Lenovo ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 AMD laptop review: Powerful hardware in a modest guise

Please 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.

The business laptop feels robust, however, as it doesn't feature any aluminum or even magnesium, it misses out on making a high-quality impression. Still, fingerprint marks at least aren't that visible on the slightly roughened surface of the display lid. 

Unfortunately, its stability suffers. The display lid, bottom plate and keyboard frame all yield, even if only a small amount. We also managed to twist the base unit and the display slightly.

Conversely, the display's hinges are good. They stay tight at every angle, but they also prevent users from being able to open the lid with one hand. The laptop's maximum opening angle is 180 degrees.

The absence of the contrasting "ThinkPad" lettering catches the eye immediately. Instead, there is an indentation in the same shape that will likely attract dirt over time.

Of course, not using particularly lightweight and strong materials from carbon fiber to magnesium can of course save some money, but the laptop's size and weight don't exactly benefit as a result. Even for its rather large 16-inch format, 1.9 kg is a lot and at 25 mm, the L16 is thicker than most of its competitors. Typically, only laptops with a dedicated GPU are thicker.

The laptop's connectivity options are particularly extensive. A whopping five USB ports—three of which are USB-A—mean you can connect a variety of external devices without having to rely on a docking station. The fast USB4 port is situated at the front on the left-hand side of the device, which may result in users intuitively plugging the charger into the second and slower USB-C port that also supports a charging function.

In addition, it features a gigabit LAN port, headset input and HDMI connection as well as a slot for a SmartCard. There is also a slot for a SIM card on the back. Antennas for mobile broadband reception are built into the laptop, but a corresponding M.2 card would need to be retrofitted in the free slot inside in order to make use of this. There is no SD card slot.

All the expected security functions are on board. You can either use facial recognition or your fingerprint to log in biometrically. SmartCards are supported and the laptop can be adequately secured with its Kensington lock.

In fleet use, the remote maintenance options and the extended security functions of the "Pro" processors could also come into play. Only the two smaller variants from Intel don't offer these additional functions.

The laptop comes with a simple power supply that includes a USB-C connection and has a maximum power of 65 watts. No additional accessories are included.

Lenovo estimates CO₂ emissions of 161 kg for the production of the ThinkPad L16 Gen1. Over its entire life cycle, it should add up to 208 kg. This figure is 10 % lower than that of the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 AMD G1, for example.

The L16 also scores points for sustainability thanks to its completely plastic-free packaging, which is made from recycled paper instead. The speaker and battery case, power supply unit, illuminated keycaps and the keyboard frame are largely made of recycled plastic.

The laptop's basic warranty period is 1 year from delivery or collection by the customer. For an additional charge, the duration can be extended to a maximum of 5 years and you can also sign up for an on-site repair service after purchasing.

Customers have the option to choose between an Intel and AMD processor. They are always the more portability-oriented "U" versions that offer either a lower base clock or, in the case of Intel, a smaller iGPU and less L3 cache than the larger "HS" or "H" versions.

You'll generally always get enough computing power, whereby you will have to make a few compromises when it comes to the smaller AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 7335U. On the AMD side, the Ryzen 5 Pro 7535U and the Ryzen 7 Pro 7735U, which we have already tested, are available. From Intel, you can pick between the Core Ultra 5 125U, Ultra 7 155U and the Ultra 7 165U vPro. Here too, the biggest leap in performance can be observed between the smallest and the mid-range model.

The processors rely on their corresponding iGPUs as a graphics chip. There is no more powerful version with a dedicated graphics card available.

The ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 relies on DDR5-4800 RAM. Two full-featured memory banks are installed, so you can upgrade it easily. When purchasing the laptop, you can select 8, 16 or 32 GB. The maximum is 64 GB. An M.2 NVMe SSD in the standard size 2280 is installed as mass storage. There is no second slot.

Only the usual three Windows modes are available for controlling the laptop's power. They can be found in the battery and energy settings and regulate the power supply to the CPU.

• Best performance: PL1 31 watts | PL2 40 watts
• Balanced: PL1 25 watts | PL2 30 watts
• Best energy saving / battery mode: PL1 15 watts | PL2 20 watts

Our tests were carried out using best performance mode.

The AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 7735U inside our ThinkPad L16 Gen1 is the most powerful AMD processor that can be chosen for the laptop. It has eight cores and 16 threads, clocks at up to 4.75 GHz and features a 16-MB L3 cache. Its typical power consumption lies at 28 watts, while inside our test sample of the ThinkPad L16 G1, it can consume short peaks of 41 watts and 31 watts in the long run, which is slightly higher than the manufacturer's specifications.

The results of these settings could be observed well in the continuous test using Cinebench R15. Its rating already dropped after the first run at a high level because its cooling performance just wasn't good enough. Both the ThinkPad L15 G4 and the ThinkPad E16 G1 with an almost identical CPU did much better. However, it should be said that being placed under permanent load isn't necessarily something you would expect a business laptop to have to deal with.

All-in-all, there were no surprises. Across the various CPU benchmarks, the processor managed the same values that we have also observed in other laptops with an identical processor core. Only the AIDA64 benchmark showed a small lead of 4 %. This results in performance at a high, but by no means outstanding level.

In battery mode, on the other hand, you'll have to expect some pretty major drops. Depending on the benchmark, we measured 15 to 35 % worse results. This is also due to the CPU load being limited to below 50 % when no power supply is connected. Although its battery life benefits from this, the L16 is only really fast when plugged in.

Further benchmarks, technical data and comparisons can be found in our CPU benchmark list.