Many of the business devices aren't cheap but you can still find and buy good laptops in this category without breaking the bank. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) is definitely such a machine - it's not sky-high priced but at the same time it offers a good amount of performance and features. Three display options are available - two 1200p panels (one is a touchscreen model) and a 2.2K variant for those who prefer a crisper image. In terms of performance, you have a choice of three efficient 15W AMD Ryzen 7000 U-series chips (Barcelo-U Refresh). This generation of processors is still quite snappy for casual daily usage or for office tasks. The same applies to the iGPUs - if the memory works in dual-channel mode, the integrated video cards of these CPUs are powerful enough for playing light games with decent FPS. Luckily, the upgrade options are great, especially for a compact device, and the I/O has a good amount of ports including an SD card reader. For security, you can rely on a Web camera with a privacy shutter, fingerprint reader, fTPM 2.0 module, Kensington Nano Security Slot, and a self-healing BIOS. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-14-gen-6-amd/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkbook-series/thinkbook-14-g6-abp/downloads What's in the box? Inside the package, you'll find the mandatory paperwork and a 65W USB Type-C charger. Design and construction The design is executed in the typical Lenovo dual-tone Arctic grey color. The laptop looks fresh and stylish. It's also MIL-STD 810H certified so it passed successfully the torture of numerous military-grade durability tests. The build is aluminum and the dimensions look good even for a 14-incher - 16.9 mm profile thickness and 1.38 kg of weight. The lid is a bit flexible but it's not too bad. It can't be opened with a single hand but there is a protrusion on top of it that will ease the process. We spot some bends on the base as well - in the upper zones of the two palm rest areas and in the area between the touchpad and the Space key. The bezels around the panel are thin which is nice to see in this price class. The "hump" houses a Web camera with a privacy shutter that has a dual-microphone array with smart noise-cancelling. The default camera model has a 720p resolution, you can also get the optional 1080p or 1080p IR version. The notebook can lay flat on your desk thanks to the 180-degree hinge mechanism. The lid lacks the modern lever function but it's not a needed feature here since the cooling is good. The Power button that has a built-in fingerprint reader is placed on the top right part of the chassis above the keyboard. The latter is spill-resistant but the backlight is optional. The board is pretty comfortable for work thanks to the big keycaps with a long travel and clicky feedback. The touchpad is surprisingly large (75 x 120 mm) considering the form factor of the machine. Its Mylar surface is smooth and this leads to effortless gliding and good accuracy. On the bottom panel, we can see three rubber feet, a big ventilation grill, two speaker cutouts, and a Novo button hole. The hot air is pushed through a vent on the back so part of the heat during heavy CPU stress reaches the display. Ports On the left, we can see a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with an Always On function, an HDMI 2.1 for up to 4K 60Hz external displays, another USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, and an Audio combo jack. Both Type C connectors support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0, and DisplayPort 1.4 extras. On the right, there is a Kensington Nano Security Slot, LAN, one more USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an SD card reader. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) is equipped with a WUXGA IPS panel, model number LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125). It comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 14.0" (35.6 cm), and the resolution - 1920 x 1200p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 162 ppi, and their pitch – 0.16 x 0.16 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 53 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 331 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 317 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6590K (average). 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 72% Brightness (White level = 142 cd/m2, Black level = 0.1 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 good – 1480:1. 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 on 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 ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 's color gamut coverage. Its display covers 53% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 and 42% of DCI-P3. 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 the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 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 = 21.9 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: 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 ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 's display doesn't flicker at any brightness level. This makes the screen pretty comfortable for long periods of use. Health Impact: 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. