Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G5 laptop review: Affordable AMD ThinkPad now much more modern

The Lenovo ThinkPad L series has lived in the shadow of the more expensive ThinkPad T series since it was introduced in 2010 - unfairly so. The more affordable enterprise series sells well to large enterprise and serves as the work laptop for many people. And even when some aspects of the device are of lesser quality, the L series has gained many features that used to be exclusive to the more expensive ThinkPads. In this review, we are looking at the newest variant, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5. According to the placement in the Lenovo lineup, it is the cheaper alternative to the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5. Like the T14, the L14 is available both with Intel and AMD CPUs - we are testing the AMD Ryzen variant.

Note: We have recently updated our rating system and the results of version 8 are not comparable with the results of version 7. More information is available here .

Plastic does not have the best reputation these days - bad for the environment, cheap quality, this is what many think about the material. If used in the right way, however, plastic is not that bad, as it is lightweight and still rather robust. The Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 gives off a good first impression. Despite the L series skipping the magnesium structure frame of the T series, the base unit provides a similar stiffness to the T14. Palmrest and keyboard are likewise solid, the workmanship is good. Both the base and screen are not very bendable. In this way, the L14 Gen 5 is an improvement over the predecessor L14 Gen 4. Pressure against the back of the screen affects the panel pretty quickly, so this is rather a weak spot. Both the screen cover and palmrest are coated with a smooth pain, while the bottom is simply rough plastic. This does not feel very nice to the touch, betraying the budget rating of this model.

Many of the design changes that Lenovo introduced with the T14 G5 also apply to the ThinkPad L14 Gen 5. The ThinkPad logos are colored black, same goes for the hinges. Compared with the ThinkPad T series, it is noticeable that the "camera bump" here is much less pronounced. If one does not like this design attribute, the L14 G5 might be a good alternative. Overall, the L14 Gen 5 looks like a typical ThinkPad of the newer generation, with a boxy design that has some subtle curvature to the screen cover and tapered of sides.

The two small drop down hinges enable an opening angle of 180 degrees. It is not possible to open the screen with one hand, the hinges are too tight for that. The advantage: We did not detect much screen wobble.

With 1.56 kg, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 is roughly 100 g heavier than the expensive ThinkPad T14 Gen 5. The L ThinkPad is also one mm heavier than the T model.

The AMD models of the L series were one of the few ThinkPads that still lacked Thunderbolt or USB4. With the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD, this sorry state of things finally changes. With the upgrade to Zen3+, USB4 appears. One of the two USB-C ports supports it. Compared with the ThinkPad L14 Gen 4, the L14 Gen 5 also gains another USB-A port. It is the first 14-inch ThinkPad since many years with three USB-A ports. On the flip side, the microSD card reader of the preceding generation goes away. RJ45 Ethernet on the other hand is still present.

Equipped with a Wi-Fi 6E card by Qualcomm, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD achieves high and stable transfer rates, both when sending and receiving data.

Apart from Wi-Fi and RJ45 Ethernet, the ThinkPad L14 G5 AMD also optionally offers WWAN - CAT6 or CAT16 4G/LTE. Our model is WWAN upgradeable. However, only WWAN modules specifically made for this laptop with a Lenovo FRU will work, as ThinkPads have a WWAN whitelist.

The preceding model had a 1080p webcam. The ThinkPad L14 G5 AMD, the first L model with the camera bump, has a five megapixel webcam - there still is a 720p webcam option for stingy enterprise customers. Our variant with the better resolution produces a clear image in well-lit environments. It certainly suffices for video conferencing, but not for anything more.

The list and amount of security features reveal that the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD is a true business laptop. A smart card reader, fingerprint sensor, infrared camera and a Kensington lock slot as well as a Privacy shutter are the security features on the outside. On the inside, we find a dedicated TPM 2.0 security chip. The Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD also has a bottom tamper detection, which ensures that the bottom cover can not be removed - or rather, it requires users to input the supervisor password after the bottom cover has been removed.

Only the 65 W USB-C charger as well as some pieces of paper accompany the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD in the delivery box.

Even the first generation of the ThinkPad L series introduced in 2010 with models like the ThinkPad L512 was marketed as the "green ThinkPad". Aside from the good repairability, part of that heritage entails a chassis that makes use of recycled materials and also a compostable packaging. The CO₂ production value sits at 145 kg CO₂ equivalent. As usual for ThinkPads, Lenovo makes comprehensive video- and text-based guides for disassembly available. Part- and software-update support is sustained by Lenovo for many years.

The included warranty package differentiates the L and T ThinkPads quite drastically: While the affordable L series only provides one year warranty standard, the T series comes with three. Of course, the warranty of the ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD can be prolonged - for a price. Optionally, on-site service is available as well, since this is a business model. Ex factory, only bring in warranty is included, which applies world-wide.

After three years of stagnation, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD finally brings new CPUs to the AMD L series. Available are three chips (AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 7335U, Ryzen 5 Pro 7535U, Ryzen 7 Pro 7735U) of the series AMD Ryzen 7035U that are based on Ryzen 6000 - L14 Gen 2, L14 Gen 3 and L14 Gen 4 all used CPUs that were based on Ryzen 5000. With the update from Zen3 to Zen3+, we also get the upgrade from Vega to RNDA2. Buyers have the choice between the Radeon 660M or the Radeon 680M, depending on the CPU chosen.

Instead of 64 GB DDR4-3200 like with the predecessor, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD can take in 64 GB DDR5-4800 in its two SO-DIMM slots. With the SSD, Lenovo finally moves from PCIe 3.0 to PCIe 4.0. Also, the format changes from M.2 2242 to M.2 2280. The maximum capacity ex factory is two terabyte.

Lenovo offers three different energy profiles via the native Windows settings. All of them influence the power consumption of the processor under sustained load (power limit 1/PL1) and short term load (power limit 2/PL2):

• Best battery life: PL1 10 W / PL2 10 W
• Balanced: PL1 14 W / PL2 18 W
• Best performance: PL1 22 W / PL2 40 W

The AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 7535U is a processor with six Zen3+ cores. It belongs to the "Rembrandt refresh" series that is based on Ryzen 6000, which was first released in 2022. As a U CPU, it is optimized for a power consumption between 15 and 30 W. The six cores have clock rates between 2.9 GHz and 4.55 GHz. Comparisons with other processors are possible with our CPU comparison list.

Despite the newer architecture, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD is actually slightly slower in our benchmark tests compared with the predecessor. The problem here are the lower power limits compared with the older ThinkPad, which was able to consume up to 25 W under sustained load, while the L14 G5 gets limited to 22 W. Overall, the CPU performance is sufficient for office tasks, but still a bit disappointing. The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 with Core Ultra CPU is faster than the L14 Gen 5 AMD, despite the T14 G5 not having that great of a CPU performance either.

There was no throttling when running the device on battery power.

Like for the CPU performance, the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 AMD pretty much equals the older L14 G4 in terms of the system performance. Translated to the everyday performance, we can say that there is no progress, but the predecessor also was fast enough already - so there was no real need for any progress here.