy recovery from a corrupted or hacked BIOS. That's also something the company's consumer laptops don't have.

As mentioned earlier, the ThinkBook 13x is primarily intended to be a thinner and lighter version of the ThinkBook 13s – including the newer AMD-based Gen 3 version, which has the same dimensions as the Gen 2. Both laptops are almost identically wide and deep, thanks to the minimal bezels around their larger 16:10 displays.

But the ThinkBook 13x is 0.51 inches thick and weighs 2.49 pounds compared to the ThinkBook 13s at 0.59 inches and 2.78 pounds. This is a significant difference, but it is questionable whether it is enough to warrant serious compromises (more on that later). The XPS 13 is a little less wide and deep, measuring 0.58 inches and 2.8 pounds, and the ThinkPad X1 Nano is thicker at 0.68 inches but even lighter at 2.14 pounds.

On the left side of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x there are two USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

Power button on the right side of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x.

Connectivity is severely limited with just two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 (one of which is used to charge the laptop) and a 3.5mm audio jack. That's it – no HDMI, no USB-A, no SD card reader. This is a shame for a business laptop.

The ThinkBook 13s, on the other hand, has two out of three, with a full-size HDMI and two USB-A ports. Such limited connectivity is not worth a savings of just 0.08 inches thick.

The latest connectivity standards Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 take care of the wireless tasks.

power

The bezels and the webcam of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x up close.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device was the 11th with the Intel Core i5-1130G7. It also runs at slower clock speeds, which means it should achieve better battery life, but performance suffers. The ThinkBook 13x appeared to be pretty fast during my testing and as I wrote this review, but its benchmark results indicated that it was power efficient. You can also choose a Core i7-1160G7, which should be a bit faster, while the 16GB of RAM in my test unit is the maximum that is available.

In Geekbench 5, the ThinkBook 13x was the second slowest in our comparison group – only the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable with the same CPU was slower. The ThinkBook 13x does particularly poorly in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265. However, when I used Lenovo's utility to switch from Smart Cooling mode to Extreme Performance mode, the laptop completed the test in a more competitive 196 seconds. Oddly enough, our handbrake test was the only one where switching to performance mode made any significant difference.

Looking at the rest of our benchmarks, the same trend persisted. The only outliers were the PCMark 10 Complete Score, in which the Dell XPS 13 performed worse, and the 3DMark Time Spy test, in which the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 with Radeon graphics was slower. Perhaps most notably, the ThinkBook 13x was slower than the thicker and heavier ThinkBook 13s Gen 2, which means you are trading performance for minimal size and weight reductions when choosing between these otherwise similar devices.

Despite these benchmark results, the ThinkBook 13x offers reasonable productivity performance. I didn't notice any slowdowns during my fairly typical productivity workflow. Discerning productivity users and creative professionals won't be happy, but the ThinkPad 13x will be fast enough for most users.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x (Core i5-1130G7) 1337/4863 271 1282/4037 4590 1363
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 (Core i5-1135G7) 1406/5379 178 1357/5502 4668 1511
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 detachable (Core i5-1130G7) 1352/4796 185 1125/3663 4443 926
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1185G7) 1549/5431 204 1.449 / 4.267 3,859 1,589
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (Core i7-1165G7) 1327/5201 170 1469/4945 5147 1776
Samsung Galaxy Book (Core i5-1135G7) 1401/5221 175 1361/5391 4735 1584
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Ryzen7 5700U) 1184/6281 116 1287/8013 5411 1247

The ThinkBook 13x has Intel Iris Xe graphics, but is a bit slower than the full-speed U-series machines. His 3DMark Time Spy score was the second slowest among Intel computers, only managing 16 frames per second (fps) at 1200p and epic graphics in Fortnite.

This is a few fps slower than the comparison group, but doesn't make a huge difference. Neither of these are gaming laptops, and the ThinkBook 13x is no different. Stick to older titles or prepare to reduce the resolution and graphics quality significantly.

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Close-up of the display of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo has recently switched to larger displays, and the ThinkBook 13x benefits from a 16:10 13.3-inch panel. It runs at a high resolution, namely WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600), which makes it extremely sharp. I found it to be quite bright, with attractive and natural colors and a deep contrast for an IPS display. Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR) support made for pleasant Netflix and Amazon Prime Video bingeing.

When I put on my colorimeter, my subjective impressions were verified. The display of the ThinkBook 13x is very bright at 417 cd / m², well above our 300 nit threshold, and offers an excellent contrast of 1,430: 1, significantly better than our preferred 1,000: 1. With 76% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, its colors were only slightly above the average of the premium notebook, with an accuracy of DeltaE 0.97 (anything below 1.0 is considered excellent).

The display of the ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 couldn't keep up and achieved a brightness of 274 nits, a contrast ratio of 920: 1, 77% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB and an accuracy of 1.65. However, the Dell XPS 13 4K display was almost as good with 420 nits of brightness, a contrast ratio of 1,360: 1, 79% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, and an accuracy of 1.3.

The ThinkBook 13x benefits from a high-quality IPS panel that offers an excellent display for productive work. Creative professionals will want wider colors, but given the high contrast and exceptional color accuracy of the ThinkBook 13x display, it can work even for creative professionals in a pinch. The display is one area where the ThinkBook 13x is better than the 13s.

Two downward facing speakers take care of audio tasks, and they barely produce adequate volume when turned all the way up. There was no distortion, however, and the mids and highs were clear. Bass was lacking, so headphones are a must-have for streaming video and audio.

Keyboard and touchpad

Image of the keyboard and trackpad of the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkBook 13x has the same keyboard found on all Lenovo laptops without a ThinkPad. It enjoys molded keycaps with a lot of clearance and a familiar layout, but there isn't much wiggle room. The switches are snappy, with a noticeable floor movement, but not as precise as the HP Specter range of keyboards or Dell's XPS. I also found the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro keyboard even snappier thanks to newer switches that apparently weren't used here.

The keyboard is of course backlit, has three brightness settings (one of which is barely visible) and it's also splash-proof – another of those business features that Lenovo has removed from the ThinkPad range to differentiate the ThinkBook from its consumer laptops . Another nod to business users are call buttons on the keyboard for managing video conferencing.

The touchpad is medium in size and takes up most of the space on the palm rest. It has a slightly grippy surface that provides tactile feedback when swiping, and the Microsoft Precision touchpad support means that all multi-touch gestures are well supported by Windows 10. The keys were light, clicky, and quiet. The touch display responded too, and I was glad to see it.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint reader built into the power button on the right side of the case. It was quick and responsive, and I found it convenient to turn on the laptop and log in. There's a physical ThinkShutter switch that blocks the webcam, which is common on Lenovo laptops.

Battery life

The Lenovo ThinkBook 13x sits upright on a desk /Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The battery capacity decreased slightly from 56 watt hours for the ThinkBook 13s to 53 watt hours for the ThinkBook 13x. Both have high-resolution displays and the ThinkBook 13x has a less powerful processor. I had expected the same or maybe a little better battery life from the thinner and lighter model.

I didn't get it, at least not consistently. Instead, I saw battery results that were somewhat exceptional. In our web browsing test of the cycles through some complex websites, the ThinkBook 13x managed almost 8.5 hours, compared to the ThinkBook 13s with 9.3 hours. These are average values, but we like to see 10 hours or more on this test.

In our video test replaying a local 1080p movie trailer, the ThinkPad 13x lasted a solid 15.75 hours, much better than the ThinkBook 13s, which got around 13.4 hours. These are both strong stats, but we don't usually see that big a discrepancy between the web and video tests. I noticed that the video was choppy at times during the ThinkBook 13x test, which meant the laptop wasn't running fast enough to play the video smoothly, which certainly added to its endurance. For a further comparison, the Dell XPS 13 4K only managed 6.3 hours in the web test and 10.5 hours in the video test.

In the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which is the best indicator of battery life, the ThinkBook achieved 13x 8.5 hours, less than the average of more than 10 hours we saw in this test. The ThinkBook 13s reached 11.5 hours and the XPS 13 4K reached 8.7 hours. In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, the ThinkBook 13x lasted 2.75 hours, which is slightly more than two hours longer than the ThinkBook 13s and 3.5 hours less than the XPS 13 4K. This test seems to show how hard a laptop works on battery power, and the ThinkBook 13x seems to be quite throttling. That would help explain the choppy video.

Overall, the ThinkBook 13x should get you through a full day if your productivity load isn't too high. But you might want to have your charger handy just in case. And if you want your video bingeing to go smoothly, you should turn on Performance Mode which is likely to cut your viewing time significantly.

Our opinion

The ThinkBook 13x is a difficult notebook to evaluate. In and of itself, it's a nice little machine that's thin and light enough to toss in a backpack and barely even notice it's there. However, it's only 0.07 inches thinner and only 0.29 pounds lighter than the ThinkBook 13s, which shares the same design, basic features, better performance and battery life, and more ports. Are these tiny differences in thickness and weight enough to justify the tradeoffs?

I do not think so. The ThinkBook 13x doesn't offer enough to recommend it over its bigger brother, especially at the current price of $ 2,000. If it were as light as the ThinkPad X1 Nano and cheaper, it might make more sense, but it looks like the ThinkBook 13s is a better choice.

Are there alternatives?

I've already said it: the ThinkBook 13s is a superior alternative. It provides far better value for small business users with greater expandability, faster performance, and better battery life. For a little more money, you can go with either AMD or Intel in the Gen 2 version, or AMD just with the slightly updated Gen 3 model.

The Dell XPS 13 is another solid choice. Yes, you forego the military tests on durability, but the XPS 13 is undoubtedly quite durable, and you also lose the spill-resistant keyboard and self-healing BIOS. But you get a better built, faster, more stylish, and all around better laptop.

Finally, the HP Specter x360 14 is an excellent option if you are considering a convertible 2-in-1. It looks better, is faster, and has superior construction, and its OLED display is spectacular, with deep black colors and wide, accurate colors.

How long it will take?

The ThinkBook 13x is built well enough to promise years of service and its components are state-of-the-art. As usual, the one-year warranty is disappointing, especially for a notebook aimed at small business users who may need extended support expect.

Should you buy it?

No. The ThinkBook 13x is a nice laptop, but it's incredibly overpriced right now and just doesn't justify buying it against its (very marginally) bigger brother, the ThinkBook 13s, even at a more reasonable price.

Editor's recommendations



07 Nov
Blog

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro Review: Lovely Display Saves Day

Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7i Pro review

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro

RRP $ 1,420.00

"Despite a few flaws, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is one of the better new Windows 11 laptops you can buy."

advantages

  • Solid productivity performance

  • High resolution 90 Hz display

  • Great keyboard and touchpad

  • Simple but attractive aesthetics

disadvantage

  • Build quality is a little below average

  • Battery life is mediocre

Apart from the Surface devices, new Windows 11 laptops have so far been sparse.

Now there's Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro, one of the most anticipated newbies with Microsoft's latest operating system, and it promises to take advantage of Windows 11 with high-end components and a productivity-friendly 16:10 high-resolution display.

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is said to be a prime example of the “Midrange Plus” lineup from Lenovo, which offers some of the same features that you will find in ThinkPads and a high quality finish that is nevertheless (relatively) affordable.

My configuration was $ 1,420, which is not that cheap. The $ 1,190 launch configuration is also in a confusing place. But in the end it all comes down to whether this is a good laptop for the money. Despite a few problems, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro makes a promising start into the Windows 11 era of laptops.

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A Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro sits on a table, at an angle to the view of the back and lid.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

When I judge the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro as a premium laptop, I have to pick out a few nits in terms of build quality. It's made of machined aluminum, which is a good thing, but I found the lid a bit pliable and the keyboard deck and case base had some flexibility. That would be a suitable build quality for $ 1,000 or less, but at over $ 1,400, it's missing something. The HP Specter x360 14, for example, is only a few hundred euros more and is rock solid, while the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is several hundred euros cheaper and more robust. However, the hinge on the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is superb, making it easy to open the laptop with one hand while holding the display firmly in place.

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro has minimal bezels on the top and sides and a larger chin than the Dell XPS 13. An inverted notch on the top houses the cameras and adds a convenient opening for opening the lids. Together with the larger 16:10 display, the chin makes the laptop lower than it could be, while the side bezels keep it relatively narrow.

It's a well-sized laptop that is easy to carry around.

Overall, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is in line with other 14-inch laptops with 16:10 displays such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9. At 0.67 inches, it is thin, although not as thin as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 with 0.59 inches. At three pounds, its weight is average for 14-inch laptops. The ThinkPad is half a pound lighter, however. Overall, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is a well-sized laptop that is easy to transport.

