I like enjoying with costly toys, however who the heck is the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 actually for? Not the budget-friendly skilled nor up-and-coming companies — it’s for the extremely paid skilled or Fortune 500 corporations. So except you may afford $4,663, look away now.
Okay, massive spenders. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 will web you a stunning 16-inch, 4K show, a cushty keyboard, an awesome pair of audio system, and a strong Core i9-12950HX vPro processor and Nvidia RTX A5500 GPU. Nevertheless, regardless of its ridiculous value and boring design, it has a brief battery life, so that you’re going to have to remain plugged within the majority of the time.
This is without doubt one of the finest workstations I’ve reviewed — I’m only a tad salty in regards to the battery life.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 value and configurations
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 specs
Worth: $4,663
CPU: Intel Core i9-12950HX vPro
GPU: Nvidia RTX A5500 16GB
RAM: 64GB
Storage: 2TB SSD
Show: 16-inch, 3840 x 2400
Battery: 6:36
Dimension: 14.3 x 10.5 x 1.2 inches
Weight: 6.6 kilos
Except you’re a enterprise or a financial institution, you’re going to have a tough time affording the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 we reviewed. At $4,663, it comes with an Intel Core i9-12950HX vPro processor, an Nvidia RTX A5500 GPU with 16GB of vRAM, 64GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 3840 x 2400 show.
For a extra cheap $1,639, you’re downgraded to a Core i5-12600HX vPro CPU, an RTX A1000 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1200-pixel show. Whereas the worth itself is decrease, the worth for the parts is pitiful — it’s a rip off.
In case you needed to max this factor out, you’d must pay $6,708, which might improve you to 128GB of RAM, two 4TB SSDs, and a 2400p touchscreen show.
In case you’re on a price range, do your self a favor and take a look at our finest low-cost gaming laptops web page.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 design
Thick and chonky (sure, with an “O”). With a quite simple grey lid, the ThinkPad P16 reveals off its two logos with a glowing LED dot throughout the “i” of ThinkPad. In case you’re paying for the half of a down fee on a home, it’s best to a minimum of get a laptop computer that appears glamorous. This laptop computer, nevertheless, is much from luxe. The one factor it’s received going for it’s that crimson accent that flares out of the bottom.
The inside is simply as bland if no more so, attributable to its clunky design. With an edge-to-edge keyboard with a monitoring level, extra vents, a touchpad with discreet clickers, one other ThinkPad emblem, and a pair of chunky bezels — it’s crowded up in right here. It makes me take into consideration work, and never in a great way.
At 6.6 kilos and 14.3 x 10.5 x 1.2 inches, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is a thick ass machine. The MacBook Professional 16 (M2 Max, 2023) (4.8 kilos, 14 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches), Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) (5.1 kilos, 13.9 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches), and Dell Precision 5470 (3.3 kilos, 12.2 x 8.3 x 0.7-inches) aren’t almost as massive or heavy.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 ports
You get a port, and also you get a port, and also you get a port!
On the appropriate facet, there’s a sensible card reader, an SD card slot, one USB Kind-A port, and a Kensington safety lock slot, whereas the left facet holds room for one USB Kind-A port, one USB Kind-C port, a headphone jack, and a SIM card slot.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 additionally has some junk in its trunk, together with the facility jack, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an HDMI 2.1 port.
If this nonetheless isn’t sufficient ports for you, take into account our finest USB Kind-C hubs and finest laptop computer docking stations pages.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 safety and sturdiness
In case you’re somebody who wants security measures for his or her job, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 affords quite a lot of options in that area. With Intel vPro, your organization can handle the machine remotely if they should. There’s discrete Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) that encrypts your knowledge, a self-healing BIOS that may restore system settings if wanted, and a fingerprint reader. There’s additionally a sliding privateness shutter to bodily shut the webcam.
The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is military-grade licensed for sturdiness, however it is a hefty machine — I wouldn’t be stunned if it may deal with a number of blows. Should that’s only a sneaking suspicion, so be cautious.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 show
The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1’s 16-inch, 3840 x 2400 show is gorgeous. It’s going to be exhausting to return to a standard laptop computer after this.
I watched Sport Changer’s model of The Bachelor, and Grant O’Brien’s flowery shirt popped on the show as he quick-fired questions on the contestants. The panel was vibrant sufficient to rapidly reveal Phoenix’s blonde highlights as she walked out on stage from the darkish. With 2400p decision to work with, every strand of Sam Reich’s beard stood out in opposition to the colourful background.
In keeping with our colorimeter, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 coated 83.1% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, which surpasses the typical workstation (80.5%). The MacBook Professional 16 averaged 83.7% and the Precision 5470 reached a formidable 92.7%.
At 524 nits, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 destroyed the class common (379 nits). The Precision 5470 averaged 499 nits and the MacBook Professional 16 got here again with 447 nits.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 keyboard and touchpad
Clickity clacks! To nobody’s shock, Lenovo crafted one other bangin’ ThinkPad keyboard. There’s sufficient area between keys, the journey is deep, and every key feels distinct when navigating for the write character.
I hit 82 phrases per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing take a look at, which is simply above my regular 78-wpm. It’s straightforward to sort quick when the keys are punchy and there’s sufficient room on the deck for my palms to get comfy.
