Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation Review

[@123dweaver]

I don't think the people getting this high end workstation laptop are concerned about speaker quality or the bezels. I sincerely hope Lenevo doesn't cut corners somewhere else to get smaller bezels or better speakers. People can always get headphones. What people can't do is change the laptop thermals as a consequence of smaller bezels.

[@Usernotknown21]

Bullshit. I'm concerned about this and I'm sure most people would prefer to have the best

[@silenthill1035]

Speakers are very important for a work laptop. I often need notification sounds, watch online tutorials, etc. I use a Lenovo Ideapad and speakers on it are useless even in a quite room after a few years of use. I want my next laptop to be 10-year future proof when paying that kind of money.

[@wetbeans7957]

The bezel give the retro look which is fine by me

[@mattmatt2417]

Yeah, I don't care about the speakers/ALL my headphones are $300+, my surround sound systems are $1,000+,I DEFINITELY prefer dedicated solutions/external speakers/headphones, over built in speakers.I ended up getting the P17 think pad laptop,configured,just like this, after looking at A LOT of different laptops. 16X9 for the win,JUST like my phone AND tablet,my phone is the Razor phone 2,I even bought a back up,JUST in case,I won't buy an 18x9 display/ONLY 16X9/3840X2160P/7680X4320P, the Only way I would even THINK about buying an 18x9 display, is if the screen was 55inches or bigger and I still PROBABLY wouldn't, my 75inch TV is 16x9 and so are all of my 8k monitors. Anyway, these are the specs I went with: 17.3inch 3840x2160p 500 nits It has an Intel xeon W-11950H VPro processor 128GB RAM Nvidia RTX A5000 Max-Q 16GB It has three 2TB SSDs and a 7200RPM 6TB hardrive,so 12TBs, I have Linux Manjaro AND Windows 10 on it. Its has 4G LTE built in as well.

[@nicksneider5463]

@@mattmatt2417 How does it perform under load? Any over heating/thermal throttling?

[@chutsu_io]

I'll never understand why people are obsessive over wanting a thin bezel laptop xD, the thinner they are the more likly you'll crack the screen. This thinkpad model is designed for professionals who may take this laptop in the field, having a slight bezel is no big deal...

[@markguim]

there are thinkpads with smaller bezels. this one isn't slight at all.

[@Usernotknown21]

Totally disagree. I hate huge bezels.

[@fr4ctl]

It's subjective.

[@ShytFerBraynes]

Thank you for the review. I dont think the speakers are that high of a priority because it is a work laptop. And most people use headphones to not noise pollute their housemates / coworkers. Also the thick bevels are necessary for drop protection because it is heavy.

[@markguim]

That’s a very good point. However we’ve been working from home for the past year so been using the speakers a lot more. Lenovo is sending over the thinkpad x1 titanium this week to review which should be very interesting.

[@TeamVRY]

Looks like a real durable laptop! I've used some flimsy laptops before.

[@StewartStewart]

I'm not sure who the target audience is for this review, but I personally didn't find it very helpful as someone shopping for a workstation. I already have other devices for media consumption. I can see the bezels, and it doesn't help me that you think they're thick enough to justify waiting for the next generation. I do care about things like thermals (very important for a laptop with this TDP), performance, and maintenance. I want to hear about known issues. I want to see a stress test. I want to see the internals.

[@markguim]

sorry my review doesn't answer your questions. When you find a review that does, please share link here. Might help others looking for same answers.

[@StewartStewart]

@@markguim My comment probably came off a bit condescending, and I apologize for that. FWIW, I found this review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKrPnWxmfpV8lcU Of course, it takes a *lot* of effort to make a review that in-depth, but the important bits were "Processor behaviors" "Internal Teardown" and "Temperature" IMO, those topics should always be addressed in a workstation review, since you're only shopping this if you're looking for an investment that can handle load and last a long time.

[@markguim]

Thanks for sharing! 🙏

[@Usernotknown21]

@@markguim I think you did an excellent job because people want a single machine for entertainment and work. I shouldn't have to buy 2 separate machines.

[@markguim]

@@Usernotknown21 agree, especially since many people are still working from home

[@BJSteigner]

I have the Gen 2...Works great if you build it the way you want it.

[@PlanetELC]

Hi! Thanks!!! this was exactly the review I was looking for! On a side note the gen 2 is already on sale and comes with an intel 11th gen which may be a problem as many review are showing that those CPUs runs quite hot.

[@markguim]

Have a link? I see gen 2 for p15s, but not p15. They’re different laptops.

[@mattmatt2417]

Yeah, I don't care about the speakers/ALL my headphones are $300+, my surround sound systems are $1,000+,I DEFINITELY prefer dedicated solutions/external speakers/headphones, over built in speakers.I ended up getting the P17 think pad laptop,configured,just like this, after looking at A LOT of different laptops. 16X9 for the win,JUST like my phone AND tablet,my phone is the Razor phone 2,I even bought a back up,JUST in case,I won't buy an 18x9 display/ONLY 16X9/3840X2160P/7680X4320P, the Only way I would even THINK about buying an 18x9 display, is if the screen was 55inches or bigger and I still PROBABLY wouldn't, my 75inch TV is 16x9 and so are all of my 8k monitors. Anyway, these are the specs I went with: 17.3inch 3840x2160p 500 nits It has an Intel xeon W-11950H VPro processor 128GB RAM Nvidia RTX A5000 Max-Q 16GB It has three 2TB SSDs and a 7200RPM 6TB hardrive,so 12TBs, I have Linux Manjaro AND Windows 10 on it. Its has 4G LTE built in as well.