Aesthetically, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro matches many newer laptops that use a minimalist design. It seems the more laptops I check, the more similar they look. The Ideapad is available in slate gray (my test device) or light silver. It has very simple lines and angles, a curved trailing edge and subtle logos that give it a very nondescript appearance.

As with so many similar laptops, including the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, it's an attractive laptop, but it won't stand out. The HP Specter x360 14, with its gem-cut design and bright accent colors, offers a much bolder design. Do you like the look of the IdeaPad? Probably, unless you want a laptop that makes a fashion statement. It certainly won't offend you.

Along the left side of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro are two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports (one of which is used for power supply).

Along the right side of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro you can see a USB A 3.2 Gen 1 port and a 3.5 mm audio jack.

Connectivity isn't a strength. On the left you will find two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports (one of which is used for power supply) and a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port and a 3.5mm audio jack on the right.

Unfortunately there is no SD card slot or HDMI which is disappointing. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 take over wireless tasks.

power

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro sits on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device was designed for more powerful laptops with a 35 watt Intel Core i7-11370H CPU, the 11th. It's an interesting processor that divides the difference between, for example, an 8-core / 16-thread Core i7-11800H with 45 watts and a 28-watt 4-core / 8-thread Core i7-1185G7. The Core i7-11370H is a productivity CPU through and through – it's supposed to be fast enough to handle demanding productivity workflows, but it's not in the same league as processors, which are faster in creative applications.

The first thing to note is that Lenovo has included its Performance Optimization utility that allows you to switch between battery saving, smart cooling, and extreme performance modes. The utility only made a difference in two of our benchmarks, our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video in H.265 and Cinebench R23. Both are CPU-bound, and this is where the utility had the biggest impact.

For example, in Handbrake it took the IdeaPad 202 seconds to complete in intelligent cooling mode and 155 seconds in performance mode. That's a significant difference, and in fact, it was almost the same as the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio with the same CPU in that laptop's performance mode. The same was true for Cinebench R23, where the IdeaPad's score jumped from 5,544 to 6,150, a more competitive result.

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is a fast productivity laptop.

However, the utility made little to no difference in Geekbench 5, PCMark 10, and 3DMark Time Spy. But the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro also scores well in these benchmarks in intelligent cooling mode and is ahead of the U-series competitors and close to the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 with its Ryzen 7 5700U and the Surface Laptop Studio in all but that 3DMark test. The fastest notebook in our comparison list was of course the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 with a Core i7-11800H. Upon closer inspection of the PCMark 10 benchmark, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro did well in all tests, including Essentials, Productivity, and Content Creation.

All of this means that the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is a fast, productivity laptop that can handle anything a typical user will throw at it. Put it in performance mode, which has the fans spinning up and a lot louder, and it can handle lighter creativity tasks better. It won't compete with the faster Intel CPUs or AMD's Ryzen 5000 series for developers, but it's better than the typical thin and light Intel laptop.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro (Core i7-11370H) 1578/5957 202 1514/5544 5149 1888
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Ryzen7 5700U) 1184/6281 120 1287/8013 5411 1247
Samsung Galaxy Book (Core i5-1135G7) 1401/5221 180 1361/5391 4735 1584
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (Core i7-1165G7) 1327/5201 N / A 1469/4945 5147 1776
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (Core i7-11370H) 1321/5131 179 1304/5450 5091 4266
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 106 1519/10497 6251 6691
MSI Sumit E13 Flip Evo (Core i7-1185G7) 1352/4891 207 1360/4392 4872 1751

With Intel Iris Xe graphics, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is not a gaming laptop. The 3DMark Time Spy score is average and it only managed 22 frames per second (fps) at 1200p and epic graphics in Fortnite. This is in line with other Iris Xe laptops and means that the IdeaPad is best for older titles or newer titles with lower resolutions and graphics settings. Or just stick to casual gaming.

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Image of the display of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo equips the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro with a 14-inch 16:10 IPS display in a so-called “2.8K” resolution at 2,880 x 1,800. It's a sharp and bright display with dynamic colors that aren't over-saturated and enough contrast to make black text appear on a white background. It also runs at 90 Hz (60 Hz is configurable), which makes movements and animations on the screen a little smoother. I found the display to be pretty good during my tests and when I wrote this review. There's also the option for a 2.2K (2,240 x 1,400) IPS display that runs at 60 Hz, which I haven't tested.

My colorimeter agreed with my impressions. The display was quite bright at 369 nits, above our 300 nits threshold, beating the 238 nits of the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 for $ 1,000 and the 326 nits of the Samsung Galaxy Book for $ 900, the both real middle class are machines. The IdeaPad was also brighter than the 306 nits of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 for $ 1,885, and that's officially a premium laptop from Lenovo.

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro also has wider than average colors, with 80% AdobeRGB (72% closer to average) and 100% sRGB (95% is average), much better than the Inspiron 14 2-in-1's 52%. from AdobeRGB and 69% from sRGB and 48% and 64% of the Galaxy Book. The IdeaPad even beats the ThinkPad's 76% and 100%. These colors were also fairly accurate with a DeltaE of 1.65 (1.0 or less is excellent), compared to the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 with 1.8, the Galaxy Book with 2.41, and the ThinkPad with an even better 0 , 99. Finally, the IdeaPad's contrast was 1,340: 1, well above our preferred 1,000: 1 and much higher than the other three laptops I used for comparison.

Close-up of the webcam, screen and bezels on the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Those are excellent results for a laptop that was not explicitly designed for developers who demand even wider colors – although the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro's colors are certainly wide enough for the less demanding creative types. When searching our database, I couldn't find a current 14-inch laptop for the same money or more that had a better display – and most had significantly worse displays. The display also supports Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR), which makes it a great laptop for binding HDR content from Netflix and other streaming services. Lenovo charges a pretty penny for the IdeaPad, and the display helps justify the investment.

Sound is provided by two downward facing speakers under the front of the cabinet, and the sound was clear and bright. There was minimal bass as always. The only problem is that the volume was low even at full volume, but there was still a hint of distortion. You want headphones for Netflix and music, and sound quality isn't one of the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro's strong points.

Keyboard and touchpad

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro keyboard and trackpad.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro has the same keyboard design found on all Lenovo laptops that are not labeled as ThinkPad. It's roomy with large and comfortably shaped keycaps. The “TrueStrike” switch mechanism was adopted from Lenovo gaming laptops and offers a tactile feel. The switches are snappy, with a soft bottom movement that makes for a precise feel. There was also a lot of travel for this type of keyboard.

It's not quite as comfortable as HP Specter or Dell XPS keyboards, but it's close enough. Most people will love this keyboard.

The touchpad was large and took up most of the palm rest space. Kudos to Lenovo for using the larger display. The touchpad surface was smooth, with just enough friction for precise swipes, and the buttons made a healthy click without being loud. It's a Microsoft Precision touchpad, and so the usual Windows 10 multi-touch gestures were well supported. The touch display was responsive and welcome too.

An infrared camera and facial recognition have Windows Hello support, and it was quick and reliable. Lenovo has incorporated its user presence detection technology, which locks and hibernates the laptop when the user leaves the area, keeps the laptop unlocked when the user is in front of it even when the keyboard and touchpad are not in use, and the laptop automatically reactivated when the user returns from an absence. It can even pause a video when the user leaves. Overall, it's a handy system that works well, and I had to turn it off to run my battery tests unless I wanted to sit in front of the laptop for hours.

Battery life

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro sits at an angle on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

With a 61-watt-hour battery and a high-resolution 14-inch display, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro made me very curious about its battery life. I was also wondering how the 35 watt CPU would fare.

Initially, the IdeaPad was inconsistent in our web browsing test. When I first ran the test, the laptop only lasted 6.25 hours, which is a miserable score compared to the 10 hours or more we like to see from thin and light premium laptops. I ran it a second time and it lasted 7.75 hours. That's better, but still way behind the field.

The battery life is not a strength of the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro.

For example, the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 lasted 12.9 hours in this test, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio lasted 10.5 hours. However, just as worrying as the short run time was the inconsistency. In our video benchmark, which runs through a local Full HD movie trailer, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro managed 12.75 hours, which is a decent score that surpassed the 11 hours of the Inspiron but behind the 14 hours of the Surface Laptop Studio lagged behind.

In the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which is the best indicator for the longevity of productivity, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro lasted 9.25 hours. We didn't test the Surface Laptop Studio in this review and the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 wouldn't complete it, but the IdeaPad scores below average for thin and light laptops. Most last at least 10 hours, and some, like the MSI Summit E13 Flip Evo, can last 13 hours or more. In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, the IdeaPad only lasted 95 minutes, which indicates that the laptop is maintaining its performance on battery power.

Overall, the battery life is not a strength of the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro. Whether it can last a full day at work depends on your workflow – if it's tough at all, have your charger with you just in case.

Our opinion

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is positioned as a mid-range laptop, but priced like a premium device, and luckily it lives up to the latter. The build quality is a bit poor and the battery life mediocre, but the performance is solid and the display is excellent for this device class. It is a good looking laptop that is reasonably sized and attractive with a simple design.

The additional features, such as user presence detection technology, are welcome additions that add value. The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is a solid addition to the 14-inch clamshell market and is conquering a healthy niche for itself thanks to its outstanding display.

Are there alternatives?

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is a great alternative if you're willing to spend a little extra cash. The display isn't that good, but the battery life is spectacular and the build quality is much better.

HP's Specter x360 14 is another solid option that is also a bit more expensive but gives you the flexibility of a 2-in-1, sleek design, and the option for an even better OLED display.

As always, the Dell XPS 13 is a great choice if you're willing to cut down on the size of the display (and chassis). It's fast, durable, and incredibly attractive and well built. Again, you'll be spending a little more, but it's worth it.

How long it will take?

The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro could feel a bit more robust, but is built well enough to last for several years of typical use. Its components are up to date and are designed to keep Windows 11 running. As always, the industry standard one-year warranty is disappointing.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. Offering great performance and a beautiful display, the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro will meet most of the needs of the most demanding productivity user. Only the battery life stands out as a real minus.

Editor's recommendations



30 Sep
Blog

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 Review: A Dying Breed

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 sits on a table.

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2

RRP $ 5,445.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 is a dying species, but remains relevant because of its expandability."

advantages

  • Long-lasting workmanship

  • High quality entry display

  • Great keyboard

  • Superior expandability

  • Solid performance

disadvantage

  • Not much faster than cheaper laptops

  • Touchpad is too small

  • Expensive

We don't normally review mobile workstations, but a significant trend has emerged in laptops aimed at YouTubers. These thin and light laptops, like the Dell XPS 15, are surprisingly good at speeding up demanding tasks like video editing. In addition, they have brilliant, color-true OLED displays.

When Lenovo offered us the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 with a Core i9-11950H CPU and an Nvidia Quadro RTX A5000 GPU for testing, we took the opportunity to see how a more traditional approach to a mobile workstation would fare.

Is the ThinkPad P15 proof that old school workstations are a thing of the past? In a way, yes. But because of its unique features, the audience remains very limited for this expensive laptop.

draft

The ThinkPad P15 looks exactly like a ThinkPad should – only it's incredibly thick and heavy. There's the usual black aesthetic with just a few hints of red, including the iconic LED “i” in the ThinkPad logo on the lid. There is also the same soft-touch surface and the usual red TrackPoint knob in the center of the keyboard.

The most noticeable difference in look and feel to the typical ThinkPad is the additional ventilation openings on the sides and back, which indicates a different ThinkPad P15. Oh, that, and the massive bezels around the display that look like a laptop from 10 years ago.

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 sits on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Then there is this size. Where modern ThinkPads, at least the more upscale consumer and business models, are thin and light, the ThinkPad P15 is simply huge. It is 0.96 inches at its thinnest point and 1.24 inches at its thickest point and weighs 6.32 pounds. I thought the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 was a bit bigger than it should be, but the ThinkPad P15 dwarfs its 0.70 inches thick and 3.99 pounds. It's a little weird to put the two side by side – they're almost identical in width and depth, and look similar, but the ThinkPad P15 looks like a balloon version that someone has inflated with extra air.

Not that there is anything wrong with any of this. The ThinkPad P15 is a workstation-class notebook and does not pretend to be a very portable, relatively fast notebook like the ThinkPad X1 Extreme or the Dell XPS 15. Instead, it's supposed to offer plenty of room inside to move air around and store things cool and fast, along with additional expandability. In fact, this expandability is what sets this laptop apart the most.

