Lenovo ThinkPad T14s G4 review: Business laptop is better with AMD Zen4

[Redaktion]

We've already reviewed the current ThinkPad T14s G4 with the Intel processor and high-resolution OLED panel, and now we have the AMD model with the Ryzen 7 7840U and low-power IPS display. In addition to significantly more performance, the good battery life is particularly impressive.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T14s-G4-review-Business-laptop-is-better-with-AMD-Zen4.763581.0.html

[pleaseacceptmyname]

Thanks for your always great tests!

Now how about an AMD+OLED test? :)
Would be so interesting to see the actual difference the OLED makes here... 

[Not_reserved_name]

HP Elitebook 845 G9/G10 has a remarkable keyboard. It's a pure pleasure to type on. IMHO it's just better than any Thinkpad after T430s generation - some were better, some were worse, but current HP beats them all.

[ArsLoginName]

Let's compare T14s G3 vs this G4
T14s G3 LPDDR5X-6400 6850U 2.7 GHz base 4.7 GHz boost TSMC 6 nm
T14s G4 LPDDR5X-6400 7840U 3.3 GHz base 5.1 GHz boost TSMC 4 nm
So 20% base clock advantage for G4

6850U CBR15 1600 sustained vs 7840U CBR15 1800 (so 12.5% higher) with both at 30 W->24/25W
6850U CBR23 10031 vs 7840U CBR23 11797 (so 17.6% higher)

7840U +10% more battery life from same 57 Whr battery.

Does it seem the advantage of the Zen 4 is not as high as it should be? The gains in CB are less than the base clock speed advantage of Zen 4 on N4 vs Zen 3+ on N6. Shouldn't the architectural IPC gains of Zen 4 plus the node gains from TSMC 6 nm to TSMC 4 mm result in a much higher score for the G4?

[RobertJasiek]

7840U +10% more battery life from same 57 Whr battery.

Does it seem the advantage of the Zen 4 is not as high as it should be?

7840U at 99.9Wh can reach some 23h WLAN battery life. We are reaching true full day use. Not bad!

[ArsLoginName]

7840U +10% more battery life from same 57 Whr battery.

Does it seem the advantage of the Zen 4 is not as high as it should be?

7840U at 99.9Wh can reach some 23h WLAN battery life. We are reaching true full day use. Not bad!

I wasn't questioning the battery life gains so much as 57 Whr battery/13 hr wi-fi time gives an average power draw of 4.38 W for screen, wi-fi, and processor. That's not too shabby. I was more questioning the real lack of evidence of gains going from Zen 3+ to Zen 4 as the frequency gains from N6 to N4 are 20% base and 10% boost. So suggests IPC/net architectural gain of <10%.

[NikoB]

www.notebookchat.com/index.php?msg=558336

[Iiari]

7840U at 99.9Wh can reach some 23h WLAN battery life. We are reaching true full day use. Not bad!

It does make one think, what's the largest battery capacity paired with a 7840U chip right now?  HP's 76 whr with the Elitebook 845 G10? Anything bigger? 

[kuro68k]

Wow, finally a decent AMD model from Lenovo! A reasonable set of ports, USB4...

Soldered RAM sucks because Lenovo charges too much for it. Wait for a sale I guess.

The larger model with 2x NVMe sockets should be fantastic too.

[ArsLoginName]

It does make one think, what's the largest battery capacity paired with a 7840U chip right now?  HP's 76 whr with the Elitebook 845 G10? Anything bigger? 

I only see a 37 or a 51 Whr battery for the EliteBook 845 G10 in the US. Where did you find a 76 Whr battery?

[Iiari]

It does make one think, what's the largest battery capacity paired with a 7840U chip right now?  HP's 76 whr with the Elitebook 845 G10? Anything bigger? 

I only see a 37 or a 51 Whr battery for the EliteBook 845 G10 in the US. Where did you find a 76 Whr battery?

My apologies, I had it wrong on first glance.  It was the Elitebook 865 :(. 

[jpv]

Is this saying that the G44 has worse working battery life than the G3?

Any opinions on this?

[ArsLoginName]

Is this saying that the G44 has worse working battery life than the G3?

Any opinions on this?

You bring up a good point. Unsure how going from 60% brightness of the screen for wi-fi testing to 'full load at maximum brightness' run times can drop by a factor of 7x from same 57 Whr battery. The screen is a low power (2 W-ish) and processor is running at sustained 'max' of 24 W for a total of 26 W. 57 Whr/ 26 W should give a run time >120 min even with other system things like wi-fi running. But note this only applies to 'max' testing as deemed by what NBC says is max. Is it running Prime95 + FireStrike at the same time with something pinging the SSD for max reads/writes simultaneously? Whatever it is, somehow the 6850U seems to have a lower 'max' power consumption by a lot for very similar hardware.

[ArsLoginName]

I followed the link back to the T14s G3 6850U review and it too is pulling 41 W while running Furmark + Prime95 for Notebookcheck's 'stress test.' So both the G4 and G3 are pulling the same power under stress. Unsure why their 2 minimum runtimes differ by 40+ minutes.

[EN]

I'd be very interested to see a comparison with the new X1 Carbon G12.  I know your reviews are very thorough so aren't as fast as other less comprehensive reviews.  When do you expect to have a full review?