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 61.2 GU). Sound Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 's Dolby Audio speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) configurations with 14" LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125) (1920 x 1200) IPS. *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 bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Extreme Performance” mode activated (also, the "Best performance" preset is applied in the Windows "Power & Battery" menu). CPU options You can find this device with one of these three CPUs - AMD Ryzen 3 7330U, Ryzen 5 7530U, or Ryzen 7 7730U. GPU options You can rely on the iGPU that is fitted inside of the CPU. Gaming tests CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 165 fps 104 fps 74 fps DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 135 fps 86 fps 48 fps The 15W version of the Zen 3-based AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 is still a capable solution - 74FPS in CS:GO on MAX details sounds great for an iGPU. You can assign up to 4GB of RAM to the integrated graphics (just like we did) and this can be handy if you plan to use the machine for light gaming after work. [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life 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. AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (15W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 3.13 GHz @ 79°C @ 45W 3.03 GHz @ 96°C @ 43W 2.89 GHz @ 91°C @ 38W Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 (AMD) 2.71 GHz @ 47°C @ 30W 2.71 GHz @ 58°C @ 30W 2.75 GHz @ 78°C @ 30W Dell Vostro 15 3535 2.70 GHz @ 71°C @ 29W 2.47 GHz @ 75°C @ 25W 2.39 GHz @ 84°C @ 23W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) 2.75 GHz @ 80°C @ 29W 2.56 GHz @ 87°C @ 25W 2.37 GHz @ 85°C @ 20W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8) 2.56 GHz @ 56°C @ 28W 2.55 GHz @ 63°C @ 27W 2.49 GHz @ 67°C @ 24W Acer Aspire 5 (A515-48M) 3.17 GHz @ 63°C @ 44W 2.97 GHz @ 71°C @ 37W 3.02 GHz @ 82°C @ 37W Interestingly, the 14-inch Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) is just a bit behind the 15-inch Acer Aspire 5 (A515-48M) when it comes to clocks under load. That's a very good result for such a compact device. Still, the temperatures are high but that's expected given the small and thin chassis. Comfort during full load On the other hand, the cooling fan isn't noisy. During heavy processor loads, the left side of the keyboard is warm, but not too hot and you can use the device comfortably for work. The Lenovo Vantage app offers three performance presets. 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. The 45Wh battery has enough juice for 11 hours and 7 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 42 minutes of video playback. To achieve this, you have to use the "Intelligent Cooling" preset. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To gain access to the internals, you have to undo 9 Phillips-head screws. After that, you can pop the bottom plate with a plastic tool starting from the back. Here's how the bottom panel looks on the inside. The battery here is the default 45Wh variant. There is an optional 60Wh model. If you want to remove the battery, pull out the connector from the mainboard and undo the five Phillips-head screws, that are keeping the unit fixed to the chassis. You also have to carefully untangle the speaker cables from the battery housing. The base capacity is enough for 11 hours and 7 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 42 minutes of video playback. That's a respectable result! The two SODIMMs can handle up to 64GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM in dual-channel mode. Storage-wise, there are two M.2 slots that are compatible with 2280 Gen 4 SSDs but the actual speed will be limited to the Gen 3 standard due to AMD platform limitations. There is a small cooling pad below the preinstalled NVMe. The cooling system seems good enough for a laptop with an integrated video card. It has a single fan, two long heat pipes, a top-mounted heat sink, and a heat spreader. Storage performance Our notebook has a 1TB SKHynix HFS001TEJ4X112N Gen 4 SSD. Below you can see some benchmarks of this NVMe. It reached 57°C during testing which is okay. Verdict The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) is a good business device that doesn't cost a whole fortune but it has a lot of extras that aren't optional. Like the privacy shutter for the Web camera, the fingerprint reader, and an SD card reader. This reminds us that the I/O section is good, especially for a thin and light 14-inch device and it includes four USB ports and even a LAN connector. The aluminum build feels premium to the touch thanks to the anodizing finish. However, the average rigidity of the chassis spoils the fun. On top of that, you can't open the lid with a single hand. The spill-resistant keyboard is comfortable for usage but sadly, the backlight is optional. The touchpad is big and smooth - nice! We are quite impressed by the performance of this small machine. Because of the capable cooling solution, the Ryzen 7 7730U can maintain high CPU clocks no matter the load while the single fan isn't intrusively noisy. The downside here is the high processor temperature in medium and prolonged periods of stress. The iGPU is still a beast and it can show more than 70FPS in CS:GO on Max details. That's possible because of laptop is configured with dual-channel memory. Speaking of which, the upgrade options are spot on - two SODIMMs for up to 64GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM and two M.2 slots that are compatible with Gen 4 SSDs. Unfortunately, the slots are limited to Gen 3 speeds because of the AMD platform limitations. On the bright side, we have a small and thin notebook with good upgradability which is a rare find these days. We decided to buy a laptop with the base display model that seems suitable for normal office usage. The 16:10 IPS panel (LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125)) offers wide viewing angles, a good contrast ratio, and most importantly - it's PWM-free. The color coverage and accuracy are nothing to write home about but that's okay for a not-so-expensive office notebook. Last but not least, the battery life is long even with the base 45W unit - more than 11 hours of Web browsing on a single charge sounds nice for such a modest capacity. In short, the AMD version of the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 is a snappy business device that has an IPS display that lacks PWM usage, good battery life, great upgradability, good I/O, and a nice amount of security features. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-14-gen-6-amd/