You can configure up to 128 GB of RAM via four SO-DIMM slots (and you can choose error-correcting RAM for sensitive applications), which makes creative types of power users happy. There are also three SSD slots inside – one PCIe 4.0 and the other two PCIe 3.0 – that support up to 16 TB of storage. And the laptop is user upgradeable, which means you can start with, for example, 64GB of RAM and a single SSD, and then add two 32GB RAM modules for 128GB of RAM and one or two more SSDs for more storage. All of that just can't be packed into a thin and light device, and the ThinkPad P15 is not intended for road warriors.

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 sits on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

In terms of durability, the ThinkPad P15 comes close to the usual ThinkPad standards. An internal magnesium frame holds the lower chassis together, with a plastic and fiberglass material covering it for added protection and a soft feel. The keyboard deck and the lower chassis make a fairly robust impression. The lid is made of plastic and fiberglass and is a little more flexible than I'd like to see. The ThinkPad P15 doesn't quite meet the standards of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 or the XPS 15, but it feels robust enough. Of course, it passed Lenovo's usual MIL-STD 810G tests, which provides additional security.

Connectivity is a strength as you can imagine with this class of machine (and given so much room for ports). On the left is a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a USB A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a nano SIM slot for optional 4G WWAN support, and a 3.5mm Audio jack. On the right is a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a full-size SD card reader (which developers will appreciate), and an optional smart card reader.

Finally, on the back there is an Ethernet port, a connection for the 230 watt power supply, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 offer wireless connectivity.

HDMI port, USB port, and headphone jack on the left side of the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 laptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

SD card reader and USB port on the right side of the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 laptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Ethernet cable connector, charging port and three micro-USB ports on the back of a Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 laptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Ethernet cable connector, charging port and three micro-USB ports on the back of a Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 laptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

power

This is not a cheap laptop. As configured by the dealer CDW, the ThinkPad P15 I tested costs a whopping 5,445 US dollars – frightening when you consider that my test device “only” 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB solid-state drive (SSD) and a small 15 , 6-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display. The laptop can be configured with up to 128 GB RAM, 6 TB SSD storage and a UHD OLED panel (3840 x 2160).

With all this upgradeability, the ThinkPad P15 promises unbelievable performance for demanding creative tasks. We recently tested several developer laptops, but these were in the usual thin-and-light consumer-centric class. The ThinkPad P15 has the components and thermal design to blow these laptops out of the water.

The ThinkPad P15 is fast, but not as dominant as you might expect. It did very well in Geekbench 5 and got the highest score for a laptop in our test database. But it's not as far ahead as I expected, because the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED is quite close behind thanks to its AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, especially in the multi-core part of the test. Even the Dell XPS 17 with its Core i7-11800H was in the same stadium (surprisingly faster than the Vivobook Pro 16X).

In our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265, the ThinkPad P15 was again the fastest laptop we tested – and again the Vivobook Pro 16X was almost as fast. In fact, the ThinkPad P15 wasn't much faster than the other laptops in our comparison group – certainly not for a laptop that's at least twice as expensive. Cinebench R23 told a similar story, with the ThinkPad P15 leading our database, but not far behind with the Vivobook Pro 16X. And again, several other notebooks from our comparison group are in close proximity to the ThinkPad P15. So far, the workstation hadn't blown away the thinner, lighter, and much cheaper machines.

The ThinkPad P15 doesn't do well enough to justify its incredibly high price tag.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that the ThinkPad P15 was again the fastest in another test, PCMark 10, and that another thin and light laptop was close by – this time the MSI Creator Z16. This applied to the essentials, productivity and even the content creation part of the test, where the ThinkPad P15 was fast again, but not that much faster.

I thought PugetBench running in Premiere Pro would surely make the ThinkPad P15 glow. After all, the laptop has Independent Software Vendor (ISV) certifications from several developers, including Adobe. ISV certification means that hardware and software have been designed to work together for the best performance and reliability. However, the ThinkPad P15 scored 724 points, less than the 738 of the MSI Creator Z16 and not much faster than the 692 of the Dell XPS 17. Once again, the ThinkPad P15 had shown no real advantage over laptops that cost and weigh only half as much.

I'm not sure if it's a blow to the ThinkPad P15 or proof of how powerful thinner and lighter laptops have become, but the workstation failed in our benchmarks. You can upgrade it to a Xeon processor which would surely make it faster, and 128GB of RAM which the creators can use to work with the largest of videos and which is likely to offer a significant speed boost. But in the configuration I tested, the ThinkPad P15 doesn't do well enough to deserve its incredibly high price.

Underdog bench 5
(Single / multiple)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) PCMark 10 Pugetbench Premiere Pro 3DMark time spy
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 (Core i9-11950H) 1691/9250 1596/12207 84 6866 724 9045
MSI Creator Z16 (Core i7-11800H) 1540/7625 1444/9615 102 6486 738 6322
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 1519/10497 106 6251 432 6691
Dell XPS 15 (Core i7-11800H) 1556/7692 1513/9979 103 6024 509 4540
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H) 1568/8801 1525/10145 109 6209 692 7039
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (Ryzen 9 5900HX) 1544/8299 1486/11478 90 6486 571 4601

You're not buying a workstation-class laptop to play games, but that doesn't mean you won't play occasionally. So I ran the ThinkPad P15 through some of our benchmarks to see how it fares against the Nvidia Quadro RTX A5000. This isn't a gaming GPU, but it's still pretty powerful and should be able to run modern titles at decent resolutions and frame rates. According to 3DMark Time Spy, it is about as fast as a GeForce RTX 3070.

It might not be intended as a gaming laptop, but it does act like one.

The ThinkPad P15 did well in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, achieving 76 frames per second (fps) with 1080p and high graphics and 67 fps with ultra-high graphics. The gaming laptop Lenovo Legion 5 Pro was slightly behind with 67 fps and 61 fps, while the Razer Blade 14 (also with an RTX 3070) was behind with 67 fps and 60 fps. In Battlefield V, the ThinkPad P15 achieved 106 fps at 1080p with medium graphics and 59 fps with ultra graphics, compared to the Legion 5 Pro at 82 fps and 73 fps and the Blade 14 at 115 fps and 96 fps. Finally, in Fortnite, the ThinkPad P15 did well with 138 fps at 1080p and high graphics and 104 fps with epic graphics, while the Legion 5 Pro performed well at 120 fps and 101 fps and the Blade 14 at 114 fps and 96 fps.

I also ran Civilization VI and saw 218 fps on 1080p and medium graphics and 155 fps on ultra graphics. The next fastest laptop in our database is the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with a Ryzen 7 5800H and an RTX 3070, which achieved 127 fps and 114 fps, respectively. The ThinkPad P15 clearly excels in this CPU and GPU intensive game.

So yes, you can play with the ThinkPad P15 and play modern titles with high graphics. It might not be intended as a gaming laptop, but it can fulfill that role if needed.

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Close-up of the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 screen.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

You can configure the ThinkPad P15 with multiple displays, all 15.6-inches in the old-fashioned 16: 9 aspect ratio. There's Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) anti-glare, Full HD with Dolby Vision (which my test unit had), UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS with HDR400 and Dolby Vision, and UHD OLED with Dolby Vision options. Developers will be drawn to the UHD panels, which are likely to offer better colors and contrasts – especially the OLED panel. The Full HD display on my review unit was very bright and delivered good colors that seemed accurate to me, along with a decent contrast ratio. I found it good for the productivity work during my review.

According to my colorimeter, this is a good premium display, not a great one, and it isn't aimed at creative types. The brightness was excellent at 542 nits (we like to see 300 nits or better), and the contrast ratio topped our 1,000: 1 threshold at 1,040: 1. With 76% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, the colors were close to the premium display average with a color accuracy of DeltaE 1.49 (less than 1.0 is considered excellent). These are all good results, in line with laptops like the MSI Creator Z16 (although this laptop offers wider AdobeRGB) and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4. Of course, an OLED panel like that of the latest Dell XPS 15 offers far superior colors (99% of AdobeRGB and 100% of sRGB) and higher accuracy (0.46) with exceptional contrast and inky blacks.

Again, I have to say: this is a fine display, but not for the price. Yes, it's great for productive work, but when you're spending over $ 5,000 on a laptop that's at least partially designed for creative work, you want wider, more accurate colors. You should go for the OLED panel, which can probably compete with the other OLED panels we tested, which offer outstanding colors and contrasts across the board. Given Lenovo's current prices, you could probably find a model with the OLED panel for less than you are currently spending on my review unit.

The sound was faint, at a low volume, even when turned all the way up. The mids and highs were clear enough and there was zero bass. There's not much to say here – sound quality was clearly not a priority on the ThinkPad P15, and you'll need headphones or bluetooth speakers for anything but system sounds and the occasional YouTube video.

Keyboard and touchpad

Illustration of the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 keyboard.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Like all ThinkPads, the ThinkPad P15 has the same keyboard with outstanding spring travel (1.8 mm), a nimble mechanism and a spacious layout with large, molded keys. Interestingly, I found the ThinkPad P15's keyboard lighter than the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4's, which I liked a lot. The ThinkPad P15 took less force to press the keys, reduced fatigue, and kept me at my usual speed of around 90 words per minute. I would rate this keyboard as my favorite, the HP Specter range, which I can't say about the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.

The touchpad is small given the overall size of the laptop and loses space for the TrackPoint buttons. It works well and supports Microsoft's Precision touchpad drivers (pretty much taken for granted in recent years) – it's just too small. TrackPoint is there when you want it to, and it works as usual. It's standard on ThinkPads, but I sometimes wonder how many people actually use it. Note that if you opt for an OLED display, you get a touch panel and active pen support.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by both a fingerprint reader and an infrared camera with facial recognition. I tried both methods and they were consistently quick and accurate. No complaints there. The typical ThinkPad ThinkShutter privacy screen is there to block the webcam when you don't want anyone to spy on you.

Close-up of the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 webcam.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Battery life

If there's one area I had low expectations from the review, it was battery life. In no way did I expect the ThinkPad P15 to show almost a full day's lifespan even for simple productivity tasks. Suffice it to say, I was a little surprised.

The huge chassis houses 94 watt hours of battery, and that helps. Likewise the full HD display. Still, I was surprised when the ThinkPad P15 lasted 9.5 hours in our web browsing test. That's half an hour longer than the Dell XPS 15 and more than two hours longer than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4. In our video test, which repeats a local Full HD Avengers trailer, the ThinkPad P15 lasted around 11.5 Hours through, not a great score, but better than the XPS 15 by six minutes and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 by more than two hours (again). That's not bad for a workstation.

The PCMark 10 Applications Benchmark, the best test of productivity longevity, didn't do quite as well. The ThinkPad P15 lasted almost 6.5 hours here, less than the eight hours of the XPS 15 and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 with 8.7 hours. And the ThinkPad P15 only lasted 56 minutes in the PCMark 10 gaming test, which demands the CPU and GPU. This is the lowest score in our database, with the XPS 15 and ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 both holding out about half an hour longer. Obviously, the ThinkPad P15 maintains its performance when it is switched off.

Overall, these are better results than I expected. You will surely have to carry the bulky 230 watt power brick around with you when working at the workstation level. But if you've planned an easy day of typical productivity tasks, you will likely make it through most of the day. That's not bad for a workstation.

Our opinion

In the configuration I tested, the ThinkPad P15 feels outdated. It's not that much faster than the fastest thin-and-light laptops that either its price or size is justified. Then why would you buy this laptop? The answer is simple: you are a real power user and you need a machine that can support 128GB of RAM, you need error correcting RAM, you need a Xeon processor, and / or you need the flexibility and growth of three SSD Slots with RAID support and up to 16 TB of storage.

That's a special kind of person, and that's what this workplace is all about. We were curious to see how it would compare to the typical laptops we test and the answer is that it really doesn't. If you are a typical home or business user, or even a creative who can live with the performance of an XPS 15 or 17 or a ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, then the ThinkPad 15 is not for you. We only mentioned developers in this review, but the ThinkPad P15 will appeal to users who use sophisticated 3D CAD, scientific applications, and AI. Workloads.

Are there alternatives?

If you need to meet the high-end specs of the ThinkPad P15, you need to look at other workstation-class laptops. In the high-end area, the Dell Precision 7760 can keep up with the ThinkPad P15, but with a 17-inch display.