[@Nimitz_oceo]

Speakers? Dude… who uses speakers these days… I have this same machine, I will say it’s the greatest laptop I have ever purchase

Dear, Is it possible to charge a Thinkpad P15 Gen1 Workstation with a USB-C charger? I know the original charger is 170W, but I can't find USB-C chargers in that capacity. Thanks!

[@ViperJon]

Somebody doesn’t understand what a workstation is and what it was designed for.

[@microdoulo2250]

this laptop is very good for editing video?

[@RetroDawn]

What is the keyboard travel? 1.8mm or 1.5mm or other? How does it compare to the P15s/P15v and the Gen 2? Some reviewers have complained about the travel and hollowness of the lower left area of this model.

[@cv12809]

This reminds of old 30 series Thinkpad

[@abdessamadbouaicha2033]

Hi, just curious. Which one has better performance the ThinkPad P15 (Xeon/64GB Ram/RTX A5000) or the new MacBook Pro (M1Max/10-core CPU, 32-core GPU/64GB unified memory)?

[@Usernotknown21]

Thanks for the honest review. I hate huge bezels and bad speakers too.

[@guruadiga]

I'm torn between Lenovo ThinkPad P15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 carbon gen9. I want the power of P15 plus the lightweight and aesthetics of ThinkPad X1 carbon gen9. I could live with a few hours of less battery backup. @Mark : Good review.

[@SquatSimp]

What is the difference between the 20SU and 20ST model for the gen 1?

[@rukaslyricist]

Wonder if you could help with a quick query? I was under the impression I could upgrade the GPU as the ThinkPad p15 gen 1 has a modular GPU daughterboard, is this correct or not? As I always intended on upgrading my GPU to RTX 5000 here is my model Lenovo ThinkPad P P15 20SUS5W300

[@justink1926]

Lenovo p15 gen 1 or MS WS66? wich one to buy? Or are there any other in this price range to take note...

[@omnibrain8]

Please does it have a microphone and where can it be located?

[@treyfisse8593]

You buy these to run RAM heavy software. Not to play video games and watch movies

[@gioreneau6034]

Review the ThinkPad T15g

[@stefangrozdanovic4908]

Yeah, this laptop has a Quadro graphics card, so it's not for gaming nor is it designed for people chasing estetics. This is for professional people who are going to use it for CAD, like Solidworks for example. Keep in mind that CAD files usually have a lot of parts, and those parts have relations between them, so the graphics is designed accordingly. It is not good with video and gaming but it is excelent with statics and simulation however. Finally, for SolidWorks you don't have much use of a multicore processor, so that feature is also irrelevant. This is definately a not laptop for everybody, but for professionals who have a specific use case it is brilliant.

[@MIt-ql5bo]

Question: Can this device be charged using thunderbolt ? Or USB-C? Or what docking station is available??

[@ChrLOwens]

No, this thicc boi needs more power. 170-230 watt power supply depending on how high performance you get.

[@kowal9024]

czemu ty w czapce w domu siedzisz?

[@prakashmm2002]

Great explaination Mark ... I recently brought P15 i7 16gb Ram and RTX 3000 graphics card . Im facing problem like the display is flashing frequently every 20 or 30 minutes once if the UHD driver and RTX 3000 both are active . If i disable the UHD driver , i could not find any flash on the main screen. Another issue is, if i disable RTX3000 driver and active with UHD driver it does not detect the external monitor Please support me if u face such problem

[@markguim]

not sure if you tried this already, have you used the Lenovo Commercial Vantage app? It'll check for BIOS, firmware, and software updates.

[@prakashmm2002]

@@markguim Ya Mark i tried , after laptop recieved i updated everything including Bios. I check with lenova support they recemmend me to disable UHD always and work with RTX3000. In general im basic user. It makes me disappointed, i have P50 in that i enabled both display drivers i dont feel any issues but with P15 gen 1 😔

[@benhorrocks5024]

I don't know if this will help or not but the T15g (same chassis as P15) had an intermittent screen flickering issue. For some people this was fixed by going into the Intel Graphics Command Center, select system, select power, and turn off panel self refresh.

[@alexjaybrady]

I have p15 gen 2 RTX 5000 96gm ram 3tb ssd, it was noisy fan and crashing I needed to update firmware windows and all device drivers then it behaved quietly and reliably

[@spk7054]

My note book occurred black screen but available external monitor with HDMI

[@2DAnimax]

8:30 i also not a fan of track pad.always use wired mouse.

[@michh2836]

Lenovo 💪👍😍👍💪😍👍😍🤗