This stronghold, the iron law that business-class ThinkPads are always feature an Intel processor, fell apart but a year later with Lenovo’s new ThinkPAd A-series and the ThinkPad A275 and ThinkPad A475 in particular. For the first time, T and X-series ThinkPads were available with AMD SoCs even though they were still outsourced into their own separate series at first.
Things have changed dramatically since. AMD’s brand-new Ryzen CPUs were introduced, and while at first mobile Ryzen CPUs were able to keep up with Intel’s offerings, they very quickly surpassed their competition and took the lead. And Lenovo reacted accordingly and continued to introduce more AMD-based ThinkPads. Come 2020, a total of seven AMD Renoir-based ThinkPads are available: ThinkPad T14s Gen 1, ThinkPad T14 Gen 1, ThinkPad X13 Gen 1, ThinkPad L14 Gen 1, ThinkPad L15 Gen 1, ThinkPad E14 Gen 2, and ThinkPad E15 Gen 2.
However, one model is suspiciously missing from that list: The ThinkPad T15 Gen 1, Lenovo’s only T-series laptop with a 15-inch display. A shame, really, considering that our extensive review showed that the T15 is a great business laptop that would have benefitted immensely from an AMD Ryzen 4000-series processor. Conversely, it is incapable of fully utilizing its potential and is easily outperformed by the more affordable ThinkPad E-series and L-series laptops both in regard to performance and efficiency.
AMD’s Ryzen 4000 is a game changer, and Lenovo’s product and market strategies are not working any longer. Customers should be offered the choice between Intel and AMD on all ThinkPad models. By restricting their choice you ultimately end up only hurting yourself.