The WS65 Mobile Workstation from MSI also comes close. It also supports Quadro RTX A5000 graphics, but only up to 64GB of RAM, and it doesn't have the same expandability as the Lenovo. However, it is thinner and lighter.

When you don't really need a workstation, you have a lot more choice. The Dell XPS 15 has enough performance for everyone but the most demanding developers, it's relatively thin and light, and incredibly well built, and costs around half that.

How long it will take?

The ThinkPad P15 is tough enough to carry around for years. It also has modern components and incredible expandability. It's crazy, however, that a laptop that costs over $ 5,000 should have a one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you have to maximize it. This laptop is for extreme power users who are unlikely to be satisfied with the configuration of my test device.

Editor's recommendations



25 Sep
Blog

Lenovo Smart Clock 2 Review: Your Smart Bedside Companion

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is a great upgrade.

Lenovo Smart Clock 2 in the test: Your smart companion at the bed

RRP $ 70.00

"The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is a great advancement of the Smart Clock product line that offers a lot of functionality and added value."

advantages

  • Full color LCD screen

  • Smart design

  • Base plate with USB-A and Qi charging function

  • MagSafe Compatible

  • Great value

disadvantage

  • No video streaming

  • Tricky touchscreen

  • Limited configuration via app

Lenovo produced the first Google Assistant smart display in 2018 and has been in this category ever since. While Google traditionally focused on the kitchen with its smart screens, Lenovo turned to the bedroom, first with the Smart Clock, then the Smart Clock Essential, and now that Smart watch 2.

It's true that Google’s newest Nest Hub (2 on your bedside table without the creepy "Sleep Watching" sign. Who's the king of the bedroom?

Simple, intelligent design

Lenovo hasn't evolved much of its design through the various iterations of its smart clocks. It still uses the same woven fabric cover on the outside, with an LCD screen on the front. This is a 4 inch LCD that is a bit small but is more than enough for a watch face. There are a variety of watch faces to choose from, including your Google Photos if you want. The touchscreen is a bit fussy and sometimes cannot register touches or perform the swiping movements that the operating system depends on.

For the same money, you could buy an alarm clock, a Nest Mini 2, and a Qi charging plate, and you still wouldn't get all of the features that the Smart Clock 2 brings to your bedside table.

The latest addition to this generation of Smart Clock is on the bottom. Together with the Smart Clock you receive a base plate with USB-A connection for charging another device and a MagSafe-compatible Qi charging plate for wireless charging of your smartphone. The charging plate charges with 5 watts, 7.5 W or 10 W and contains a magnetic circuit that you can touch on your MagSafe-compatible phones. MagSafe is a nice addition as it reduces the risk of accidentally taking your phone off the charger while you sleep.

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 can charge your smartphone wirelessly.

Speaking of knocking things off the plate, the clock is intelligently designed so that the power cord plugs into the clock itself and copper contacts on the underside connect and power the plate. This way the clock works without a base depending on how much space your bedside table has. Speaking of magnets, the clock also attaches to the base with magnets, which makes it pretty secure.

In addition, there are volume buttons on top of the clock and in between there is a touch sensitive area that you can use to stop or snooze your alarm clock depending on the configuration. Of course, you can also tell Google to take a nap or just stop your alarm clock. A mute switch on the back deactivates the microphone for the Google Assistant.

As for the sound quality, it's pretty good. A pair of 3W speakers will power the alarm clock and the music you play with it. There is very little bass at the lower end, but the rest of the sound range is adequately represented. It's roughly what you get from a Nest Mini 2.

Swipe and gestures

While you use the Google Home app to configure WiFi, its location in your home, and various video and audio services, most of the device setup is done on the device. Android Things powers the watch and is full of gestures and taps to configure everything you need. Most commands can be performed using “Hey Google” commands, such as: B. Setting alarms, adjusting the volume and switching on the night light.

Other options come from swiping from the bottom of the UI, while others come from swiping down from the top. The frustrating part is that these gestures aren't particularly intuitive, and most people don't use Android Things enough for these gestures to become second nature.

While I would never advocate a separate app for just one watch, I would like to see more features built into the Google Home app.

Your watch face also has a kind of ticker that you can swipe through to play music, view your reminders and calendar entries, set an alarm, and much more. Once you get used to it, it works pretty well, but the majority of my interactions with the watch came from the Google Assistant, which is both good and bad. On the one hand, it's great to go to bed and tell Google to set an alarm. On the other hand, it can get frustrating when you ask for an alarm clock at 7:15 am and it replies, "7:50 am, you got it!"

This is nothing new to the Google Assistant, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Most of the time it works with no issues, but when there is one, it's annoying. I would also like to have more control over the watch, which is available through an app. While touching is a great way to manipulate settings, reaching over and touching the watch isn't a great experience. While I would never advocate a separate app for just one watch, I would like to see more features built into the Google Home app. It would be nice if you could set an alarm or adjust the dial there, for example.

No Netflix allowed

Finally, I have to admit that I was torn by this detail whether it is positive or negative, but this watch has a full color screen that cannot play video. What about it? You can stream audio to the watch, which is nice, but since there is a full color LCD screen, why can't I throw a movie to sleep? Perhaps this is just too little of a potential use for the watch, but it appears to be an oversight.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't want Lenovo to allow me to watch a movie on a 4-inch screen. I understand, and maybe Lenovo will save me from myself by lack of compatibility. I can't disagree with the point. But I think overall I'd rather have a choice.

Our opinion

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 has a full color screen.

This is a nice update to the Lenovo Smart Clock line of devices. The pallet accessories in particular are our favorite. The Google Assistant is a great way to wake up and start routines. I would like a bigger screen, video capabilities, and a more intuitive user interface, but those omissions don't detract from the overall experience much.

You get loads of utility and functionality for $ 70. Not only is this a good product, but it is also a good value.

Is there a better alternative?

There isn't much competition in this area yet, but the next competitor actively battling for a spot on your bedside table is the Nest Hub (2nd generation). This device costs a little more, but adds portable sleep tracking to the package, which is sure to be compelling. It also offers video streaming capabilities and a bigger screen. If you want these additions, the Nest Hub (2nd Generation) is probably better off. However, if you don't mind not playing videos, or you want a smaller screen or a qi charging plate, this is a great pickup.

If you're completely completely unaware of the Google ecosystem, or are more connected to Amazon's, the Echo Show 8 or Echo Show 10 are both great choices. It all depends on your preferences.

How long it will take?

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is well made and solid with a fabric cover. I don't expect any problems with this device in the long run. It has a one-year limited warranty available on Lenovo's support website.

Should I buy it?

Yes, this is a great pickup for the price. In fact, there is no clear winner between the Nest Hub (2nd generation) and this one. If you want a little more, you pay a little more. For the same money, you could buy an alarm clock, Nest Mini 2, and Qi charging plate and you still wouldn't find all of this device's features on your bedside table.

Editor's recommendations



23 Sep
Blog

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 Review: Fast, But Flawed

Opened Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 sitting on the floor.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4

RRP $ 2,095.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is not a perfect performer, but there is a lot to like."

advantages

  • Excellent workmanship

  • Superior entry-level display

  • Solid performance

  • Good keyboard and touchpad

  • Very powerful configuration options

disadvantage

  • Performance was inconsistent

  • Battery life was average

Lenovo's most powerful non-workstation ThinkPad is the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, an earlier 15-inch laptop that served as a strong competitor to the Dell XPS 15 and other high-performance laptops in its class. The fastest components and the most aggressive thermal designs can be found in the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, something Lenovo took to extremes with the fourth generation.

Not only has the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 increased performance, but it has also joined the movement of the larger displays and features a slightly larger 16-inch 16:10 display, while at the same time being roughly the same size as the previous generation fits.

I tested a ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 with an Intel Core i7-11800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which costs $ 2,095. You can also choose up to a Core i9-11950H with vPro and an RTX 3080, which further improves the laptop's theoretical performance and even outperforms the impressive Dell XPS 17 in terms of pure performance. As I found out in this review, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is a fast premium notebook – but according to my tests it has some performance weaknesses that take away some of its clout.

draft

View of the lid of an opened Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 was 14.24 "x 9.67" x 0.72 "and weighed 3.75 pounds. The new Gen 4 model is 14.13 inches by 9.99 inches by 0.70 inches and weighs 3.99 pounds. Aside from adding a tiny bit of depth thanks to the taller display and a quarter pound of weight, Lenovo did what it set out to do: a 16:10 16-inch display the same size as the previous 15.6 – Pack inch display. Inch generation.

The thing is, it's still a lot bigger than the Dell XPS 15, which comes in at 13.57 "x 9.06" x 0.71 "and a slightly heavier 4.22 pounds. If you put the two next to each other, the ThinkPad looks huge in comparison. This is mainly due to the larger bezels of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, which also give it an old-school look with the modern, higher display. A new competitor, the MSI Creator Z16, also has a 16:10 16-inch display and measures 14.13 inches by 10.08 inches by 0.64 inches and weighs 5.07 pounds. Its bezels are a bit smaller than the ThinkPad's, but it's still deeper – just imagine.

All in all, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a large laptop, but it doesn't feel like it thanks to its light weight. It's made of an aluminum alloy on the lower chassis (with some plastic parts) and contains four layers of reinforced carbon fiber in the lid. I'm not sure how Lenovo kept the weight down without using a magnesium alloy, but they succeeded and the laptop sits comfortably in the hand. It has the usual soft-touch coating on the ThinkPad and is extremely comfortable to hold.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a ThinkPad.

It's also pretty stiff, with just the slightest flexing of the lid if you try hard enough, and without giving way to the keyboard deck or the bottom of the case. The Dell XPS 15 is all around stiff, which makes it feel more solid, but there is no significant difference. The Gen 4 model is at least as robust as the Gen 3, making it one of the class leaders in terms of build quality – and it offers the usual MIL-STD 810g certification for robustness.

Aesthetically, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a ThinkPad. It is completely black with just a few red accents in the X1 logo on the lid, the red LED dot on the "i" in the ThinkPad logo, the red TrackPoint stud in the middle of the keyboard and accents on the edges of the TrackPoint buttons. My test device came with a display with WQXGA resolution (2,560 x 1,600), so the lid was simply black.

Choose one of the 4K + WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) displays and you get a carbon fiber fabric to add some pizzazz to the lid. Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 has an attractive and bold look, and if you like the ThinkPad aesthetics, this is your one for sure. The XPS 15 looks more modern and slimmer overall, and overall more attractive, especially with the white fiberglass keyboard deck, but the ThinkPad aims at and achieves its own appearance.

The MSI Creator Z16 has a more straightforward aesthetic in the case. Nevertheless, it integrates RGB lighting into the keyboard, making it the exact opposite of the conservative ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, at least when you open the lid and switch on the keyboard lighting.

Charging connector, 2 micro USB ports, HDMI port and headphone jack on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Hinges on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 Aptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 ports: SD card slot and 2 USB ports.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Connectivity remains a strength, with a proprietary power port (that supports a 230 watt power adapter), two USB-Cs with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 port (depending on the model), and a 3, 5mm audio jack on the left and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a full-size SD card reader on the right. Wireless connectivity is provided by the latest and fastest Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and you can configure WWAN support through an optional nano-SIM slot.

power

Lenovo didn't mess around when developing the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4's performance profile. You can configure up to a Core i9-11950H with vPro in the CPU department and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q in the GPU department. There is no other 15- or 16-inch laptop that I know of that is as powerful outside of slot machines.

My test device was equipped with a Core i7-11800H and an RTX 3060 and thus more powerful than the Dell XPS 15 and identical to the MSI Creator Z16. Unfortunately, Lenovo sent me a machine with only one 16 GB RAM stick installed, which limits the memory to single-channel performance. As we shall see, this had effects that were not immediately apparent.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

In Geekbench 5, the ThinkPad does well enough, just behind the MSI Creator Z16 and the Dell XPS 15. It beats the MSI and Dell by a few in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265 Seconds. And it was also clearly ahead of the XPS 15 and the Z16 in Cinebench R23. So far, so good. Only the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with its Ryzen 7 5800H – a fast processor for compute-intensive tasks – stood out in our comparison group.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 was in the midfield in PCMark 10, faster than the XPS 15, but slower than the Z16. It was able to keep up in the areas of essentials and productivity of the test, but lagged behind the MSI Creator Z16 in content creation (but before the Dell XPS 15). Again, according to the benchmarks reported so far, there were no red flags in terms of performance.

If you buy this laptop, make sure you tick Dual Channel RAM in the configurator.

