Lenovo ThinkPad P14s G5 laptop review - The mobile workstation now with an RTX 500 Ada and a 3K IPS panel

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 ThinkPad P14s is a mobile workstation and when you pick it up for the first time, you immediately notice that it is definitely not a particularly thin or lightweight device. When we looked at its datasheet, however, we were surprised because Lenovo states a height of 18.5 mm, which is simply not correct. We measured around 22 mm without the feet, which makes another significant difference.

From the outside, the ThinkPad P14s G5 features the same design as the manufacturer's current models, which unfortunately includes the unattractive and protruding camera bump. Apart from that, its design has been kept simple and, for some people, perhaps a little boring. The smooth surfaces of the lid and the underside (both aluminum) are very susceptible to collecting fingerprint marks, while the top of the base unit (magnesium/aluminum alloy) has a slightly rubberized feel and doesn't have as big an issue with this. The screen's bezels are slightly narrower than on the predecessor model, which is why there is room for the larger 14.5-inch panel.

The stability of the base unit is outstanding and nothing can be pressed in or twisted—but applying pressure on the area to the right of the keyboard produces slight creaking noises on our test device. The screen's lid is also very stable and we couldn't provoke any image errors during our test. The hinges are pretty tight overall, but you can still open the device with one hand. However, it isn't possible to completely prevent it from rocking when changing the opening angle (max. 180 degrees).

We have already talked about its height, but the new P14s G5 is also one of the largest models in our comparison group when it comes to its footprint. Its weight is 1.72 kg and the 135-watt power supply weighs in at another 527 grams.

There are no surprises in store for users when it comes to connections and, in addition to modern Thunderbolt 4 ports, there are also two regular USB-A ports installed. This means you won't have to reach for adapters during everyday use. Our test device is also equipped with an optional SmartCard reader, but it doesn't have an SD card reader.

The webcam can capture images at up to 5 MP in 4:3 (2,592 x 1,944 pixels) or 3.7 MP in 16:9 (2,560 x 1,440 pixels). Its image sharpness is better than with the usual 2 MP sensors and the additional Windows Studio effects are also supported.

By today's standards, the laptop's 11.5 x 6 cm clickpad isn't particularly large, as it also has to make room for the additional buttons for the TrackPoint. However, it feels nice and smooth—only the clicking noise itself is a little too loud. Of course, the TrackPoint is also available to use as an alternative, which works very well (once you get used to it). The dedicated keys made a very good impression on our test device thanks to their high-quality, muffled clicks, and we noted no slack whatsoever.

The Intel version of the ThinkPad P14s G5 is only available with Meteor Lake CPUs. When it comes to the GPU, you can choose between the integrated Intel Arc Graphics and the dedicated Nvidia RTX 500 Ada. The AMD version of the P14s G5 with the old design, on the other hand, is only available with an iGPU. 

Lenovo has long linked its own ThinkPad energy profiles directly to Windows' power settings. The following table summarizes the corresponding TDP/TGP settings. We performed the benchmarks and measurements using best performance, which is set by default.

The Core Ultra 7 155H is part of Intel's current Meteor Lake generation and is used in many laptops. Thanks to its high power limits, the processor's benchmark results were very good and it outperformed both the Core i7-1370P and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U in the P14s-G4 models. Even the nominally faster Core Ultra 7 165H inside the ZBook Firefly 14 G11 was significantly slower. However, it should also be mentioned that the old Raptor Lake chips from Intel (e.g. the Core i7-13700H) offered higher single-core performance. In battery mode, the processor can consume a maximum of 55 watts, which is why its multi-core performance is 8% lower. Further CPU benchmarks can be found in our tech section.

The ThinkPad P14s G5 is a super fast laptop, which was also confirmed during the synthetic benchmarks. Although other devices were sometimes even faster during this test, the overall differences are small and all inputs are processed quickly by the system. In addition, we had no problems with the system's stability during the test.