Lenovo ThinkPad T460p (Core i7, GeForce 940MX) Notebook Review

We already mentioned that the T460p is available with two different display options: A Full HD panel with 1920x1080 pixels (250 cd/m², contrast 600:1 according to Lenovo) as well as the WQHD panel with 2560x1440 pixels of our review unit (300 cd/m², contrast 700:1 or 800:1 according to Lenovo). Both panels are based on the IPS technology and ensure wide viewing angles, so the higher pixel density of 210 PPI is the main argument for the 1440p panel besides the nominally slightly higher luminance. Our review unit actually convinces with sharp images, and high-resolution pictures as well as movies in particular look really good. If you have good eyesight and are sitting close to the display, you might even consider using it without scaling: You can easily display three PDF or Word documents next to each other at 100% and therefore increase productivity significantly.

The T460p also performs very well in respect of the luminance and manages up to 280 cd/m², which is very evenly distributed across the panel – the result cannot quite match the claimed value, but it is still more than sufficient in practice. Similar to the T460s, however, the display is dimmed via PWM (220 Hz), which will be visible as slight flickering for very sensitive users. There is just one solution in this case: get the Full HD model without PWM. The black value is decent at 0.31 cd/m², so we get a high contrast ratio of 935:1, which is typical for an IPS panel.

It does not matter if you look at the panel from above, below or the sides: You can see the display content of the ThinkPad from pretty much any position without annoying color distortions or gamma changes. Only the contrast ratio will drop gradually at extreme angles, but this is completely normal even for a high-quality IPS panel. We cannot find any noticeable differences compared to the Full HD model; both can be looked at with multiple people.

Besides the Dell Latitude E5470, the ThinkPad T460p is currently the only 14-inch business notebook you can get with powerful quad-core CPUs. You can choose between the Core i5 models 6300HQ and 6440HQ as well as the i7 chips 6700HQ and 6820HQ. All four are based on Intel's Skylake architecture and are manufactured in a 14 nm process.

Clocked at 2.6 up to 3.5 GHz (2 cores: 3.3 GHz; 4 cores: 3.1 GHz), the Core i7-6700HQ is exactly on par with the previously reviewed i5-6440HQ, but it also supports Hyper-Threading for the simultaneous execution of up to eight cores. All ULV models, which are available in the sibling T460s, for example, only have up to two cores and four threads. Those U-chips have a lower TDP of just 15 Watts in return, while the quad-core CPUs have a TDP of 45 Watts, even though this value can be adjusted by the notebook manufacturer (within certain limits).

We start this section with one important note or correction, respectively: Contrary to the manufacturer's specification of 45 Watts, Lenovo configured the T460p with a 35-Watt limit for longer periods – probably because they do not want to stress the cooling solution too much. The Skylake processor is fortunately very efficient and can even maintain its maximum Turbo Boost of 3.1 GHz when we stress all four cores. The integrated sensors show exactly 35 Watts in Cinebench R15 Multi. The TDP limit is no problem in single-core scenarios, where 15 Watts is sufficient for the full 3.5 GHz. Except for synthetic stress tools like Prime95 as well as simultaneous load for the CPU cores and iGPU (only important for configurations without GeForce GPU), this design decision is therefore no problem.

Thanks to the perfectly utilized Turbo Boost range both on mains as well as battery power, the CPU can always maintain its full performance. The Core i7-6700HQ can beat the i5-6440HQ by 25 up to 30% in applications that are optimized for multiple cores and is almost twice as fast as the ULV top model Core i7-6600U. However, all three chips are basically on par when the application only uses one or two cores. You should definitely consider that when you are deciding between the ThinkPad T460s and T460p.

Considering the generous 512 GB SSD, users can easily get over the fact that the T460p does not have a secondary 2.5-inch slot for an additional HDD. You get at least one free M.2-2242 slot, which can either be used for an LTE module (necessary antennas are already integrated) or another SSD (SATA 6 Gbps). Corresponding drives are, however, pretty limited and hard to get right now.