However, when I switched to the Pugetbench benchmark running in Adobe Premiere Pro, things got a little strange. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 achieved an extremely low value of 432 in this test, which uses both CPU and GPU. The Dell XPS 15 with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti achieved 509 in standard mode (and 590 in performance mode), the MSI Creator Z16 was faster at 732, only reaching 54.5 compared to the 119.1 from MSI and 74.8 from Dell.

It turned out that the single-channel RAM caused such a low score in this benchmark. Lenovo tested an identical device with two 16 GB RAM sticks and dual-channel storage and gave it 642 points. To be honest, that's still low for the CPU and GPU, especially with 32 GB of RAM, well below the MSI Creator Z16 (also with 32 GB) and only a bit better than the XPS 15 in performance mode. But it's better than my test device. If you buy this laptop, make sure you tick Dual Channel RAM in the configurator.

I was happy with the performance of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 until I hit the Pugetbench results. This laptop is intended for developers running CPU and GPU intensive applications like Premiere Pro, and the ThinkPad didn't do as well as I expected even when configured with faster RAM performance. I have no idea how well the Core i9 version might do, and you can increase the overall performance in these apps by opting for an RTX 3070 or 3080. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 will likely be the fastest laptop in this comparison group when it is at full capacity. Note, however, that if configured similarly, it won't be the fastest laptop when compared to the competition. Note that if you choose to mirror, you can add a second solid-state drive (SSD) to the machine for additional storage or redundancy.

Laptop 3DMark time spy Cinebench R23 Underdog Bench 5 Handbrake
(Seconds)		 PCMark 10 Fourteen days
(1080p epic)		 Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 6691 1519/10497 1520/7353 99 6251 85 fps (1920 x 1200) Wouldn't run
Dell XPS 15 OLED 2021 (Core i7-11800H) 4540 1513/9979 1544/7692 101 6024 50 fps 73 fps
MSI Creator Z16 (Core i7-11800H) 6322 1444/9615 1540/7625 103 6486 59 fps (1920 x 1200) 92 fps
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H) 7039 1525/10145 1568/8801 n / A 6209 78 fps 104 fps
LG gram 16 (Core i7-1165G7) 1390 1394/4137 1573/5454 213 4827 13 fps n / A
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (Ryzen7 5800H) 9175 1430/11195 1460/7227 99 n / A 101 fps 114 fps

Considering the RTX 3060 and the fast CPU, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 should be a good entry-level gaming device. That's how my tests went for the most part. Unfortunately, the ThinkPad Civilization VI would not run without a crash, so I am unable to report any results for this game. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 hit 53 frames per second (fps) in 1080p and high graphics, much slower than the MSI Creator Z16's 82 fps, but that gap narrowed as I went up in resolution and graphics. At 1600p and ultra-high graphics, the ThinkPad managed 39 fps compared to 45 fps on the Z16.

I saw similar results with Battlefield V, where the ThinkPad achieved 69 fps at 1080p and medium graphics compared to the MSI at 81 fps. Then the ThinkPad was faster at 1600p and ultra graphics at 56 fps versus 43 fps. Finally, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 massacred the MSI Creator Z16 in Fortnite, reaching 85 fps at 1200p and epic graphics versus 59 fps. The same discrepancy was shown for the rest of the tested resolutions and graphics settings.

You will find that the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is a competent, but not class-leading gaming laptop for modern titles at reasonable resolutions and graphics settings. You can probably play most games at 1600p with medium to high graphics, as long as you are willing to accept lower frame rates or turn things down a bit, and you get very playable performance. You may find some inconsistencies like I did, but overall you will be able to play along with your work.

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The display of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 laptop.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo offers several 16:10 16-inch displays for the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) IPS, WQUXGA (3,840 x 2,400) with Dolby Vision and WQUXGA touch display with Dolby Vision. My test device equipped the entry-level WQXGA display, which is better for battery life, but not as sharp. When I used the laptop during the test, I found the display a delight, with lots of brightness and contrast, and colors that pop but didn't seem inaccurate. It's not an OLED, but it was excellent for an IPS display.

My colorimeter agreed. It's incredibly bright at 468 nits, well above our 300 nit threshold, which is better than the 385 nits of the MSI Creator Z16's IPS WQUXGA panel and the 381 nits of the Dell XPS 15's 3.5K OLED display The contrast of the ThinkPad was very good for an IPS display at 1,240: 1 (above our preferred contrast ratio of 1000: 1), whereas the MSI was disappointing at 800: 1 and the Dell was spectacular at 381,130: 1 (typically OLED) .

The ThinkPad also stood out among the entry-level IPS displays with a color width of 82% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB. You probably get better colors with the WQUXGA options, but those numbers are good enough that developers could use this display. The MSI was better with 91% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, and thanks to its OLED technology, the Dell again did excellent with 99% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB. The colors of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 were also very accurate with a DeltaE of 0.81 (less than 1.0 is excellent), with MSI achieving 0.76 and Dell 0.46.

Loudspeaker on the right of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkPad's two upward-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard produce a lot of volume when turned all the way up, and there was no distortion. The mids and highs were clear and there was a hint of bass. The Dell XPS 15's quad speakers are better, but the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4's audio system is sufficient for Netflix on its own. However, you will need headphones for the best quality music.

Keyboard and touchpad

Open the lid and you will find the typical ThinkPad keyboard. It has a lot of travel at 1.8mm, molded keys with large keycaps and good key spacing, and switches that are snappy and precise. It feels like most ThinkPad keyboards, and my only complaint is that the keys take more pressure than I want to press. I find it more tiring during long typing sessions than the lighter keyboard on the Specter range from HP or the Dell XPS 15, and I found that the keyboard on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 also has a lighter stroke than I preferred. If you don't mind, or maybe even prefer, a stiffer mechanism, then this keyboard will appeal to you.

The keyboard of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The TrackPoint knob in the middle of the keyboard works well as usual, but the keys take up the same space on the touchpad. You'll be happy if you like this cursor control method, but I'd rather skip it and have a bigger touchpad. Speaking of which, the touchpad is a decent size, but nowhere near the massive version of the Dell XPS 15. It was sleek and responsive, with Microsoft Precision touchpad support, but I wish it was bigger given all the palm rest space.

Windows 10 Hello passwordless login is provided by a fingerprint reader built into the power button that works quickly and logs you in immediately when you turn on the device. There is an optional infrared camera for facial recognition that my test device did not have. There's also the Lenovo ThinkShutter physical webcam privacy slider, which is old-fashioned compared to some electronic versions you'll find on some other laptops like the HP Specter, but it works.

Close-up on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 webcam.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Battery life

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 has a 90 watt hour battery, which is a lot. The 16-inch WQXGA display should have better battery life than the UHD + version, but the components aren't particularly energy efficient. In addition, except for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9, the battery life of the ThinkPad was disappointing and I wasn't expecting too much.

The ThinkPad managed just under 7.5 hours in our web browser test, well below the 10 hours we like to see. Nevertheless, the MSI Creator Z16 (also with a WQXGA display and 90 watt hour battery) only lasts 5.3 hours. The Dell XPS 15 with its 3.5K OLED display and 84 watt hours was more powerful with nine hours. In our video looping test, which played a local Full HD movie trailer, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 lasted just over nine hours, again better than the eight hours of the MSI, but behind the 11 hours of the XPS 15.

If you keep your workload low, you might make it by evening, but I wouldn't count on that.

I also ran the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which is the best indicator of productivity battery life. The ThinkPad lasted 8.75 hours, a low score compared to the average laptop that lasted 10 hours or more in this test. The XPS 15 was worse at eight hours, and we didn't run the MSI through this test. In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 managed just under 90 minutes, compared to the XPS 15 with three minutes less (again we did not run this test on the MSI Creator Z16). In my experience, this test shows how hard a laptop works on battery rather than absolute longevity, and the ThinkPad is one of those laptops that seem to maintain speed even when switched off.

Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 was not a bad battery performance in view of the 16-inch WQXGA display and the high-end components. It's unlikely to get you through a full day of work on a single charge, and the Power Brick is pretty big to take with you, but that's the price you pay for so much power. If you keep your workload low, you might make it by evening, but I wouldn't count on that.

Our opinion

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 lives up to its title. It's the most powerful ThinkPad you can buy, and in a completely different class from most ThinkPads designed for standard productivity performance. Since you can configure it with a Core i9 and an RTX 3080 Max-Q, there is no other non-gaming laptop in the same class that can compete with bare specs.

At the same time, the performance is less than it should be, at least in the one benchmark that provides the best example of the laptop's performance in creative apps from practice. And its gaming performance is inconsistent. If you can live with these limitations, you'll love the look and feel and build quality, probably love the keyboard and touchpad, and even the entry-level display is excellent. You will just be a little unsure how the laptop will work in your given workflow.

Are there alternatives?

A solid alternative in terms of its aesthetics and build quality, the Dell XPS 15 offers good performance and a stunning 3.5K OLED display option. It's about the same price as configured, so you're sacrificing some performance for the XPS 15's superb design.

The MSI Creator Z16 is another option that has better performance in most tests (except for some games), but not as good battery life. With a similar configuration, it's more expensive at $ 2,549, but you get better Premiere Pro performance that creators will like.

After all, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 is a solid choice in the 16-inch class, but the Intel version won't keep up with the ThinkPad, especially if you configure the Lenovo to the maximum. The rumored M1X MacBook Pro might be worth considering, however.

How long it will take?

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is well built and should be in use for years. The components are up to date and should keep Windows 10 (and 11) running. However, the 1 year warranty is very disappointing for this class of notebooks.

The one-year warranty is disappointing for such an expensive notebook, but it still offers on-site service.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. If you're a ThinkPad fanatic and looking for the fastest model you can buy, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 won't disappoint. If you're not a ThinkPad fan, your decision will be a little tougher – but in the end, this is a viable option compared to the competition.

Editor's recommendations



01 Sep
Blog

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 Review: Add Intel, Lose Speed

View of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 laptop fully open and sitting at an angle.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 in the test: It hurts when you choose Intel

RRP $ 735.00

“The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 lost performance and battery life in the transition from AMD to Intel. Add a bad display and it's hard to recommend. "

advantages

  • Solid build quality

  • Comfortable keyboard and touchpad

  • Good speakers

  • Active pen included

disadvantage

  • Inconspicuous achievement

  • Mediocre battery life

  • Unacceptable ad

I tested the AMD Ryzen version of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 convertible 2-in-1 laptop last year and found that it offers a ton of performance for a very attractive $ 600 price tag. It didn't quite make our list of the best budget laptops, but it came close. This year I was given the chance to review the 2021 update which won't change much – most importantly, Intel is up to date this time around. I was curious to see how this version fares.

I tested the $ 735 mid-range configuration of the IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 with a Core i5-1135G7, which is the right Intel chip to compare to the Ryzen 5 4500U in the previous review unit. That's barely a budget laptop price point (though it doubles the memory over the AMD machine), and I found the Intel version to offer a lower value proposition than last year's model. You can get a Core i3 for the more attractive $ 570, but you're giving up half the memory and storage. In the end, it proves why AMD continues to lead the way in budget laptops.

draft

The IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 has essentially the same construction as the previous model, only this time fiberglass is mixed with the plastic in the lid to give it a more stable feel. The rest of the case is made entirely of plastic but still feels solid – more so than some premium laptops that use magnesium alloy to reduce weight. Compared to the budget-conscious and fairly flexible Asus VivoBook Flip 14, which uses plastic in the case and aluminum alloy in the lid, the IdeaPad Flex 5i feels like a million dollars.

The IdeaPad's hinge is surprisingly good too, it's loose enough to open with one hand, but stiffens when it reaches an upright position to keep it in place in clamshell, tent, media, and tablet modes and hold in place. Overall, the build quality of the IdeaPad Flex 5i exceeds its price.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 folded into a tablet.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Image of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 notebook folded back on the floor.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Image of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 notebook folded back on the floor.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The 2-in-1 retains its dark gray aesthetic, with just a touch of chrome in the Lenovo logo on the lid and keyboard deck. It's a very understated look, with a few angles to give it a streamlined look, but otherwise avoids any bling or oomph. Lenovo's budget and mid-range laptops have been minimalist in design for a number of years, and the IdeaPad Flex 5i is keeping that trend alive. The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is a little more dynamic in its appearance, but that doesn't mean it looks better – it actually suffers from a lime green border around the Enter key that breaks up its color scheme. I'd say the IdeaPad Flex 5i looks better than it costs, and it won't make you feel like putting it to sleep when you take it to a posh coffee shop.

