Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review 2024: great battery life

Lenovo’s ThinkPad P15 did well in our reviews of mobile workstations, but if you haven’t heard, computers with a screen size of 15.6 inches are so 2000s. The new ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 (starting at $1,639 and tested at an eye-popping $6,521.99) follows the trend toward a slightly bigger 16-inch screen with a taller 16:10 aspect ratio.

This makes room for the latest CPU and GPU chips as well as top-notch expandability and connectivity. This laptop is heavy and very expensive, but I can’t think of a more powerful professional laptop for 3D design, CGI modeling, data analysis, machine learning, or editing 4K videos. The powerful P16 just beats out the MSI CreatorPro X17 to become our new’ Choice for laptop workstations, even though the MSI is a better deal at $1,600 less.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 specifications

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review: Design

The ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 breaks with custom by having a Storm Gray body instead of the usual black. As you would expect from a machine at this level, it is well made and mostly made of metal. It has a magnesium support structure put in to make it even stronger. Lenovo checks this model for shock, vibration, humidity, dust, altitude, and high temperatures using the MIL-STD 810G military standard. With a starting weight of 6.5 pounds, this ThinkPad is not light. Its extra-strong frame and powerful cooling system make it heavier than the average laptop, which is to be expected. You can buy this laptop from its official website

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1: Display

As Grant O’Brien asked quick questions of the contestants on The Bachelor, his flowery shirt stood out on the screen. As Phoenix walked out of the dark and onto the stage, the panel was bright enough to show her blonde highlights right away. With 2400p clarity, each hair in Sam Reich’s beard stood out against the colorful background.

Our colorimeter showed that the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 covered 83.1% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. This is more than the average desktop, which covers only 80.5% of the color gamut. The average score for the MacBook Pro 16 was 83.7%, while the Precision 5470 got a very impressive 92.7%.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review: Keyboard and Touchpad

The number pad on the right side of the keyboard made it a little tight for me, but it’s a good thing for productivity, especially for people who work in data entry. The up and down arrow keys, as well as the home and stop keys, are a nice touch. There’s the well-known Lenovo TrackPoint navigator, which we don’t use often, but it works as expected and makes it easy to make small, quick moves, especially when editing photos.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review: Battery and Performance

We test the battery life of laptops by playing a locally stored 720p video file with the monitor brightness at 50% and the audio volume at 100%. Before the test, we make sure the battery is fully charged and turn off Wi-Fi and computer backlighting. We also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and software to test a laptop screen’s color saturation and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).

The ThinkPad P16 got a huge score of 15,353 on the Geekbench 5.4 total performance test. This is twice as good as the average workstation’s score of 7,111. The M2 Max in the MacBook Pro 16 (15,044), the Core i9-12900H in the Precision (11,040), and the Core i9-13900H in the Zephyrus (13,817) could not keep up.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1: Heat

You should be more worried about this killing someone with its weight than about it setting fire to your nethers, because it is a cold-blooded killer. After streaming a 15-minute movie, the bottom got up to 93 degrees Fahrenheit, which is below our comfort level of 95 degrees. The middle of the keyboard and the touchpad are both at 91 degrees. On the other hand, the back center of the bottom, between the center vents, was the only place that got above 95 degrees.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review: Price and Availability

The starting price is more like $1,600. Costs are high for tech that does a lot of damage. Outside of being a semi-permanent workstation for those specific pros, we think this slugger loses a lot of its shine, especially when you consider how long Windows computers tend to last and that Lenovo’s warranty for this laptop only covers three years.

Final Words

If you are going to spend a significant amount of money on a laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is an excellent choice, particularly if you spend the majority of your day sitting at a desk. The monitor and the keyboard are both wonderful companions, but if you’re ever by yourself, you can always rock out to some banging speakers.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review: the good and the bad

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