The two.7 x 4.5-inch touchpad was a bit sticky and provided a flimsy click on. Its discrete mouse buttons felt the identical manner.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 audio
Now these are some rattling good audio system. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1’s top-firing noise makers blew me away with their readability and high quality of sound.
I listened to Nxdia’s new monitor, “what’s it like,” and I may really feel the percussion in my chest because it opened the track as much as the crisp vocals. Backed with a beaty bass and a delicate electrical guitar, the refrain demanded consideration with melodic vocals that fell into a beautiful rhythm with its dance companions.
Backing up the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is the Dolby Entry music app, which affords you settings for music, video games, films, and voice chat. I favored the Music setting essentially the most for listening to tunes, because the Dynamic setting conflated devices.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 efficiency
Buried inside kilos of metallic and plastic lies the Intel Core i9-12950HX vPro processor with 64GB of RAM. It had no drawback enjoying with two dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube movies.
On the Geekbench 5.4 general efficiency take a look at, the ThinkPad P16 scored a whopping 15,353, which doubles the efficiency from a mean workstation (7,111). The MacBook Professional 16’s M2 Max (15,044), the Precision’s Core i9-12900H (11,040), and the Zephyrus’ Core i9-13900H (13,817) couldn’t sustain.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Geekbench 5.4 | HandBrake | SSD Velocity |
|---|---|---|---|
| ThinkPad | 15,353 | 3:44 | 1713 MBps |
| Precision | 11,040 | 6:28 | 1699 MBps |
| MacBook | 15,044 | 3:59 | 6664 MBps |
| Zephyrus | 13,817 | 4:17 | Row 3 – Cell 3 |
The ThinkPad P16 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in simply 3 minutes and 44 seconds, which sped previous the class common (7:00) in addition to the MacBook Professional 16 (3:59), Precision (6:28), and the Zephyrus (4:17).
Lenovo 2TB SSD copied knowledge at a price of 1,713 megabytes per second, which is tremendous quick, even in contrast with the workstation common (1,409 MBps). The MacBook nonetheless has the quickest SSDs within the west (and east), hitting 6,664 MBps. In the meantime, the Precision 5470 had a price of 1,699 MBps.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 graphics
What professionals are actually going to be working with is the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1’s Nvidia A5500 GPU with 16GB of vRAM. Let’s discuss what all these fancy numbers get you.
On the 3DMark Fireplace Strike artificial benchmark take a look at, the ThinkPad P16 scored 26,174, doubling the workstation common (12,147). The Precision 5470’s A1000 GPU scored 9,238, whereas the Zephyrus’ RTX 4090 graphics nailed 34,162.
The ThinkPad P16 averaged 125 frames per second on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark, once more doubling the typical (61 fps). The MacBook Professional 16’s M2 Max averaged 58 fps, whereas the Precision managed a 76 fps.
On the 3DMark Port Royal ray-tracing benchmark, the ThinkPad P16 hit 6,784, dashing previous the workstation common (5,878). Nevertheless, the Zephyrus nonetheless comes out on prime with 9,516.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 battery life
In case you didn’t anticipate to carry a laptop computer charger with you in all places, guess once more. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 lasted solely 6 hours and 36 minutes on the Laptop computer Magazine battery take a look at, which is over an hour shorter than the workstation common (7:45). If you would like extra battery life, nothing beats the MacBook Professional 16 (18:56), however the Precision did final a formidable 11 hours and 39 minutes.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 webcam
With a 1080p webcam, you’ll be wonderful for enterprise conferences, however if you wish to look your finest, you want one of the best, finest webcams that’s.
The picture precisely captured the inexperienced tropical flowers in my shirt, however it blew out the window behind me. It made my eyebrows and hair look all patchy too, with its pixelated decision. I’m a lot prettier than I look on this digicam.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 warmth
You have to be extra frightened about this killing somebody with its heft as a substitute of it torching your nethers as a result of it’s a stone-cold killer. After streaming a 15-minute video, the underside climbed as much as 93 levels Fahrenheit, which is under our 95-degree consolation threshold. The middle of the keyboard and touchpad hit 91 and 76 levels, respectively. In the meantime, the most well liked it received was solely 95 levels, situated on the rear-center of the underside, between the middle vents.
Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 software program and guarantee
Lenovo’s received you coated with its branded Vantage app. Inside this app, you may customise your pc’s settings, verify your guarantee, and replace your system. You possibly can even carry out {hardware} scans and configure your Wi-Fi safety. Fortunately, Lenovo ties up all of its stuff on this one app.
The ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 comes with a one-year restricted guarantee. See how Lenovo carried out on our Tech Assist Showdown and Greatest and Worst Manufacturers rating.
Backside line
In case you have the cash to blow, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is a strong all-around choose, particularly in case you’re caught at a desk a lot of the day. The show and keyboard make nice firm, and while you’re alone, you may rock out to bangin’ audio system. However what if you need longevity?
I like to recommend going for the Precision 5470; its battery life soars into the double digits. Nevertheless, it’s a smaller laptop computer and barely weaker.
Want energy? The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is your beast.
