Lenovo announces new ThinkPad L series w/16:10 screens & USB4: ThinkPad L14 G5 & ThinkPad L16 G1

The new ThinkPad L series has arrived: This week, Lenovo announced the newest generation of the most affordable ThinkPad series for enterprise customers. The new Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 and Lenovo ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 are not just updates of the existing ThinkPad L14 G4 (available from Amazon) and L15 G4 with new processors, they are total redesigns.

A redesign which marks the end of the 16:9 era for Lenovo's ThinkPad laptop series: Last years Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G4 and Lenovo ThinkPad L15 G4 were the last hold-outs with the more rectangular screen format and the L15 G4 was the last current 15 inch ThinkPad series. ThinkPad L14 G5 and L16 G1 adopt the 16:10 format, which offers more screen height, with the ThinkPad L16 G1 also moving to the 16 inch size.

With the new design, many of the changes already introduced on the 2024 ThinkPad T series are also making it to the more affordable L series. For the keyboards, this includes swapped FN/Ctrl keys, tactile markings on the keyboard for an improved blind typing experience as well as a wider touchpad. Unlike the T series, the L series skips the camera bulge on the screen, ThinkPad L16 G1 and ThinkPad L14 G5 just have a small reverse-notch protrusion. Keeping in line with the other models, the ThinkPad logo is no black and debossed and the hinges are black as well.

ThinkPad L14 G5 & L16 G1: Ryzen 7035 and Core Ultra

On the inside, the new ThinkPad L series moves to Intel Core Ultra, with both U and H series options available. Both will also be released with AMD CPUs. Though Zen 4 is still nowhere to be found on the budget ThinkPad line, at least the new models ditch the Ryzen 5000 based Ryzen 7030 processors and adopt AMD Ryzen 7035. These chips enable DDR5 memory, PCIe NVMe Gen 4 and USB4. Also, the new models finally have RNDA2 GPUs instead of the obsolete Vega graphics.

Talking about the RAM, L14 G5 and L16 G1 have two DDR5-SO-DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of memory. As an upgrade over the previous generation, the L series moves from small M.2 2242 SSDs back to bigger M.2 2280 drives. The L series models have either a 46.5 Wh or 57 Wh battery. In terms of the displays, the ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 and ThinkPad L16 G1 are still limited to WUXGA screens (1,920 x 1,080). However, the screen brightness of the ThinkPad L14 G5 base-panel is increased from 300 to 400 cd/m², thanks to a new display film by 3M. Another interesting change: L14 G5 and L16 G1 gain a third USB A port, making them the only current ThinkPads with three connectors of this type. Of course, as budget models, some features are cut, like 5G and WiFi 7 - those are exclusive to the T series.

Pricing and availability: Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G5 & ThinkPad L16 G1

The AMD versions of the ThinkPad L14 G5 and ThinkPad L16 G1 are coming to market in March, both starting in $999. The Intel models will come to market in April for a base price of $1,179.