Lenovo ThinkPad P53 in Review: Classic workstation with a lot of GPU performance

Chassis updates to professional models usually follow a two-year cycle. As for the Lenovo ThinkPad P-5x series, this is not the case and even last year's P52 was more of a facelift than a comprehensive update. The ThinkPad P53 follows the same trend, at least externally. Aside from the differences in terms of the ports, the visuals of the P53 including the black plastic surfaces remain unchanged. By contrast, a lot has changed on the inside.

Thankfully, this does not negatively impact the rigidity or build quality and the ThinkPad is still an extremely rigid device without any flaws in terms of construction. The base unit cannot be twisted, it does not noticeably yield and there is no annoying creaking either. While both of the hinges are very rigid and able to prevent teetering reliably, they are unable to support the lid at small angles, where it instead snaps shut. Speaking of the lid, the P53's cover does not appear to be aware of the slim-bezel trend. While the lid itself is not quite as rigid as the base unit, there are no problems in terms of stability here, either. Our impression of the chassis is good overall, although competing HP and particularly Dell alternatives (with large amounts of metal and rubberized surfaces) achieve even more high-quality looks.

The dimensions remain unchanged compared to the predecessor and there are only minor differences in terms of weight (this may vary, depending on the configuration). The display choice continues to be an important aspect, since versions with a matte display weigh around 400 grams (~14 oz) less than models with reflective panels. However, the latter only applies to the 4K OLED display variant of the ThinkPad P53.

There are a few differences in terms of port selection and layout compared to the older ThinkPad P52. There is an HDMI 2.0 output on the left (that used to be on the back), two traditional USB type-A ports and two card readers. The nano-SIM card slot can now be found on the left side to be more accessible than on the inside of the battery compartment, where it used to be located. Additionally, there is a USB type-C port (Gen 1). Both of the Thunderbolt 3 ports can still be found on the back of the device. The port layout is decent overall, although the lack of a USB type-A port on the right may negatively affect the user experience in some cases. At least there is now more space between the ports, which is convenient for larger connectors.

Lenovo offers a wide variety of components in its ThinkPad P53 series, meaning that the performance and emissions can vary widely, depending on the selected configuration. On the latest models, Lenovo's "intelligent cooling" is no longer controlled with the Vantage app, but through the standard Windows power profile (selectable from the battery symbol in the task bar).

Lenovo gives users the choice between various 45-watt processors, which include a Core i5-9400H with 4 cores, different i7 models (with 6 or 8 cores) and a mobile Xeon processor (6 cores) that supports ECC-RAM. Our test device uses a Core i7-9850H, which is a powerful 6-core CPU with a base clock of 2.6 GHz and a 4.6 GHz Turbo Boost frequency. See our dedicated page on the CPU for more technical information.

The performance gap compared to a mobile processor from the last generation is quite small overall, since not a lot has changed in the cooling department. Thick workstations such as the P53 tend to have an advantage over their slimmer counterparts, which for example, includes the ThinkPad P1, in this regard and particularly when it comes to prolonged stress.

Our Cinebench (R15 multi) loop, which shows the slim ThinkPad P1 that is equipped with the same processor to be around 14% slower than our test device, illustrates this quite clearly. Although the Core i7-9850H in our ThinkPad P53 achieves a very good result initially, scoring 1,230 points in the first loop, its score subsequently drops and stabilizes at around 1,100 points. While this result puts it ahead of the older ThinkPad P52, the Precision 7530 is still marginally faster.

With 90 watts (temporary) and 60 watts (continuous), Lenovo has set two very generous CPU power limits. When the device has completely cooled off, we actually see a consumption of up to 89 watts at 6x 3.7-4.1 GHz, even though it only lasts for a few seconds. Subsequently, this value drops to around 54 watts and 6x 3.3-3.4 GHz. The average values during the Cinebench loop are as follows: 53 watts consumption, 95.3 °C (~204 °F) CPU temperature, 3.4 GHz clock speed. Here, the CPU does not reach its true potential, since the cooling solution remains fairly passive during raw CPU stress (only really audible after about 7 minutes).

As these observations show, the i7-9850H does not have a clear advantage over the more common i7-9750H, since the performance will be essentially identical in practice. The optional Core i9-9880H is a good choice for workloads that can take advantage of all 16 threads, although users will not be able to fully exhaust its capabilities either. Due to the aforementioned CPU option, the Xeon E-2276M (6 cores) is no longer the fastest processor on paper (only during single-core use) and only worth it if you are planning to use ECC-RAM.

While the CPU behavior is practically identical in battery mode, there are occasional, short-lived performance dips, which also affect the end results. In CB R15 single, the final score drops from 196 to 183 points and in Cinebench's multi test, our test device scores only 969 instead of 1,230 points.

As expected, our ThinkPad P53 performs very well in the synthetic benchmark PCMark 10 and in our SSD tests. The installed Samsung M.2 PCIe SSD P981a offers 1 TB storage space (903 GB available to users after booting up the laptop for the first time) and some of the fastest read and write speeds on the market.

In practice, the mobile workstation allows for smooth system operation with fast response times and no noticeable delays. We also did not encounter any issues during our tests (such as freezing or bluescreens).

The Quadro RTX 5000 handles games very well. During our gaming benchmarks, we only encountered an issue with "Anno 1800's" 4K preset, which caused the game to crash repeatedly. Nvidia's Quadro driver worked well otherwise, however. For the native display resolution, the RTX 5000 is almost unnecessarily powerful and even the latest games run smoothly at maximum detail settings. As our long-term "The Witcher 3" test shows, the performance remains consistent while gaming.

We noticed that the latest Lenovo workstations are equipped with fairly lethargic fan controls that usually take a while to increase the fan speeds under load. The current P53 also follows this trend and, despite its powerful Quadro RTX 5000, only really becomes audible after a few minutes. The laptop is almost always silent under low loads.

Both during gaming and our stress test, we recorded a maximum noise level of only 38.3 dB(A). While this is a good result, it also shows that there is still potential for a better CPU usage and higher performance. Selecting a different power profile (from the Windows settings) reduces the noise level even further to be as low as 38.3 dB(A) (best performance), 33.3 dB(A) (better performance) and 32.2 dB(A) (longer battery life) during our stress test, respectively.

Our stress test shows that Lenovo prioritizes GPU performance, since the Quadro RTX 5000's clock speed stays within reach of the normal boost frequency (~1,350-1,440 MHz). While this is obviously a good result for such a powerful GPU inside of a 15-inch workstation, it comes at the cost of CPU power. The latter has to contend with a power budget of 30 watts after just a few minutes, which allows it to run at only 6x 2.1 GHz. Here, we would have liked to see a more balanced power distribution with a minimum continuous consumption of 45 watts.

When choosing a lower-end graphics card, the cooling solution should be able to devote more cooling power to the processor, although we cannot confirm this to be the case at this point.

Not a lot has changed in terms of the speakers. The two stereo modules with 2 watts each are still neither very loud nor very good. While the sound quality is sufficient for speech, we recommend using headphones or external speakers for music and videos. Although the Lenovo's X1 Extreme shows that the manufacturer knows how to implement high-quality speakers, this feature does not appear to be a priority for workstation users.