Like last year's model, however, the IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 is larger than it should be. The display bezels are thin on the sides but large at the top, and the chin is huge. That makes it deeper than necessary. It's also quite thick at 0.82 inches and a bit heavy at 3.3 pounds. The Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (about $ 200 more than the IdeaPad) is 0.69 inches and 3.09 pounds, while the Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is 0.72 inches and 3.31 pounds. If there is one area where the IdeaPad Flex 5i proves its low price, it is the oversized chassis.

Connectivity is solid, with a proprietary power connector (though my review unit came with a USB-C charger), a USB-C 3.2 port, a full-size HDMI 1.4b port, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left, and two USB-A 3.2 ports and a full-size SD card reader on the right. Unfortunately, there is no Thunderbolt 4 support, which is disappointing even at $ 735. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 offer wireless connectivity.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 right-hand USB ports and SD card port.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 USB ports on the right.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Charging port, micro USB port, HDMI port and headphone jack on the left side of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

power

We praised the AMD version of the IdeaPad Flex 5 for its performance thanks to the Ryzen 5 4500U. That was impressive back then, but what a difference a year makes. That's now a previous generation chip, and the new Ryzen 5000 series processors are significantly faster – and the delta between the previous version and the current 11th generation Intel version is also less significant. My test device equipped the Core i5-1135G7 to go with 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB Solid State Drive (SSD), so that we can compare not only with the previous model from AMD, but also with current laptops.

Don't bother playing.

In all cases, except against the Acer Aspire 5 with its Core i3-1115G4, which was included for a bit of contrast, the IdeaPad Flex 5i could not convince. With the exception of the 3DMark Time Spy test, it was slightly slower overall than the previous AMD model, including our Handbrake test which encodes a 420MB video as H.265. In all of our benchmarks, it was also slower than the other Core i5 laptops on our list, especially the Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2. The difference isn't huge, but it is enough to place the IdeaPad Flex 5i in the lower end of our comparison group .

In real use, I didn't notice that the IdeaPad Flex 5i is a slow laptop. On the other hand, virtually all modern laptops are fast enough to run Windows 10 and basic productivity tasks like web browsing, Office apps, and the like without slowing down. When you need an extra boost in performance for heavy-duty multitasking or more intense tasks, you may notice a hiccup or two. I would rate the performance as acceptable for the price, but nothing to write home about.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14
(Core i5-1135G7)		 1397/4301 213 1325/4411 4550 1026
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 2020
(Ryzen 5 4500U)		 1096/4543 160 n / A n / A 957
Asus VivoBook Flip 14 (Ryzen 5 5500U) 1102/5432 131 1180/7579 5191 1099
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2
(Core i5-1135G7)		 1406/5379 178 1357/5502 4668 1511
HP Envy 14 (Core i5-1135G7) 1549/5431 204 1399/4585 n / A 1380
Acer Aspire 5 2021 (Core i3-1115G4) 1215/2544 300 1274/3128 3752 652

Don't bother playing. The IdeaPad Flex 5i is limited to the Intel Iris Xe graphics and didn't do very well even for that chip. The 3DMark Time Spy test wasn't great, only reaching 16 frames per second (fps) at 1080p and high graphics in Fortnite. You'll want to look your gaming needs elsewhere.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 screen.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The second time I turned on the IdeaPad Flex 5i 14, I knew that the 14-inch Full HD IPS display (1920×1080) would be its biggest weakness. The colors seemed unusual, the screen had an unpleasant yellow-green cast and the contrast didn't blow me away. I don't often respond that badly to a display, but this one was disappointing. Note that the display is in the old school 16: 9 aspect ratio, as larger displays haven't gotten that advanced on budget laptops.

My colorimeter has largely confirmed this subjective experience. Initially, the brightness was low at just 231 nits, well below our preferred threshold of 300 nits. This means that the display may be difficult to see in bright overhead lighting. At 800: 1, the contrast was better than I expected (but again below our preferred level, 1000: 1). The colors were very narrow with only 49% of AdobeRGB and 65% of sRGB – midrange and premium laptops are around 72% and 95% or better – and the color accuracy was just okay with a DeltaE of 2.37 ( 1.0 or less is excellent).

Yes, budget laptops often save on the display. For example, the Asus VivoBook Flip 14 was remarkably similar with 230 nits of brightness, a contrast ratio of 720: 1, 50% AdobeRGB and 66% sRGB, and a color accuracy of 2.62. However, that doesn't change the fact that these displays are not pleasant to use even for simple productivity work and are nowhere near what creatives are looking for.

The sound was better, with upward-facing speakers flanking the keyboard on either side. The volume was more than acceptable with no distortion, and while the bass was absent, the mids and highs were clear. These speakers allow you to watch Netflix and listen to music, which is better than most budget devices.

Close-up of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 stylus and speaker on the right.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Keyboard and touchpad

The IdeaPad Flex 5i has the standard Lenovo keyboard that you find on everything but the ThinkPad range. It's shallower than I'd like, but it has enough click and comfortable floor motion to allow precise typing. The generous key spacing and key size make this keyboard a good budget keyboard that is just a few steps behind great keyboards like the Specter line from HP and the Apple Magic Keyboard. Fast typists should get used to this keyboard quickly enough and familiarize themselves with it in a short time.

The touchpad is good too, with a decent size and a smooth and comfortable surface. The Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers enable the full suite of Windows 10 multi-touch gestures, all of which worked well. I have no complaints.

Image of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14, with keyboard, trackpad and stylus.

Close-up of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 trackpad and stylus.

The touch display was responsive and Lenovo includes an active pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. I found it pretty good for sketching (not that I'm an artist) and handwriting on the display, though the 14-inch display and overall mass of the 2-in-1 made it uncomfortable in tablet mode. Still, the pen in the box is a plus that few budget laptops can compete with. As an added bonus, take a close look at the materials included in the box and you'll find a tiny pen holder that plugs into a USB-A port and keeps the pen handy. This, of course, blocks both ports, so you'll have to remove the pin to connect a peripheral.

Finally, Windows 10 Hello support is provided through a fingerprint reader in the upper right corner of the keyboard deck. It was quick and reliable. Lenovo also outfitted the IdeaPad Flex 5i with its ThinkShutter privacy screen for the webcam – just slide it over it and the lens is physically blocked, giving you a touch of privacy.

Battery life

Image of an open Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 laptop lying on the floor.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The IdeaPad Flex 5i retains the 52.5 watt-hour battery of its predecessor, which, in combination with the Core i5 and the 14-inch Full HD display, made me wonder what longevity I can expect. The AMD model was just fine in terms of battery life and could potentially last a full day on one charge if you don't try too hard.

Overall, the battery life of the IdeaPad Flex 5i is disappointing.

According to our benchmarks, the Intel version is just below this all-day battery life threshold. It took us just 7.25 hours in our web browsing test, compared to the eight hours on the AMD version and 11.5 hours when looping our local Avengers test video, which took the AMD version 11 hours. So that's a hit, even though the web test gives a better idea of ​​productivity performance. The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 managed nine hours in the Internet surfing and 12 hours in the video test – certainly stronger values.

I also ran the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which saw the IdeaPad Flex 5i last nine hours. That's only seven minutes less than the AMD version, but below the 10 or more hours we've seen as a minimum on most of the other laptops we tested. This is the best test of battery life, and the IdeaPad Flex 5i didn't do as well. It lasted almost two minutes in the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, which is about average for this test.

Overall, the battery life of the IdeaPad Flex 5i is disappointing. Like the AMD version, it can get you through a day of work if your workflow is easy, but doing real work without a plug-in can be a challenge.

Our opinion

For $ 600, the AMD version of the IdeaPad Flex 5 14 was a good bargain. At $ 735, with the main difference being a 512GB SSD versus a 256GB SSD, the latest IdeaPad Flex 5i isn't quite as attractive. It doesn't work that well and can't compete with some other laptops with the same CPU. The battery life is unimpressive and the display – albeit just as bad as on the previous version – is a real disappointment.

There are other laptops in this price range that are worth more for their money. The IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 lost its luster with the move to Intel, and I can't recommend much.

Are there alternatives?

The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is about the same price and offers significantly better performance. The display and battery life aren't better, but at least you get a faster laptop that can handle more demanding workloads.

If you don't need a 2-in-1, the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED UM325UA is a great choice. It's only a few hundred dollars away from the IdeaPad Flex 5i, but it has much better performance, a beautiful and color-accurate OLED display, and a 1TB PCIe SSD. If your budget can handle it, the ZenBook 13 should be on your list.

Another 2-in-1 to consider is the HP Envy x360 13. It's an AMD machine too, and so much faster, and it has a much better display. It's a bit more expensive too, but well worth the extra money.

How long it will take?

The IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 offers a solid construction that should instill confidence after years of use. Its components are state-of-the-art, if not the fastest, so you can stay productive for just as long. You won't like the industry standard one year warranty.

Should you buy it?

No. Take the power of the AMD processor from its predecessor and add more than $ 100 in price, and the IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 isn't that big a bargain.

Editor's recommendations



31 Aug
Blog

Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Review: Ripping Threads to Shreads

Lenovo P620 in front of a window.

Lenovo Thinkstation P620 in review: the ultimate Threadripper workstation

RRP $ 1,937.00

"The ThinkStation P620 is the most powerful single-socket workstation there is."

advantages

  • Insane processor power

  • Easy to upgrade

  • Toolless design

  • 10Gb Ethernet

Think really big. If you could build a workstation with the most powerful components on the market, what would it look like? Well, it would probably look a lot like the Lenovo ThinkStation P620, a workstation with a Threadripper Pro processor that can handle the most demanding workloads.

It is the definition of overkill and is designed to optimize a specific set of applications for performance. For most people, it's an overpriced workstation that makes no sense if you could build your own computer with cheaper parts that you can buy separately. For others, especially those who are into deep learning and heavily threaded applications, it is the performance champion.

I've been using the Lenovo P620 for a few weeks now – and by "used" I mean tested because the fan noise is too much to cope with in everyday life. It has been proven time and time again to be one of the best performing desktops out there, provided you have the money for the right hardware.

draft

The Lenovo ThinkStation P620 is remarkably small considering the hardware you can stow in it. It's 17.3 inches long, 6.5 inches wide, and 18.1 inches high – a bit thinner than a mid-tower chassis, but about the same height. There is a handy handle on the front of the case to make it easy for you to pick up the device and you need to use it. The P620 can weigh over 50 pounds depending on the configuration.

Regardless of your configuration, the ThinkStation P620 comes with a three-year warranty standard and certifications for multiple software providers. Lenovo maintains a list that includes software from Adobe, Autodesk, Bentley, and Siemens, to name a few.

To open the side panel, Lenovo offers a simple, tool-free solution. You simply open a handle on the side wall with a push and then lift the side wall off. It's a simple, seamless design that allows for quick access to the internals. When my test unit arrived, I jumped off the side wall without thinking about it – no instructions required.

Internals of the Lenovo P620.

The side panel also reveals one of the P620's problems. There is no ventilation on the sides, top or bottom. Instead, the front of the case is almost completely open to allow air to flow through. The problem is, an 80mm fan and a couple of spare PCIe brackets (assuming you don't have any other cards installed) force the air out of the back. A single 80mm fan also takes care of the intake, although there is room for a much larger fan.

This makes the P620 a kind of air tunnel that lets massive amounts of air through the front and displaces it from the limited ventilation in the back. The P620 is also noticeably loud in idle. The dual 80mm fan heatsink for the CPU doesn't help much.

The sound only comes on during load, but I would have liked a fan curve for idling. You couldn't work next to the P620 without being distracted by the noise. The tradeoff, and the good news, is that the added noise means the cooling solution is working.

I appreciate the P620's tool-less, sleek design, but not the noise the design makes.

Even in Cinebench, the processor never rose above 70 degrees Celsius, which is a full 20 degrees below its maximum operating temperature. This is not a perfect cooling solution, but it is an effective one.

Some bigger fans would have helped the noise. Dust filters would have been nice too, especially on a machine that constantly pushes a lot of air through. After only one week of use, the front fan was covered with dust. I also removed the fan covers for the RAM – more on this in the "Internal" section – and found lumps of dust in them.

I appreciate the P620's tool-less, sleek design, just not the noise the design makes. It's built like a server – and unfortunately it sounds like a server too.

Connectivity

Connections on Lenovo P620.

