Lenovo ThinkPad P16v G1 AMD review - Entry-level workstation with Zen4

The laptop’s entry-level nature is clearly evident in the choice of material. Lenovo has given the ThinkPad P16v G1 a completely plastic chassis. Nevertheless, both the lid and the top of the base section feel nice and are not particularly susceptible to fingerprints. On the other hand, the bottom case and screen bezel are rougher and also feel cheaper. In terms of fit and finish, the competitor HP ZBook Power definitely has an edge with its metal chassis.  

Besides the usual red elements, such as the TrackPoint and the red accent lines on the dedicated mouse buttons, Lenovo has gone one step further with the P16v G1 by adding another red accent line across the back of the device. Of course, personal taste is always subjective, but we aren’t quite sure whether this is appropriate for a mobile workstation.

The laptop is fundamentally sturdy, but drawbacks are inevitable against more expensive ThinkPad models. The middle of the base section can be pushed in slightly, and the lid also has quite a bit of flex. That said, this doesn’t result in any creaking noises or image distortion. The hinges are tuned pretty well, but there is noticeable wobble when you adjust the display’s angle. The screen also can’t be fully folded back 180 degrees.

In terms of size and weight, the new P16v G1 falls almost exactly between the thin ThinkPad P1 G6 workstation and the beefy ThinkPad P16. The 170-watt charger weighs 554 g (1.22 lb) together with the power cable.

The AMD-based workstation features two modern USB-C ports with USB4 support, both of which are located on the back of the laptop. The interfaces are distributed across all three sides, though this arrangement isn’t ideal. We would rather have the HDMI output on the rear; it would've also been nice to have at least one USB port on the left. The ThinkPad P16v G1 can be equipped with an optional SmartCard reader. However, users will need to do without a dedicated Ethernet port, which can only be added using a USB-C adapter.

The SD card reader on the left has a spring-loaded mechanism. An SD card juts out very slightly when inserted. Using our reference card (Angelbird AV Pro V60), we managed to reach average transfer speeds in the region of 70-90 MB/s.

Though Lenovo has installed a 5MP webcam, the image quality isn’t particularly great. Even under good lighting conditions, images look hardly any better than those taken by 1080p webcams. There is also an IR camera on board for Windows Hello facial recognition.

Users can move the mouse pointer around using either the ClickPad or TrackPoint. The ClickPad is offset slightly to the left and offers enough space for inputs (11.5 x 6.8 cm, or 4.5 x 2.7 in), but expectedly some space has been set aside for the dedicated TrackPoint buttons. The pad itself works fine and didn’t give us any problems, though the clicking sounds are kind of loud. This is also true of the previously mentioned TrackPoint buttons, which came across as very cheap. But the TrackPoint itself works perfectly well once you get used to it.

Lenovo hasn't provided additional performance modes on their ThinkPads for ages, instead opting to integrate their own settings directly into Windows’ power modes – highly convenient for users. We performed the following measurements and benchmarks with the laptop in Best performance mode.

The Ryzen 7 PRO 7840HS offers enhanced security features (comparable with Intel vPro) but is otherwise similar to the regular Ryzen 7 7840HS. This means the CPU features 8 Zen4 cores (max. 16 threads) with a max frequency of 5.1 GHz. Its power limits are set at 64/54 watts, much like the processor in the ZBook Power 15 G10 (likewise a Ryzen 7 PRO 7840HS). Competing Intel CPUs require substantially more power. Overall, the AMD processor delivers excellent performance and is even slightly ahead of the Core i7-12850HX in the Dell Precision 7670. The other devices in our comparison offer more CPU performance as a whole. That said, the P16v G1 saw a whopping 35% increase in performance over the ThinkPad P15v G3 with a Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H.

Performance remains stable under load, but the processor only has a meagre 18 watts at its disposal when running on battery power. Performance is thus significantly limited in the multi-core tests (40% drop in CB R23 Multi). More CPU benchmark results are available here.

Based on our impression, the ThinkPad P16v G1 has fantastic performance as expected and is very responsive to all kinds of inputs. The benchmark results are good as a whole, and we didn’t encounter any system stability issues during our testing.

Because our review unit came with one RAM module, the system memory only runs in single-channel configuration. Accordingly, the laptop didn’t produce great results in our memory benchmarks.