The perfect ThinkPads appeal to many enterprise customers and company IT departments due to their sturdy construct high quality, industry-leading keyboards, hyper-accurate pointing sticks, and easy black aesthetic. The ThinkPad line has quite a lot of mainstays that Lenovo followers will not do with out, which is why the very best ThinkPads are thought-about the greatest laptops (opens in new tab) round.
Even when you’ve already received your coronary heart and your funds dedicated to a ThinkPad, you have received a variety of selections. Lenovo presently sells over a dozen ThinkPad fashions throughout a number of completely different traces. The laptops all have the identical primary aesthetic however differ vastly in relation to measurement, value, display screen high quality, efficiency, and battery life. Some even have snappier keyboards than others. There are alternatives for the typical enterprise person, artists who want an expert pill, and even customers who want a beast of a workstation. For those who or your child have a wild creativeness and wish a enjoyable and protected outlet for that, take a look at our DND suggestions web page to get began on the world’s greatest journey sport.
Additionally, see our latest Apple MacBook Professional 2021 (14-inch) evaluate. For those who’re searching for one thing moveable and reasonably priced, take a look at our HP Chromebook x2 11 evaluate. Plus, take a look at which laptop computer is greatest: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon vs. Dell XPS 13.
As soon as you have decided, take a look at our roundup of the greatest ThinkPad equipment (opens in new tab) to bolster your productiveness, however when you’re extra within the greatest Lenovo laptops (opens in new tab) usually, we’ve a web page for that, too.
Black Friday 2022 falls on Nov. 25 and we count on to see tons of epic vacation gross sales on laptops. Lenovo simply dropped some early Black Friday ThinkPad offers (opens in new tab), with financial savings of as much as 62% on the most recent Lenovo ThinkPads.
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On the planet of laptops, the Thinkpad X1 Carbon is a masterpiece. With a light-weight but sturdy chassis, the X1 Carbon is a wonderful choice for enterprise customers who’re ceaselessly on the go. However the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is not simply an enterprise pocket book: We do not hesitate recommending this machine to on a regular basis customers, too, who will admire the laptop computer’s vivid, vivid 14-inch show, lengthy battery life, quick efficiency and immaculate construct high quality.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga proves that ThinkPads do not want carbon fiber to compete. Constructed from CNC aluminum, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga’s chassis is now thinner and lighter but simply as sturdy as ever. Mix that smooth body with a stunning 1080p show, a best-in-class keyboard and all-day battery life, and the ThinkPad X1 Yoga is well top-of-the-line 2-in-1 laptops round.
Taking a web page from its client laptop computer twin — the ThinkPad X1 Excessive — the workstation-class Lenovo ThinkPad P1 affords highly effective efficiency in a skinny and light-weight chassis. The elective 4K show pops with wealthy, vibrant colours, and the P1’s splendidly snug keyboard would possibly simply be Lenovo’s greatest but. On prime of that, the Xeon CPU and Nvidia Quadro P2000, obtainable on the pricier fashions, provide excellent efficiency. It’s a terrific machine when you’re doing greater than plugging numbers right into a spreadsheet.
Want one thing extra moveable? The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Pill is a sturdy and safe 2-in-1 enterprise removable that is additionally highly effective sufficient to allow you to dominate noobs in Overwatch on the gadget’s vibrant, 13-inch, 3K show.
Execs: Lenovo took the very best enterprise laptop computer and beefed it up with eleventh Gen Intel CPUs. You continue to get the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s engaging, slim and sturdy chassis. Enterprise customers who journey ceaselessly will admire the 15+ hours of battery life provided by the 1200p model. The 1200p display screen was surprisingly vivid. And in typical ThinkPad vogue, the most recent ninth Gen X1 Carbon has a best-in-class keyboard that you will love typing on. It is simply on the prime of the very best ThinkPads.
Cons: Whereas we love this laptop computer, it isn’t really good. It includes a poor 720p webcam, no card slot and the touchpad is a bit small. On prime of that, the IR digital camera would not even come included by default, which is odd contemplating it is a enterprise pocket book.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 9) evaluate.
Execs: Your common ThinkPad is not very wallet-friendly, however the ThinkPad X13 goes in opposition to the grain. For lower than $1,000, this machine affords a speedy AMD Ryzen 5 Professional 4650U CPU, a carbon fiber/magnesium alloy design and even a choose few security measures like a fingerprint reader and an elective IR digital camera for Home windows Hey. Regardless of the worth, Lenovo would not skimp on the keyboard. Its keys felt tremendous responsive. These concave keys we have praised for years have what appears like an not possible quantity of journey for a laptop computer this skinny.
Cons: The ThinkPad X13’s reasonably priced value requires a couple of compromises: specifically, the tremendous thick show bezels, the dearth of Thunderbolt 3 ports and being restricted to solely 16GB of RAM. And its battery lasted 7 hours and 53 minutes, touchdown under the premium laptop computer common on the time (10:00).