The P620 has enough ports to accommodate pretty much anyone. This includes two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports on the front, all of which support USB 3.2. There are six more USB-A ports on the back of the case, four of which support USB 3.2 and two support USB 2.0. Unfortunately, the AMD chipset doesn't mean Thunderbolt on this computer.

On the back you also have access to PS / 2 ports for older peripherals, audio / microphone inputs and outputs and a 10 Gbit Ethernet port. This is a big win for the P620 because you can plug it into a high bandwidth network without bothering with an add-in network card. If you want to go wireless, you can use the built-in Intel AC 9260 chip, which includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

As storage, you have space for up to two 2 TB M.2 drives and up to four 4 TB spinning hard drives. An integrated RAID controller enables you to access RAID 0 and 1 on the SSDs as well as RAID 0, 1, 5 or 10 on the rotating drives.

I can't think of a situation where the P620 doesn't have enough connectivity. There are plenty of USB ports and space for hard drives, and anything you can't connect directly to the system is likely going through the network. And the 10 Gbit Ethernet port offers plenty of bandwidth for this.

Internals

Central processor AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3995WX
GPU Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 48GB
Storage 128 GB Octa-Channel DDR4-3200 ECC
storage 1 TB M.2, up to two M.2, up to four HDD
power supply 1000W 80+ platinum
USB ports 10, eight USB-A, two USB-C
Thunderbolt ports None
Networking 10Gbit Ethernet, WLAN
Ports Headphone / microphone connection, PS / 2, audio in / out

My test device was built with some of the highest quality parts available today, which shows how much power you can put in the ThinkStation P620. At the heart of the system is a Threadripper 3995WX, a massive 64-core, 128-thread processor that can boost up to 4.2 GHz.

All P620 configurations are based on these Threadripper Pro processors. They are based on the same architecture as the normal Threadripper range, with just a few key differences. They support octa-channel memory instead of quad-channel memory, and you can use up to 2 TB of ECC RAM, compared to just 256 GB of non-ECC in the standard range. In addition, they support 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes that fit AMD's Epyc server CPUs.

With the exception of the Threadripper 3945WX, Lenovo offers a 12-core, 24-thread part with a boost clock of 4.3 GHz. While there are four Threadripper Pro options, prices and performance vary widely. The top-of-the-line 3995WX costs nearly $ 11,000.

While these CPUs are the best of the best right now, they may not be long. It is rumored that Threadripper 5000 chips are set to hit the market later in 2021, and they will almost certainly outperform them.

The AMD chip is remarkable, as the direct competitors of the P620 use Intel almost exclusively. The HP Z8 and Dell Precision workstations use Intel Xeon chips, not Threadripper. There is no Xeon chip that can match the Threadripper 3995WX in terms of core count. For that you would have to get a dual socket system.

In addition to a beefy processor, the configuration supplied by Lenovo came with 128 GB DDR4-3200 memory and an Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 with an impressive 48 GB video memory. Despite being a $ 10,000 upgrade, this card fits in the middle of Lenovo's options. You can scale down to a 2GB Quadro P620 and upscale up to two Quadro GV100s (at a $ 35,000 premium).

Lenovo P620 in front of a window.

I used Lenovo's configurator to get an idea of ​​how much the rig sent for review would cost. At the time of publication, it was priced at $ 14,861.92 thanks to a coupon on the Lenovo website. Without them, it would cost $ 25,624.

I released a similar device with the lowest prices I could find for any component, and the price was about $ 1,000 cheaper compared to Lenovo's price with a coupon. Keep in mind, however, that the Quadro RTX 8000 can cost up to $ 2,000 more than the lowest price I've found, so the difference comes in as you wash it.

If you've got the P620 on sale, it's actually a great deal. However, a Lenovo representative confirmed that the coupon is not constant. At full price, my test device is about $ 11,000 more expensive than buying and assembling the parts individually. At this price, I can handle a $ 1,000 difference, but a $ 11,000 gap is a different story.

There are other systems in this category that are also cheaper. A similarly configured system from Puget Systems costs around $ 16,000 and will likely have better airflow and cooling as it uses a Fractal Define 7 case and Noctua CPU cooler. Similarly, an identical system at Boxx costs about $ 20,000 – a full $ 5,000 less than the P620.

Keep in mind that this price is for configuration on the Lenovo website – in a real-world situation, companies will likely order some of these machines through a different channel. The P620 is too expensive to be a machine, but price doesn't really matter when it comes to a computer that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Inside the Lenovo P620

The P620 is almost entirely tool-free. Upgrades should only take a matter of minutes, with handy levers around all major components for easy replacement. This includes a bracket for the PCIe slots and 5.25-inch bays as well as levers for the power supply unit, intake fan and RAM covers.

Power supply outside the Lenovo P620.

Each of the levers is also coated in red, which makes them stand out from the black and silver inner parts. The motherboard was specially developed for this machine and has eight slots for DDR4-3200 ECC memory and two M.2 slots. There are a few passive heat sinks that cool various parts of the motherboard, as well as covers for the two RAM slot banks.

These covers are just a bit of plastic with a fan on top that will likely add to the noise. It's not ideal, but most ECC kits don't usually come with heat sinks and sit very close to a power-hungry processor.

On the underside of the case is the 1,000 watt 80+ platinum power supply, which you can replace by pressing down the lever. The power supply has no cables; Instead, it plugs into the case with a single plug and delivers 1000W of power without the mess of cables that comes with it.

What would normally take 15 to 20 minutes only takes a few minutes with the P620.

Next to it you will find either one or two drive cages, depending on the configuration. The standard configuration comes with a single drive cage for two additional hard drives. If you use these slots in your initial configuration, it comes with an additional drive cage.

This upgradeability is probably one reason why the P620 is so expensive. Replacing components is a breeze. What would normally take 15 to 20 minutes only takes a few minutes with the P620, which systems using standard parts cannot claim.

Processor power

Threadripper logo on the Lenovo P620

There is no doubt about the P620's performance, especially when you choose a top-notch device. With the right parts, it is certainly one of the most powerful machines on the market, but the inflated price and high-quality components are only useful in a narrow range of tasks. If you're looking for general computing power with the P620, you're spending too much.

PCMark 10 gives a clear view of it. My test device got an overall score of 7,172, which is actually below the eight-liter Intel NUC 11 Extreme I recently tested. Not too surprising, however. PCMark is a general benchmark that tests everyday apps, and most apps are not optimized to use 64 cores and 48 GB of video memory.

Cinebench R23 shows more clearly how powerful the Threadripper 3995WX is. It achieved a respectable single-core score of 1,242, which is a step below the consumer Ryzen 5000 processors. However, Threadripper is designed for multi-core performance. In the multi-core test, the Threadripper 3995WX achieved a score of 61,261, which is well above anything we have ever tested. As a reference, the Ryzen 9 5950X achieved a multi-core score of 23,539.

There is no doubt about the P620's performance, especially when you choose a top-notch device.

When it comes to multi-core workloads, Threadripper shines. It does not dominate tasks that require a single core, but when it comes to distributed work that uses all 64 cores simultaneously, there is nothing like the Threadripper 3995WX in a single socket system.

Geekbench 5 told a similar story. In the single-core test, it lagged behind the latest consumer desktop chips and even some laptop chips. However, nothing came closer in the multi-core test. According to the Geekbench browser, the consumer Ryzen 5950X earned about half of the multi-core score.

Geekbench also gave me a chance to see how the Threadripper 3995WX fares against its non-pro sibling, the 3990X. The Pro-Chip I tested achieved a multi-core score of 32,517. The Threadripper 3990X achieved around 28,000 points in the high-end range under Windows and around 22,000 points in the low-end range. At least under Windows, the Pro model shows some significant improvements.

Put simply, the Threadripper 3995WX is the benchmark. In each representative test, the only processors that run faster are other Threadripper 3995WXs. The Pro range comes at a high price, but shows performance advantages over the Threadripper 3000 range, as well as support for more PCIe 4.0 slots, octa-channel storage, and much more storage.

Content creation

With the power of the P620, you can handle anything from deep learning to data science to creating dense content. To me, large content creation workloads seemed to be the right fit given the beefy GPU and CPU in my review unit. This is a machine that can generate, edit, and render faster than anything.

As Cinebench showed in the last section, the 3995WX Threadripper is a monster in multicore workloads. I turned to a number of Puget Systems' benchmarks for Premiere Pro, After Effects, and DaVinci Resolve to see how the P620 would perform in real life. It's stackable well, but content creation isn't the P620's true calling.

Lenovo logo on the P620.

I started with Premiere Pro, where I did the extended test. This test isn't much longer, but it does include 8K testing – something the P620 should be able to handle in this configuration. It was passed with a total of 1,235 points. A system that rocks a current 32-core Xeon managed 1,001 in the same test, but with a weaker graphics card and significantly more memory.

This test also showed some weaknesses. Compared to systems with a cheaper Threadripper 3990X, my test device is around 200 points behind. Most of these systems also used an RTX 3090, which is much cheaper than the Quadro RTX 8000. You pay a premium for workstation-class parts, and PugetBench for Premiere Pro shows that.

The After Effects test showed this, too, with no clear difference between the 3990X and the 3995WX. The same applied to my handbrake test, in which the P620 achieved the rendering time of a machine with a consumer-class Ryzen 9 5950X.

Blender showed a bigger difference. The RTX 3090 was about twice as fast as the Quadro RTX 8000 with CUDA for rendering. DaVinci Resolve, however, was a little different. Compared to a system with Threadripper 3970X and RTX 3090, my test device was about 9% faster, mainly on the back of the 4K media handling.

As these tests show, a large part of the purchase price depends on software and features. The 3995WX is more powerful than the 3990X, but more memory, more memory channels, and more PCIe lanes are a big part of why it's more expensive. The Quadro RTX 8000 is also more expensive because it has an enormous amount of video memory, but also because it offers rock-solid driver support.

The Quadro RTX 8000 isn't built for gaming, but I'd be remiss if I didn't make good use of a $ 6,000 GPU. Fire Strike Ultra showed how much the Quadro RTX 8000 is wasted on gaming as it got an overall score of 8,667 – the bottom 1% of scores compared to the RTX 3090, the most RTX 3090 results.

RAM in the Lenovo P620.

At 4K Ultra with activated ray tracing, the Quadro RTX 8000 managed 37 frames per second (fps) in Cyberpunk 2077. The RTX 3090 is approaching 60 fps (although it's still struggling to get there). If you need proof that a Quadro wasn't designed for gaming, it's here – but you can still have a little fun after the work is done, provided you turn down a few settings.

Although my test device was equipped, the P620 is limited to Threadripper Pro processors and Quadro graphics cards (as well as a few AMD workstation GPUs). The Threadripper Pro chips are more powerful than their non-Pro counterparts, but not by much (especially when it comes to content creation tasks). The benefits tend to show in other areas, so keep that in mind.

Our opinion

The Lenovo ThinkStation P620 is a top-of-the-range workstation with a price to match. It features some of the fastest components on the market and a smart, tool-free design that makes upgrades easy. It's too loud and the extra power is lost in many situations, but there's no denying how much the P620 has to offer to those who can take advantage of it.

The price is the main problem as there are almost identical systems from smaller system builders for less money. But compared to the Dells and HPs in the world, Lenovo is the only one offering workstation options with Threadripper Pro parts. Plus, if you order multiple systems, you can likely get a deal with the P620.

Are there alternatives?

Yes sir. Aside from the case, motherboard and power supply, the P620 uses parts that you can buy and assemble yourself, which saves you a lot of money. System manufacturers like Puget Systems and Boxx also have similar options that cost less than the P620. Competitors like Dell and HP are currently tied to Intel processors.

How long it will take?

Depending on your hardware configuration, the P620 can last for many years – maybe even a decade. It's a computing powerhouse that can be easily upgraded, and the power supply is big enough to accommodate even the most power hungry components.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you can get a deal. The P620 is a great one on offer. At full price, there are options from other system manufacturers that are cheaper and come with off-the-shelf parts.

Editor's recommendations



16 Aug
Blog

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 Review: New and Improved

A look at the opened ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 in the test: A great laptop made even better

RRP $ 1,865.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, now in its ninth generation, is still one of the best high-end business laptops."

advantages

  • Elegant look and feel

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Incredibly long battery life

  • Excellent keyboard

  • Long list of business-friendly features

disadvantage

  • Expensive

  • A bit flexible

When a laptop reaches the ninth generation, you expect it to be refined. This applies in particular to Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 series, which is one of the best business laptops with entries. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the flagship of the series, and the ninth generation promises to keep that refinement while making some significant design changes – including a switch to a 16:10 display aspect ratio.

