Thin and powerful laptops are always a treat, combining portability with enough performance so that you can take your work on-the-go. One such device is the Lenovo ThinkBook 15p and while it isn’t the most portable one out there, it certainly is a great combination of weight and performance.
Packing monstrous Core i7 processors and Max-Q graphics from NVIDIA, which should handle both everyday tasks and more serious heavy workloads without a problem. The optional 4K display makes it a content creator’s best friend, being able to edit high-quality videos from everywhere you please.
Today we are presenting you with LaptopMedia’s top 5 picks about the Lenovo ThinkBook 15p.
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p: Full Specs / In-depth Review
4 reasons to BUY the Lenovo ThinkBook 15p
1. The Design and build quality
The notebook has aluminum for the whole body, although the base feels like it’s made out of plastic, but only when you look at it, as it is very strong and has enough rigidity. The lid though bends like crazy and we witnessed color shifting on the display, while were twisting it. Design-wise, we are big fans of how this laptop looks. The dual-tone grey finish makes for a spectacular look, and the chamfered edges give off premium vibes.
For its dimensions and weight, the laptop measured at 1.90 kg and has a profile of 19.9 mm, which is great, considering the power that it brings to the table. The lid is able to be opened with a single hand and the hinges are silky smooth, with just the right amount of resistance. The base of the keyboard looks amazing as well, with the circular power button in the corner, which lights up and acts as a fingerprint reader, making for a pretty futuristic-looking device.
2. The Upgradeability
One more thing that the laptop does a great job at, is its upgradability, offering the option to expand both the RAM and SSD storage. It does so through two SODIMM slots, that support up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, running in dual-channel mode, and two M.2 PCIe x4 slots. The way you access these is by removing the 10 Phillips-head screws that are on the bottom panel and popping it with a pry tool.
If it is your first time disassembling a laptop, feel free to watch our detailed teardown video, which shows a step-by-step way of safely getting access to both the SODIMM slots and the M.2 drives.
3. The Performance
Being a portable workstation, you know that it comes packed with some pretty powerful hardware. CPU-wise you can get up to the Intel Core i7-10870H, which is an 8-core monster, and for the graphics card, you get to choose between the GTX 1650 Max-Q and 1650 Ti Max-Q, both of which are equipped with 4GB of GDDR6 memory. Below you can see some benchmark results of the model with the i7-10750H and the GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q.
| Far Cry 5 | Full HD, Normal (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average fps | 69 fps | 64 fps | 60 fps |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | Full HD, Lowest (Check settings) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average fps | 102 fps | 81 fps | 41 fps |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | Full HD, Lowest (Check settings) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average fps | 87 fps | 58 fps | 53 fps |
| Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average fps | 63 fps | 58 fps | 50 fps |
4. The Features
Although it has the power, the laptop is mainly marketed as a business device, meaning that it has all the fancy security features that come with it. Most of them are the software for PC optimization from Lenovo, but there is also the fingerprint reader and the privacy shutter, which covers the HD webcam. In terms of I/O on the left, you get the power plug, an RJ-45 port, an HDMI 2.0 connector, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1), which doesn’t have Thunderbolt support, only data transfer, and an audio jack. On the right, there is one more USB Type-A 3.2 port (Gen. 1) and an SD card reader.
1 reason NOT to buy the Lenovo ThinkBook 15p
1. The Battery life
Battery life here was less than we expected, but considering our model had the 4K panel, which draws more power from the 57Wh battery. In our tests, the laptop lasted for 8 hours and 37 minutes of web browsing and 6 hours and 13 minutes of video playback. Thankfully, the battery can be charged from 0% to 80% for just an hour, which should improve the user experience.