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X13 (AMD) evaluate.
Execs: You already know what the X1 Nano appears like — it is the basic ThinkPad design besides in a smaller, lighter chassis. It is really essentially the most moveable ThinkPad ever, with its carbon fiber and magnesium body weighing in at a measly 2 kilos. It has a 13-inch, 2K (2160 x 1350-pixel) anti-glare show. Not 13.3 inches or 13.5 inches, simply 13 inches flat, which means the panel is smaller than these on rival gadgets. I do not thoughts although; the 16:10 side ratio has the identical top (Y-axis) as most bigger panels, it is simply not as vast. Portability is nice, however what is the level if it’s essential to log round a battery charger all over the place you go? Fortuitously, with the X1 Nano, you’ll be able to go away the brick at house. The petite pocket book lasted for 12 hours flat on our battery check, which entails steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.
Cons: Purchase a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with the X1 Nano. Effectively, both that or courageous the dongle life. That is as a result of there are not any USB Sort-A ports. Our unit has a flat matte-black lid however you’ll be able to go for a woven sample on the lid to intensify the carbon supplies used inside. No matter which floor you select, count on to scrub numerous smudges — the X1 Nano left a shiny fingerprint each time I touched the design. Beneath the keyboard is a 3.9 x 2.3-inch touchpad. It has a silky soft-touch texture, the floor responded nicely to my swipes. My principal gripe is the scale. These with bigger arms might discover their fingers brushing up in opposition to the perimeters.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano evaluate.
Execs: Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 is a refinement of the very best 2-in-1 laptop computer for enterprise customers. Taking a web page from the X1 Carbon, the latest Yoga now flaunts a 14-inch show with a taller 16:10 side ratio for extra vertical display screen house — a boon for enterprise customers. Additionally bettering productiveness are a wider touchpad and a human presence detection sensor for handy login and enhanced safety. Swapping the engine for eleventh Gen Intel chips provides significantly quicker efficiency, however the battery life improve is much more attractive; the Gen 6 mannequin lasts for almost 15 hours on a cost. These perks are packaged in a smooth aluminum chassis with a handy 2-in-1 design and a helpful stylus slot.
Cons: It will not be as light-weight because the ThinkPad X1 Carbon or as alluring because the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga. There is not any SD card and it is hella costly, so it’s a must to resolve whether or not or not you’ll be able to chew the bullet that’s its $2,000+ value.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 6) evaluate.
Lenovo couldn’t have picked a greater title for the ThinkPad X1 Excessive Gen 4 — excessive is the operative phrase right here. Once I consider “excessive,” phrases like “to the max,” “out of hand” and “exorbitant” come to thoughts, which completely describe this 16-inch monster. The worth tag is certainly excessive with a stunning beginning value of $2,951. Whew! This 16-inch laptop computer, full of excessive internals resembling a top-of-the-line eleventh Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and highly effective Nvidia 30-series graphics, was constructed to make its rivals sweat. Somebody examine on the Dell XPS 15!
This Lenovo laptop computer is a serious enchancment from the final ThinkPad X1 Excessive we reviewed (Gen 2). It’s received extra battery life, a brighter show and zippier chips. However in fact, each monster has its kryptonite. The ThinkPad X1 Excessive Gen 4 is not any completely different, particularly because it’s up in opposition to some fierce opponents.
Nonetheless, the ThinkPad X1 Excessive Gen 4 is good for dealing with excessive workloads for professionals, whether or not you’re a creator, architect or engineer. As a cherry on prime, they’ll loosen up and play their favourite graphics-intensive video games after a protracted day of productiveness.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Excessive Gen 4 evaluate.
Execs: The Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook’s Abyss Blue all-aluminum chassis has some chrome flecking, giving the unit some nice sparkle. The ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook’s 13-inch, 1080p contact show is crisp and vivid, however not exceptionally vivid. With an AMD Ryzen 5 Professional 3500C CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and built-in AMD Radeon Graphics operating the light-weight Chrome OS, the Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook’s efficiency is fairly snappy, with near-instant boot instances. The laptop computer got here in at 8 hours and seven minutes in our in-house battery check (steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits).
Cons: There are two tiny slots on both facet of the deck the place I think about the smallest audio system in creation are housed. I began listening to Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Need to Take Our Garments Off” on full blast, and though it was considerably loud, the audio high quality was tinny. Our evaluate unit is a bit of expensive for a Chromebook at $766; it comes with a 2.1-GHz AMD Ryzen 5 Professional 3500C CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, built-in AMD Radeon Graphics and a colourful 13-inch, 1080p IPS show.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook evaluate.
With the ThinkPad X12 Removable, Lenovo takes the Floor Professional idea and improves it with all of the goodies related to the “ThinkPad” model. These embrace a sturdy, but light-weight chassis, a comparatively vivid and vivid 12.3-inch show, and a cushty keyboard that, together with a stylus, comes bundled with the ThinkPad X12 Removable.