I tested a configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 for $ 1,865, with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU 11th HD + display (1920 x 1200). The spec improvement, 16:10 screen, and great battery life are all welcome changes that make the ThinkPad X1 Carbon one of the best business laptops you can buy.

design

Aside from the resizing necessary to accommodate the taller display, Lenovo hasn't changed much in the design of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It's still made from a carbon fiber top and a magnesium alloy in the rest of the case, which makes it lightweight while also giving it a certain amount of lid flex and a keyboard deck curve. It's durability isn't that much in doubt, but it doesn't feel as rock solid as aluminum alloy laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and HP Specter x360 14. Lenovo has the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen. Tested as usual 9 to a variety of military-spec tests, so there's reason to be confident in the laptop's long-term viability. The same soft-touch texture makes the ThinkPad comfortable to hold and type, which I always enjoy.

The logo on the palm rests of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.

In fact, I should point out that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 feels great in the hand. It's light at 2.49 pounds and thin at 0.59 inches. The XPS 13 comes in at 2.64 pounds and 0.58 inches, but it's a 13-inch laptop of course, so it feels a bit denser. Closer to the ThinkPad, the Specter x360 14 is 0.67 inches thick and weighs 2.95 pounds. However, there is something beyond these technical specifications that makes the ThinkPad X1 Carbon so comfortable to wear – it's a well-executed combination of weight, thinness, and a soft feel. Put simply, the laptop exudes quality. One small complaint is that the top and bottom display bezels are bigger than they could be, which adds slightly to the overall size of the laptop. It's not a huge problem, but some other modern laptops benefit from smaller bezels all around.

Lenovo updated the hinge on the latest model, creating a single hinge design that integrates the wireless antennas inside. I really liked the hinge, which allows the lid to be opened with one hand and at the same time prevents the display from wobbling when typing. It competes with the XPS 13's sleek hinge, one of the best in a couple of generations.

The aesthetics of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 remain the same, with the usual ThinkPad black-on-black design with some red accents in the LED above the “i” in the ThinkPad logo, the “X” in the X1 logo, the red TrackPoint nubbin in the middle of the keyboard and on the lower edges of the TrackPoint buttons. It's an iconic look and feel that ThinkPad enthusiasts should be familiar with, and one that offers everyone else a sleek, yet conservative aesthetic. The XPS 13 and Specter x360 14 offer more complex and colorful designs, while the Dell Latitude 7420 has another conservative look that business users might like.

The new single-hinge design of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 and the USB / Micro-USB ports.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The new single-hinge design of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The USB / Micro-USB and HDMI ports of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 on the left side of the laptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Connectivity is strong for a laptop this thin. On the left side there are two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 (one of which is for charging the laptop), a USB-A 3.2 port and a full-size HDMI 2.0 port. On the right side there is another USB-A 3.2 port and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Unfortunately there is no SD card reader. When you configure the optional 4G / 5G WWAN connection, you have a nano SIM card slot. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth provide wireless connectivity 5.2.

perfomance

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 can be configured with different CPUs of the 11th generation of the U-series, from the Core i5-1135G7 to the Core i7-1185G7, optionally with Intel vPro. My test unit was equipped with the Core i7-1165G7, which is a competent processor that usually offers excellent productivity performance. You can use Windows 10's power slider to enable Lenovo's standard and performance modes, but I didn't see much of a difference in our benchmarks. In fact, the performance mode caused some slower results, possibly because the laptop's thermals couldn't keep up. The only noticeably improved score was Geekbench 5's single-core score, which came in at 1,556 versus 1,327 in standard mode.

Compared to a comparison group of identically configured laptops, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 was fast. It led the field or was near the top in all of our benchmarks. For example, it got the fastest score in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video as H.265, and took second place in Cinebench R23. It also did well in the PCMark 10 Complete test, where it had the second highest major score in this group and was one of the faster laptops we tested in the essentials, productivity, and content creation areas of the test.

I found that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 lives up to these benchmark results in real use. It was a fast laptop during my tests no matter what I threw at it – if my duties were productivity oriented. As with all laptops using Intel's U-series CPUs, you won't get the best performance in demanding creativity applications where AMD's latest Ryzen CPUs shine. Most people won't buy the ThinkPad for this type of job, however, and so it fulfills the needs of the target audience and more.

Geekbench 5 (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (Core i7-1165G7) 1327/5201 170 1469/4945 5147 1776
Frame laptop
(Core i7-1165G7)		 1432/4725 176 1444/5373 5054 1641
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1165G7) 1540/5432 201 1399/4585 3859 1589
HP Specter x360 14 (Core i7-1165G7) 1214/4117 236 1389/3941 4728 1457
Samsung Galaxy Pro 360
(Core i7-1165G7)		 1554/5603 N / A 1308/4062 5159 1800
Razer Book 13 (Core i7-1165G7) 1548/5374 210 1508/4519 4878 1776

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 scores well in the 3DMark Time Spy test and is faster than most Intel Iris Xe laptops. That meant a few extra frames per second (fps) in Fortnite, the game we test integrated graphics with. The ThinkPad hit 28 fps at 1080p and high graphics, more than the 25 fps average for the class, and managed 20 fps with Epic Graphics turned on. These aren't good results, of course, showing that, like other laptops with Intel Iris Xe graphics, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is best for older games or newer games with lower resolutions and reduced graphic details.

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According to my colorimeter, Lenovo has chosen a good display that does not achieve very great things.

The shift to larger displays with 16:10 and 3: 2 aspect ratios versus the old school 16: 9 continues, with most premium laptops adopting one or the other ratio. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 has a 14-inch 16:10 display that comes in a variety of configurations, including touch and non-touch low power Full HD + (1920 x 1200), a full HD + privacy panel and a UHD + (3840 x.). 2400) screen with High Dynamic Range (HDR) support. My test device uses the entry-level non-touch Full HD + panel, which has the advantage of the best battery life. I find the resolution just sharp enough on a 14-inch panel, although I prefer UHD displays.

Enlarged view of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 screen.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

According to my colorimeter, Lenovo has chosen a good display that does not achieve very great things. It just passed our 300 nit brightness threshold at 306 nits, which means it's bright enough for anything but direct sunlight. The colors were quite wide at 76% AdobeRGB and 96% sRGB. That is slightly higher than the premium average for the former and average for the latter. The color accuracy was excellent with a DeltaE of 0.99 (less than 1.0 is imperceptible to the human eye).

These results are mixed when compared to some other premium laptops. For example, the Dell XPS 13 Full HD + display delivers an excellent brightness of 458 nits and achieves 75% of AdobeRGB and 98% of sRGB with a color accuracy of 1.36. The ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga achieved 431 cd / m², but only 71% of AdobeRGB and 96% of sRGB with a color accuracy of 1.62. The contrast ratio of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 was 970: 1, just below our preferred 1,000: 1. The XPS 13 managed a significantly higher 1,350: 1, while the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga was slightly higher with 1,010: 1.

My subjective analysis was consistent with these objective results. I found the display bright and colorful without being oversaturated, and the contrast was high enough that black text popped out on a white background. This is a great display for productive use, but it won't meet the needs of creative professionals who need wider colors. The larger aspect ratio is welcome, but I missed the touch support.

Speakers on the right side of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Audio is provided by two speakers to the left and right of the keyboard, along with two downward facing woofers that are designed to add bass and expand the dynamic range of the sound. The support of Dolby Atmos promises improved spatial effects. I found the sound to be more than loud enough with no distortion at maximum volume. Mids and highs were crisp and clear, and there was only a hint of bass. The audio wasn't up to the standard of the Apple MacBook, but it was better than many other premium laptops I've tested. It's good enough to enjoy Netflix with a friend, although I would still be using headphones for music.

Keyboard and touchpad

Keyboard and trackpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 has the typical ThinkPad keyboard with molded keys, excellent spacing and large travel. I usually find the ThinkPad's switch mechanisms a little stiff for my taste as they require too much pressure to press a button and lead to fatigue over time. This one was softer and more comfortable – I don't know if that's a change to the mechanism or just how this particular keyboard turned out. I would love if this was something new that we will see on other ThinkPads because I like this keyboard a lot better. It's close to the keyboard on my favorite Windows 10 laptops, the HP Specter line, and that is kudos.

In the middle of the keyboard is the usual ThinkPad TrackPoint knob, and it works as usual. If you like this type of cursor control, you will love this one. The disadvantage of the TrackPoint is that it requires an additional set of buttons that takes up space from the touchpad. Lenovo increased the width of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9's touchpad by 10%, but it's still smaller than it could be. However, it's a Microsoft Precision touchpad, so it's smooth and precise.

Security and privacy

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is a business class notebook that also appeals to private users. Hence, it includes several features that make it attractive to businesses looking to improve the security, privacy, and manageability of their laptop fleets.

First, there is support for Intel's vPro, a CPU feature that provides additional security and management features, including Intel Hardware Shield and advanced remote management. Next up, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 includes Lenovo's ThinkShield suite of security features, including the ThinkShutter webcam privacy switch, the match-on-chip fingerprint reader for passwordless login under Windows 10 Hello, and a self-healing BIOS that can help prevent system failure in the event of attack or corruption.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 also supports the Human Presence Detection (HPD) function from Lenovo. This uses an optional infrared camera (which is also used for Windows 10 Hello support via face recognition) and pulse radar to detect when a user is in front of the laptop or is away. In the latter case, the laptop will be put to sleep and when the user returns they will wake up and log in. My test device didn't come with HPD, but I've used it on other ThinkPads and it worked reliably and quickly.

Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 continues Lenovo's excellent support for business users. Neither of these features detracts from the consumer appeal of the laptop, but they do make the laptop a much more enticing option for larger businesses.

Battery life

A look at the opened ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The tested display is not only Full HD +, which promises a better battery life, but also an energy-saving display. Combined with the jump in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 from 51 watt hours of battery capacity to 57 watt hours, I was given the hope that Lenovo will finally produce a ThinkPad with a good battery life. Our experience with previous ThinkPads has not been the best in this area.

Lenovo took advantage of the extra battery capacity and the power-saving display to achieve excellent battery life.

My expectations were exceeded. In our web browsing test, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 lasted just over 11.5 hours, a strong figure that beats the 10 hours, which we consider to be very good. The Dell XPS 13 Full HD + only lasted 8.5 hours, while the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga lasted just over 9.5 hours. In our video test, which repeats a local Full HD Avengers trailer, the ThinkPad achieved a phenomenal 20.5 hours, one of the best values ​​we have ever recorded, compared to the XPS 13 with 12 hours and the X1 Titanium Yoga with 15.75 hours.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 also scores exceptionally well in the PCMark 10 Applications battery benchmark with 17.25 hours. That is the second longest result in our database after the additional half an hour of the LG Gram 16. The ThinkPad also does well in the PCMark 10 gaming battery benchmark with 4.75 hours. That's again the second longest score we've only seen behind the LG Gram 16, which lasted just 11 minutes longer.

Obviously, Lenovo took advantage of the extra battery capacity and the power-saving display to achieve excellent battery life. Finally, we can report that a ThinkPad not only lasts for a whole working day, but also well into the evening. Depending on your workload, you may even have some energy left for the next day. This is a refreshing result that we hope will carry over to the rest of the ThinkPad lineup.

Our opinion

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is the best version of this laptop yet. As always, it exudes quality and is a pleasure thanks to its soft-touch feel and a great keyboard. But thanks to the 16:10 aspect ratio display, solid productivity performance, and the best battery life we've seen in a ThinkPad, Lenovo has made some significant improvements to this year's model as well.

It's expensive, but you get your money's worth. It's great for business, but don't miss it if you're a consumer. It's a great laptop for everyone.

Are there alternatives?

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga is a great alternative if you're not the biggest fan of the typical ThinkPad aesthetic. The battery life isn't that good, but the build quality is better and has its own charm.

If you want a detachable tablet, Lenovo's ThinkPad X12 Detachable is a solid choice. It's not that fast or that it's durable, but it's the best detachable tablet you can buy.

Finally, if you don't need the business features and want a slightly smaller laptop, the Dell XPS 13 is always a good option. It's still the best laptop you can buy overall, and it has the same performance and the option of a great 16:10 OLED display.

How long it will take?

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is well built enough to last for years as its military certification tests promise. It is up-to-date in its components and should keep up with the performance demands of everyone for just as long. The one-year warranty is disappointing for an expensive business-class notebook.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is an excellent laptop that both home and business users will love.

Editor's recommendations



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