Lenovo ThinkPad L14 review – even the Intel version brings performance to the table

Today, we have another business notebook in our office. It is the ThinkPad L14 – an industrial package that can be purchased either with AMD or Intel CPUs. Since we got only Intel versions in our region at the moment, we won’t be covering the AMD part of the story for now.

Naturally, this ThinkPad is pretty much like any other laptop from this family – it has the typical basic look, spill-resistant keyboard, optional fingerprint reader, and IR face recognition, and all the mandatory security features.

Ultimately, this is an entry-level business machine, that promises almost no sacrifice when it comes to performance and versatility. Now, let’s waste no more time and check if this bold statement is true.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-l14-gen-1-intel/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 1 (Intel) - Specs

  • LG LP140WFA-SPD4
  • Color accuracy  4.4  3.9
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 8000GB SSD + up to 1000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro
  • Battery
  • 45Wh, 3-cell, 45Wh
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensions
  • 331 x 235 x 19.1 mm (13.03" x 9.25" x 0.75")
  • Weight
  • 1.61 kg (3.5 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 1.4b
  • Card reader
  • MicroSD
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5 mm combo
  • Docking Connector
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • HD and IR
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Microphone
  • Speakers
  • 2x 2W, Dolby Audio
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

All Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 1 (Intel) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside thе box, we get a pretty lean package – only a 65W USB Type-C charger and some paper manuals, besides the laptop, itself.


Design and construction

Unsurprisingly, the ThinkPad L14 is made out of plastic with the exception of some models, only found in the Americas, where it will be sold with an aluminum lid cover. In our case (with an all-plastic design), the weight is 1.61 kg and the thickness of the profile is 20.4mm. On the other side, the laptop would be slightly heavier with an aluminum lid – 1.73 kg, but it will be a bit thinner – 19.1mm. In terms of rigidity, there is some flex to the chassis, as well as keyboard flex, but we didn’t find it to be an issue.

It’s good that you can open the lid with a single hand, but the twistiness of the panel results in huge color shifts on the display. And while the side bezels are thin, the top and bottom ones are extremely thick. We can definitely see a continuity from last year’s machine. But on the bright side, there is an HD camera with an IR face recognition system and a ThinkShutter for better privacy.

Then, we go to arguably the best feature of the ThinkPad series – their keyboard. It has long key travel, clicky but quiet feedback, a backlight, and of course – spill-resistant. We found this unit to be one of the best out there since it requires almost no time to get used to it.

One should not forget the Red Nipple in the middle, and the trio of buttons right above the touchpad. Speaking of which, the touchpad has a glass-imitating Mylar surface, which is pretty much average when it comes to gliding and tracking. And right next to the touchpad, we have the fingerprint reader.

This device’s speakers are placed on the bottom panel. Alongside them, there are the ventilation grills, and the hot air escapes from the right side of the laptop.

Ports

On the left side of the notebook, you will find one USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port and one USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, both of which can charge the device and be used as a DisplayPort output. The second one works in conjunction with another connector if you want to plug a dock into the device. Then, there is a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI 1.4b connector, a MicroSD card reader, an optional sim card slot, an RJ-45 connector, and an optional Smart card reader. With this amount of I/O on the left, you will only find a single USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port and an Audio jack on the right.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

This laptop’s bottom panel is fixed in place by 9 captive Phillips-head screws. Before you begin prying, however, you have to remove the SIM card tray with a sharp tool or a needle. Then, start prying from the front and gradually make your way to the back, before you lift the panel away.

In terms of cooling, this device relies on a single long heat pipe, and a medium-sized fan.

As for upgrades, there are two RAM SODIMM slots, which support up to 64GB of DDR4 memory in dual-channel mode. Our particular unit features a single M.2 PCIe x4 slot as well.

Battery-wise Lenovo provides a 45Wh unit.


Display quality

Lenovo ThinkPad L14 is equipped has a Full HD IPS screen, model number LG Display LP140WFА-SPD4. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.56 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 157 ppi, their pitch – 0.161 x 0.161 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 56 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

The maximum measured brightness is 309 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 290 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 13%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6830K (average) – slightly colder than the 6500K optimum for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 66% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.13 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is decent – 1090:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo ThinkPad L14’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers just 51% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Lenovo ThinkPad L14 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 24 ms


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Lenovo ThinkPad L14’s display doesn’t rely on PWM to adjust its brightness levels. This makes it comfortable for use during extended work periods, without presenting any harm to your eyes in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusions

