One of the best laptops in 2024? - ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 (Linux friendly!)

Is this Lenovo ThinkPad the best MacBook alternative in 2024?
And maybe it's one of the best laptops for Linux?
More about this laptop and Linux: quinstechcorne...
Music by Karl Casey /White Bat Audio @whitebataudio

[@pouyamahmoudi]

Underrated channel. You deserve much more views.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

You’re too kind, I really appreciate that. :-)

[@PlatinAviation]

Awesome review - very informative but calm!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

You’re too kind! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@niklasreimer9366]

I've been using the Gen 1 of this device for about 1.5y now. It's a very well built and powerful machine. The only downside is the lack of proper i/o and that the screen get's easily scratched by the keyboard when the lid is closed.

[@vladislavgrishenko4884]

nipple is the only reason i used thinkpads, once you get used to it there is no going back

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Interesting! Maybe I should get some practice in!

[@snehil9735]

Nice vid, very few people are making videos of relatively newer chips with linux and comparing amd/intel chips with apple silicon and looking at benchmarks and battery,etc . Which comes as a surprise as windows is not very friendly os(apart from gaming and browsing) and first thing I do is to install linux on these machines. Hoping more channels start to do this with amd strix point cpu and qualcomm chips :P .

[@snehil9735]

And i consider this as a major point to choose a machine as a macbook replacement. without good linux support, is a big NO!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Thanks for watching, I’m glad it was useful for you!!

[@bluesangel75]

Great review. It's a pity this device is no longer available. I hope they will make a Gen 3 or a refresh based on new AMD processors.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

That would be great! Maybe ARM based. 😈

[@andrasbognar8932]

Thank you for the video, this is exactly I was looking for (subbed). Are you considering to test the Thinkbook 13x gen 4 with Fedora? Would be interesting how battery life would perform with meteor lake combined with 120hz IPS display. Maybe the 3rd gen of Z13 will have the same chassis of the beforementioned 13x gen 4? - just wandering

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Hi, Thanks for watching, I really appreciate the support! I'd love to test other machines, but unfortunately I don't have the money to do that kind of thing. BUT, the second I get a cool device to test, it'll be featured on this channel. 🙂

[@adewaleafolabi5170]

as someone who has used thinkpads previously and currently runs linux on an m1 machine, the speed, quietness and power remains unmatched

[@aungs8430]

Yeah, I use the trackpoint always, I even have trackpad disabled in BIOS.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Wow! Kudos.

[@Alpha8713]

Same. I hate touchpads, especially the newer buttonless style.

[@dr.benjaminbird7631]

I've got the X1 Carbon Gen 12, with the latest Kernel everything works fine bar the web cam. haven't been able to get that to work at all. Processor on mine is the Ultra 7 165U. Battery life is about 5-6 hours of realistic use in power saver mode. Watching this video for example, brightness turned down, 11 tabs open on firefox and Obsidian open, it says 3:47 remaining with 90% battery. That goes up to 5:20 when the video stopped. Kernel is 6.10.2

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Interesting, thanks for the insight on your intel-based thinkpad. :-)

[@junzhengca]

For most people, i would personally still recommend mac and iphone. Even though i use a Pixel and a ThinkPad. Apple just does every single basic thing correct. - iPhone doesn't overheat, have great camera, and no weird crashing glitches. - Mac just works, good performance for most people, and enough software support. I cannot say the same for my own devices: - My old Pixel 6 Pro sucks at termals, my new 9 Pro Fold is still bad compared to iPhone. - Shit performance, forget about gaming on Pixel. - ThinkPad with Linux, you can forget about high resolution displays if you have external monitors.

[@MarrisaL-bs2ch]

Does hibernation work on yours? I have the P14s on AMD and I am struggling to get it working.

[@KennerMarqueti]

Without watching the video. Usually thinkpad's biggest weakness is display quality. Yogas usually have better displays tough lack build quality, personally i use a matebook 14s 2021, relly like the machine but regret not buying the 16. Display wuality is way better than on the thinkpads i've seen, not as good as a macbook pro, but i believe it's not far from an macbook air, and it's 90Hz. Knowing you can spec it with an OLED changes things. Now it's a machine i would consider.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

The screen is actually decent, but the OLED would definitely be nicer. Only issue with the OLED is in this particular case it uses more battery. :-(

[@KennerMarqueti]