The SSD in our review unit is a Samsung PM871 (MZ7LN512HCHP), an upper-mainstream OEM model. The technology should be very similar to the retail 850 Evo, which is known for its high performance and reliability. We can at least confirm the former by our measurements: Read and write rates around 500 MB/s are excellent for a common SATA SSD, but the 4K and 4K64 results are convincing as well. 

Even higher transfer rates are managed by configurations with SATA-Express SSDs, which are mentioned by Lenovo in the spec sheet. Thanks to the PCIe x2 interface, those drives could reach transfer rates of around 2 GB/s.

Considering the almost identical specs, we did not expect the GeForce 940MX to be a real upgrade over the existing GeForce 940M. The slight additional performance is mainly a result of driver optimizations, but the older model would benefit from them as well. Looking at the T450s, however, we also have to mention that its 940M runs slightly below the reference clocks.

The 940MX still beats the integrated HD Graphics 530 by the factor two depending on the gaming configuration – or better illustrated: 3D calculations the GeForce manages smoothly in Full HD would be limited to the WXGA setting with the Intel GPU. You should still be aware that the GeForce 940MX is a lower mainstream GPU and therefore not suitable for demanding 3D applications. The GPU performance is fortunately not reduced on battery power.

After the T460p with Core i5 CPU and integrated graphics was not really restrained, we had pretty low expectations for the high-end configuration – but quite the contrary: Thanks to a second heat pipe, our new model is even slightly quieter under load than before with 33.5 up to 38.8 dB(A). The idle noise also drops to 29.2 dB(A); this is not the result of a lower fan speed, but the replacement of the HDD with a silent SSD. The notebook is passively cooled while idling in general, but the fan will be quickly activated even under light workloads. The lowest rpm levels are only audible at a low distance, so this is no big deal in practice.

Lenovo unfortunately buys this surprisingly low noise development with very high temperatures – at least under maximum load. We can measure temperatures above 40 °C at many spots after our one-hour stress test, and even more than 50 °C at the fan exhaust. Even though the stress by Prime95 and FurMark is not that common in practice and represents a worst-case scenario, the results are still too high; there is hardly any headroom for a dusty fan or high ambient temperatures.

We can also see high temperatures of the processor and the graphics card inside the notebook, because the sensors show core temperatures of up to 89 °C (GPU) and 98 °C (CPU), respectively. The Core i7 already throttles a bit, even though the nominal clock is just barely missed: Individual cores can occasionally drop to 2.4-2.5 GHz, while the GPU can maintain 1176 MHz. We did not notice the clock reductions when we performed normal applications or played games on the ThinkPad, but it also gets pretty warm and does not really seem to handle the heat very well.

We already talked about the quality of the integrated stereo speakers in our previous review – in short: The quality is actually decent for an office notebook and you get a good maximum volume with clear high tones and powerful medium range. You should, however, not expect too much bass due to the lack of a subwoofer. An external sound system via 3.5 mm stereo jack or HDMI/DisplayPort can help in this case.

There are currently not many alternatives if you are looking for a compact office notebook with a lot of CPU performance. Besides the Dell Latitude E5470, the ThinkPad T460p is currently the only 14-inch device which can also handle demanding multithread software thanks to quad-core CPUs. This might be reason enough to buy it for some users – but the ThinkPad also has other advantages like the robust chassis, excellent input devices or the very good IPS display. The dedicated GeForce GPU is definitely worth the additional charge, since it is twice as fast as the integrated processor graphics. Smaller issues like the missing USB Type-C port, the bulky power adapter or the average battery runtimes are therefore not such a big deal.

One point cannot be compensated for that easily: With aging thermal paste and dusty fans, there can be throttling as well as inconveniently warm surface temperatures even when you do not use synthetic stress tools. You might argue that this problem is much smaller in practice – but who buys a device like the T460p if you do not want to use the performance?

CPU temperatures close to 100 °C show what users can expect during the summer.

If you can live with the high temperatures, there is no reason to avoid the T460p, but it might be a good idea to use tools like TPFanControl to tune the fan control in this case.