Lenovo ThinkPad L14’s display has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, naturally comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Thankfully, its backlight doesn’t flicker at any brightness level, but on the downside, it covers only 51% of the sRGB gamut.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo ThinkPad L14 configurations with 14.0″ LG Display LP140WFА-SPD4 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS panel.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

Lenovo ThinkPad L14’s speakers are a bit quiet, but the sound quality is fine. However, its low, mid, and high tones have some deviations from clarity.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-l-series-laptops/thinkpad-l14-type-20u1-20u2/downloads/driver-list

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

This notebook comes in two iterations regarding the processors – some will come with Intel CPUs, while other – with AMD. Our unit is Intel-based, so you have a choice from Pentium Gold 6405U (2c/4t), Core i3-10110U (2c/4t), Core i5-10210U (4c/8t), Core i5-10310U (4c/8t), Core i7-10510U (4c/8t), and the Core i7-10610U (4c/8t).


GPU options

Whereas the graphics solutions are only the integrated UHD Graphics, or the rather unpretentious AMD Radeon 625.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS34 fps– fps– fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS58 fps29 fps– fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-10210U (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo ThinkPad L143.22 GHz (B+101%) @ 94°C2.95 GHz (B+84%) @ 97°C2.37 GHz (B+48%) @ 91°C
Lenovo ThinkPad X132.59 GHz (B+62%) @ 75°C1.84 GHz (B+15%) @ 74°C1.54 GHz @ 67°C
MSI Modern 142.33 GHz (B+46%) @ 61°C2.32 GHz (B+45%) @ 71°C2.07 GHz (B+29%) @ 80°C
HP Probook 440 G72.68 GHz (B+68%) @ 59°C2.68 GHz (B+68%) @ 67°C2.20 GHz (B+38%) @ 72°C
Lenovo ThinkBook 15-IML3.08 GHz (B+93%) @ 73°C3.00 GHz (B+88%) @ 82°C2.55 GHz (B+59%) @ 80°C
Lenovo ThinkPad L133.04 GHz (B+90%) @ 97°C2.10 GHz (B+31%) @ 97°C2.12 GHz (B+33%) @ 79°C
ASUS ZenBook Duo UX4813.26 GHz (B+104%) @ 94°C2.77 GHz (B+73%) @ 98°C2.06 GHz (B+29%) @ 71°C
Dell Vostro 55903.50 GHz (B+119%) @ 94°C2.68 GHz (B+68%) @ 97°C2.36 GHz (B+48%) @ 79°C

Despite being extremely warm throughout the entire test, ThinkPad L14 is actually posting very respectable numbers – both in this test and in benchmarks. Probably you would want to run the Intelligent cooling setup if you have long code compilations, that would take a couple of hours, nonetheless.

Comfort during full load

Interestingly, the hottest spot on the outside is right above the voltage regulators. Perhaps running a ULV CPU above its limits is quite taxing, isn’t it? Also, the fan is working pretty hard, but it cannot be considered as too loud at any stage.


Verdict

As it happens, Lenovo was right – this notebook provides no compromises when it comes to performance. And we are talking about the limited Intel version, which only comes with a maximum of 4 cores and 8 threads. Just imagine what you get if you opt for the AMD Ryzen 7 4750 PRO, which is double the cores and threads.

And while it clearly doesn’t have the battery life of the Dell Latitude 14 5410, we were still pretty happy with what we saw – a bit more than 9 hours and 45 minutes of Web browsing and pretty much the same amount of time during watching HD videos.

Lenovo ThinkPad L14’s display has an IPS panel (LG LP140WFА-SPD4) with a Full HD resolution, naturally comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Thankfully, its backlight doesn’t flicker at any brightness level, but on the downside, it covers only 51% of the sRGB gamut.

Also, when it comes to the upgrades, it offers up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, which is insane for this type of device. And when we add the authentication features such as the IR face recognition camera and the fingerprint reader, we get a very respectable “budget” business machine.

Nevertheless, some corners were cut, like the entirely plastic body with extremely thick top and bottom bezels, but honestly, this is something easy to swallow, when you have optional LTE support and extremely wide I/O connectivity.

Pros

  • Great performance from the ULV chips
  • The display doesn’t use PWM to adjust its brightness levels (LG LP140WFА-SPD4)
  • Pleasant spill-resistant keyboard with long travel, clicky feedback, and a backlight
  • Great I/O selection with LTE support
  • Charges with USB Type-C
  • Optional IR face recognition system and a fingerprint reader


Cons

  • All-plastic build
  • Its display covers only 51% of sRGB (LG LP140WFА-SPD4)

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-l14-gen-1-intel/

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Raghav
Raghav
3 years ago

If we purchase a HD display can it be upgraded later on