Lenovo ThinkBook 16p in laptop review: A crowd-pleaser if you're ready for some compromises

[Redaktion]

Lenovo itself advertises the 16-inch ThinkBook as a "powerful creativity tool" and a "business laptop"; after all, the origins of the ThinkBook series lie in the office segment. However, with an RTX 3060 and a powerful Ryzen processor, the series also penetrates the gaming segment. Is the device a versatile hidden gem for gamers and creators alike?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkBook-16p-in-laptop-review-A-crowd-pleaser-if-you-re-ready-for-some-compromises.560656.0.html

[Dorby]

Good laptop but the price markup here seems way overblown even for lenovo. In China, Singapore and few other Asian countries right now, this starts at $1300 and the R7 3060 model costs around $1600. Usually that difference for lenovo laptops outside Asia is only around +$200 at most (excluding the EU region) so charging $2400 MSRP in the USA is quite absurd.

Edit: Confirmed that in the U.S the laptop drops to 1200 during sales.

[Hunter2020]

Lenovo ultrabooks have two weaknesses:

1. No ATI GPU
2. 16:10 isn't as tall as 3:2

This is what makes Huawei notebooks trounce over Lenovo. 

Years ago, I swapped an NVidia card for an ATI card and saw how much prettier game graphics were.

[duzenko]

The price tag on this model is a bad sign for us consumers

[Rick]

That price is insanely high. Who in their right mind would even consider buying this?

[Suren Zadurian]

Obviously miracle didn't happen with this long awaited laptop.
It was expected to be in the more cheap ThinkBook league (compared to Thinkpad) but as I see the price it's not case.
The 2 kg laptops don't have the cooling power for RTX3060 (assuming the AMD CPU is cool enough) so not big advantage of this card here.
The memory configurations are really weak. Either 8GB soldered + slot with less powerful AMD, either 16GB soldered + slot with the most powerful CPU.
The lack of HDMI and LAN is really strange too.
So basically it sibling Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is far more attractive even if it's half a kg more heavy.
I'm not sure exactly why you put so big score. I'd put no more than 82-3%.

[Erik]

Can you attach two monitors and/or use a docking station as on a ThinkPad?  -and how?
Thanks :-)

[davidss]

i just unpacked my 5900HX with 32gigs of ram. second ssd added without any problems - no warranty sticker on mine. i got if for 1529euros from czech republic without VAT - this is 1800USD. If you look at the market and avaible models, not that bad price. i dont want 4k because i use RDP alot. also, pretty quiet laptop and fast. i dont see any other option when you want AMD CPU, no 4k, two m.2 drives. Biggest dissapointment is NO laptop with 2.5 inch slot avaible. 4TB ssd m.2 are very expensive compared to QLC 2.5 drives. dont really care with missing LAN / HDMI, always using dock

[Erik]

After updating to the latest BIOS etc .- How is fan noise?

[guddog7]

I got this laptop for $1300 on Dec/2021. Specs are Ryzen 5 5600H, 16gb Ram, 512gb ssd and rtx 3060. It performs everything pretty well. I'm not sure what these people in the comment expect though, it's not a gaming laptop.

[guddog7]

Obviously miracle didn't happen with this long awaited laptop.
It was expected to be in the more cheap ThinkBook league (compared to Thinkpad) but as I see the price it's not case.
The 2 kg laptops don't have the cooling power for RTX3060 (assuming the AMD CPU is cool enough) so not big advantage of this card here.
The memory configurations are really weak. Either 8GB soldered + slot with less powerful AMD, either 16GB soldered + slot with the most powerful CPU.
The lack of HDMI and LAN is really strange too.
So basically it sibling Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is far more attractive even if it's half a kg more heavy.
I'm not sure exactly why you put so big score. I'd put no more than 82-3%.

I'm not sure what you'd expect.

This is obviously not a gaming laptop and the vents on 4 different areas are more than enough when it comes to cooling. Look at those laptops like the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with 3050 but only has 2 vents on the sides. The Asus Vivobook Pro 16x is even worse with vents blowing right at the screen.

I don't think the lack of HDMI really is that important since you can just buy the adapter.

Of course you can go for the Legion 5 pro but then you stuck with a thicker, heavier spaceship-looking device.

Miracles don't happen on every laptop because every one of them has drawbacks. Tell me one laptop that's perfect on every area.

[Ednumero]

> lack of HDMI

I'm generally fine with lack of HDMI if it means more DisplayPort-enabled ports. Historically, I've found having HDMI as a standard to create more problems than solutions.

DP->HDMI is a pass-through but HDMI->DP requires active adapters which may not always exist for a certain required bandwidth (and may not suppport features such as adaptive sync). From this standpoint alone, it's better to have all ports be DisplayPort (or USB-C with DisplayPort).

In the past, computers have included non-4K60-capable HDMI standards when 4K60 support already existed with DisplayPort. These models would have been functionally better off including DisplayPort and letting people step down to HDMI as needed.

Some existing montors support 4K at higher refresh rates, but only through DisplayPort and not HDMI (as they have 2.0 ports).

HDMI is one place where I will endorse Dongle Life, because the main adapter-related concerns with missing USB-A ports (compact accessories no longer being compact) and missing headphone jacks (unwieldiness on the go) aren't really at play with connecting displays. And you get so much more flexibility with DisplayPort.

Unfortunately the lack of HDMI here doesn't lend itself towards another display-enabled port, though, as there are still only two USB-C/DisplayPort connections. It would have been nice to have three.

[NikoB]

> lack of HDMI

I'm generally fine with lack of HDMI if it means more DisplayPort-enabled ports. Historically, I've found having HDMI as a standard to create more problems than solutions.

DP->HDMI is a pass-through but HDMI->DP requires active adapters which may not always exist for a certain required bandwidth (and may not suppport features such as adaptive sync). From this standpoint alone, it's better to have all ports be DisplayPort (or USB-C with DisplayPort).

In the past, computers have included non-4K60-capable HDMI standards when 4K60 support already existed with DisplayPort. These models would have been functionally better off including DisplayPort and letting people step down to HDMI as needed.

Some existing montors support 4K at higher refresh rates, but only through DisplayPort and not HDMI (as they have 2.0 ports).

HDMI is one place where I will endorse Dongle Life, because the main adapter-related concerns with missing USB-A ports (compact accessories no longer being compact) and missing headphone jacks (unwieldiness on the go) aren't really at play with connecting displays. And you get so much more flexibility with DisplayPort.

Unfortunately the lack of HDMI here doesn't lend itself towards another display-enabled port, though, as there are still only two USB-C/DisplayPort connections. It would have been nice to have three.

You are brutally mistaken in the case of this model. 3060 has support for HDMI 2.1, which, if it is full-fledged, is able to give out a signal in 3840x2400@30 Bit(HDR)@120-144Hz. Not a single hardware solution today with an outdated 3-year ports of DP1.4b, even in the full version with 4 lanes (usb-c have typical config only 2), is capable of transmitting such a signal. This is a shame for Lenovo that they did not bring out, in the back plate, HDMI 2.1 port and of course 5Gbits/s RJ-45. =(