And in contrast to the Floor Professional 7+, the ThinkPad X12 lasts for a full day on a cost, though that may be attributed to utilizing low-powered CPUs. There are a couple of shortcomings — the audio system and cameras aren’t nice and there’s no USB Sort-A port — nonetheless, the ThinkPad X12 Removable is a standout choice for enterprise customers who’re ceaselessly on the go.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Removable evaluate.
The ThinkPad E14 goals to do one factor nicely: be a terrific productiveness machine, and it achieved that purpose. It is a good day-to-day enterprise machine with loads of energy to get the necessities finished shortly. The ThinkPad E-series isn’t pandering to client want for pomp and circumstance. It consists of enterprise laptops with rugged designs, stronger safety than the native bouncer, and sufficient energy for peak productiveness.
This mid-tier lineage will not be setting any greatest laptops lists alight, and that’s OK. They’re right here to get stuff finished, and the ThinkPad E14 takes one other step ahead with eleventh Gen Intel processors to change into a significantly succesful work laptop computer with worth for cash at its core.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad E14 evaluate.
Execs: For those who want the flexibility of a pill however you are not feeling the entire detach-and-reattach factor, then the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga is a superb selection. It is a slim, light-weight 2-in-1 (2.5 kilos, 0.5 inches thick) that options an full sized Pen, which has 4,096 ranges of stress sensitivity and shortcut buttons. Whereas the opposite ThinkPads have beautiful shows, the X1 Yoga’s 13.5-inch, 2K panel beats all of them. This child reproduced 71% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and gleamed with 425 nits of brightness. And when it comes to pace, its eleventh Gen Core i5 processor notched a strong 4,747 on the Geekbench 5.4 check.
Cons: The ports are the place you may really feel some ache in relation to the skinny X1 Titanium. In brief, when you don’t already personal a very good USB Sort-C hub, add that to the funds when you’re ordering your X1 Titanium. Turning to the touchpad, the three.6 x 2.7-inch floor feels diminutive in comparison with these on many different fashionable laptops. The haptic suggestions versus really miserable the touchpad was irritating.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga evaluate.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 improves on what was already a profitable method with the unique ThinkPad P15 with upgraded efficiency and stellar battery life for the 1080p mannequin.
The laptop computer’s eleventh Gen Intel Core i9-11950H CPU, Nvidia RTX A5000 GPU and 32GB of RAM make it an absolute workhorse of a workstation. If uncooked efficiency is your purpose, it will likely be arduous to beat the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2. The one concern for creatives would be the show, but when that’s essential for you think about the OLED panel choice or maybe an exterior show.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 evaluate.
Due to its 15 plus hours of battery life, glorious ergonomics and Qualcomm’s potent Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 CPU, the laptop computer can deal with a little bit of time beyond regulation after which some. The pocket book earned its place on our greatest enterprise laptops web page. However the X13s does have a couple of caveats to think about.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Gen 1 I examined ($2,169.00) has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 CPU, built-in Qualcomm Adreno 690 Graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.3-inch and a 1920 x 1200-pixel touchscreen show.
How to decide on the very best ThinkPad for you
Selecting the very best ThinkPad for you actually will depend on your wants. For those who’re searching for a vanilla clamshell laptop computer, you’re greater than prone to discover every thing you need within the Thinkpad X1 Carbon. Nevertheless, when you’re searching for one thing extra versatile, then the ThinkPad X1 Yoga is the following greatest wager.
Artists would possibly need to take a look at the ThinkPad X1 Pill, whereas customers who want their laptop computer to have a bit of extra kick, whether or not it’s for video modifying or picture modifying, the ThinkPad X1 Excessive is a superb selection. If you wish to transcend that, essentially the most highly effective ThinkPad you should buy is the Lenovo ThinkPad P1, which is nice for all types of excessive taxing work. If you wish to prioritize battery life, you would most likely discover the Lenovo ThinkPad T480 nonetheless on sale, however understand that it’s a bit of outdated, utilizing an eighth Gen Intel CPU.
How we check the very best ThinkPads
We put every laptop computer by way of intensive benchmark testing — each artificial and real-world — earlier than they find yourself within the arms of our reviewers. We consider every side of the laptop computer, together with its efficiency, battery life, show, audio system and warmth administration.
In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB colour gamut of the laptop computer’s show. For efficiency testing, we run the laptop computer by way of a gauntlet of benchmarks, together with Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark skilled graphics exams.
To find out real-world efficiency, we job the laptop computer to transform a 4K video to 1080p decision and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics check is the Filth 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p decision.
We additionally run warmth exams by enjoying a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in numerous areas of the laptop computer. Final however not least, our battery check consists of steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Home windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is taken into account a very good end result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that may keep powered for longer than 5 hours deserve reward.
These exams are complemented with intensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique every thing from the laptop computer’s supplies to the texture of its touchpad.
