How to open Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3 – disassembly and upgrade options

LaptopMedia.com Guides How to open Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3 - disassembly and upgrade options

From: Dimitar Stalev 28 October 2024 / 12:42 0

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Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
VideoCard: Intel Graphics (4-Cores)
RAM: 16GB RAM
STORAGE: 512GB SSD

Detailed review

$1699^.00 $829^.00

Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 155U
VideoCard: Intel Graphics (4-Cores)
RAM: 16GB RAM
STORAGE: 512GB SSD

Detailed review

$1779^.00 $1086^.66

Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
VideoCard: Intel Graphics (4-Cores)
RAM: 16GB RAM
STORAGE: 512GB SSD

Detailed review

$1299^.95

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Opening the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3

Undo the seven captive Phillips-head screws.
Use a lever tool to pop the two zones behind the hinges.
Pry the rear and sides of the laptop. It’s not necessary to pop the front.
Tilt the panel and lift it away from the chassis.

Note: The bottom panel houses dust filters for the ventilation grills.

Battery Removal

Our device has the base 52.5Wh battery, but you can opt for an 86Wh variant for extended battery life.
To remove the battery, disconnect the built-in connector and undo the two captive screws holding the battery in place.

Note: The 52.5Wh battery offers around 12 hours of video playback.

Memory and Storage

The RAM section is covered by a metal cap, which can be removed by pulling the fabric handle upwards.
The two SODIMMs support up to 64GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM in dual-channel mode, but the CPU can handle up to 96GB.
For storage, there is just one M.2 slot compatible with 2280 Gen 4 SSDs, which is additionally cooled by a thermal pad beneath the NVMe drive.

Additional Features

The WWAN slot for optional 4G or 5G connectivity is located beneath the fan.
The soldered Wi-Fi card is positioned near the cooling heat spreader.

Cooling System

The thermal system includes one fan, a heat pipe, a heat sink, and a heat spreader.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3 in-depth review

The Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 3 is a refreshed version of last year's Gen 2 machine. The new one is offered with 15W (for better battery life) or 28W Meteor Lake CPUs (for bumped performance). Also, these chips have NPU units for AI-assisted productivity (unlike the Raptor Lake-based previous-gen model).This time around, you can also pick a device with Wi-Fi 7 but this will cost you an extra amount of money. Speaking of which, there are a whole bunch of optional goodies. The list is long and it includes an IR Web camera, the keyboard's backlight, an NFC module, a fingerprint reader, a bigger[...]

Read the full review

Pros

Good build quality
Feels fast for normal work
The fan is near quiet during max CPU stress in "Best Performance" mode
PWM-free panel (LEN41B7)
Comfortable viewing angles (LEN41B7)
435 nits of max brightness + 1840:1 contrast ratio (LEN41B7)
98% sRGB coverage + good color accuracy when our "Design and Gaming" profile is applied (LEN41B7)
5MP Web camera with a privacy shutter
Modern port selection with two Type-C ports
Comfortable keyboard and touchpad
2x SODIMMs
vPro CPU, IR Web camera, fingerprint reader, Nano-SIM card slot, Smart card reader, Wi-Fi 7, NFC (all are optional)
High CPU clocks in short and medium loads but...