@@QuinsTechCorner depending on how much more I would still go for it. Maybe with dark mode, the thing I don't like about lcds is that their dark mode uses more energy than light since I have to turn the brightness up to see the white letters better. So I usually stick to light mode on my LCD laptop. I'm a sucker for OLED blacks so I would probably spec an oled if given the option. I actually thought my 14s had an oled when testing at the store, but realiser it's black levels are not that great when I got home and used it on a dark room. Still very good bright screen on light environments. Lenovo are really awesome cost/benefit on NA on the used market, but for those in Europe, man does Huawei deliver. Couldn't find competitors for the mate book D at around 450euros at the time or for the matebook at around 850. Of course you could get more powerful or thinner machines, but the package was comparable to yogas and XPSs (tough thicker and heavier) but it also packed more power and better cooling and was still pretty portable. Track pad is the best I've used on a windows machine. Honestly after 2-3 years of use I can recommend for anyone in Europe.

[@MusaAzizNoorzaad]

What distro is that? and nice wallpaper.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

This is fedora. I’ve moved the default panels around a bit. :) And the wallpaper is by justin maller.

[@gehtdinichtsan309]

but why compare the performance with an m2-mbair and not an m3-model?

[@Bushidounohana]

I very much enjoy my Gen 1, though as noted battery life is not quite up to snuff and I still prefer my MacBook for work. The z13 is my “off the clock” machine though, running Fedora as well without a hitch.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Glad to hear it! :-) Yes, the battery I'd describe as adequate. I feel like if we ran windows we'd get a bit more out of it, but I'm never going to do that so no point worrying. :-)

[@Necla1652]

If I see correct, when you browse this laptop through official Lenovo website to build and customize the components, it costs +470 USD to make it with 1 TB SSD. What is the deal with it? It's an extreme cost with any Nvme storage model available (including Samsung PRO series etc.) online?

[@RasFarra]

I have to say that I loved the laptop, it is incredibly small, very good finishes, I love the detail of the keys. One of the things I liked the most besides your communication skills is the size of the computer and the operating system. I use a 14-inch laptop. Asus ROG Zephyrus g14 from 2021 with Mx Linux 23.3 KDE. Great video, I subscribe and comment. See you in your next videos!!!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

I really appreciate your comment and support, thanks so much! Yes, this laptop is fantastic - and Fedora suits it really well. 🙂 I actually considered buying the g14 too - it was a close one.

[@Kitsune_Dev]

should i get that or a refurbished T480?

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Ohhh they’re vastly different machines! It really depends on your use case and budget. If the T480 is specced well enough for your needs i’d be inclined to go for that. This was a bit excessive for me haha.

[@andreaseriksson8121]

I cannot buy it here in Sweden. Is the laptop and/or Z-series discontinued?

[@QuinsTechCorner]

I believe Lenovo are having stock issues at the moment!

[@andreaseriksson8121]

@@QuinsTechCorner Ah, that might be the cause. Thanks!

[@EvexiansVideoworks]

Dude, how is your stuff SO MUCH BETTER THAN MINE…. Oh well! Great Video! Still shows that Thinkpads STILL CAN BE GOOD. Lenovo just doesn‘t seem to want to do so… Personally, i‘d use a mac. Mac OS just has the edge. Also, in terms of nubs, yes! I do use those! Ob my Thinkpad X60S or My Toshiba Tecra A10-T14! Whosse nub is actually blue! Classy! All in all! Great video!! ❤❤❤

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Haha, you're too kind mate, thanks for watching! Interesting that you use nubs, I still can't get the hang of this one!

[@michaelwinter5292]

Was really hoping they update it soon with the new ryzen chips

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yeah this is a 2023 chip. It's still really really good, but my weird take is that I think the next Z-series laptops will have ARM chips.

[@spyder2041]

Are fans running at idle or light use?

[@QuinsTechCorner]

I can’t hear them at idle/light. :-) I don’t think they’d be on.

[@netyaroze1663]

It's odd theyve gotten rid of all the Z series from their website :/

[@QuinsTechCorner]

I saw that! I think they’re having stock issues at the moment.

[@wintersunz]

belleza de laptop! thinkpad kvlt !!!!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yeah they’re cool!

[@arianaponytail]

thinkpads are back! seems really solid!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yes!! I love it.

[@muhamadasri3517]

please make another video about this laptop running linux doing web apps. consider buy one but still doubt about the performance. and it is others distro can perform well to such as kali linux.tq

[@thoriq_aulia]

Hey man, Really appreciate this video, this review (especially linux on thinkpad z13 g2) is what i'm looking for about 2 weeks recently. fyi: I use fedora 40 on dell latitude 7400, everthing works fine except fingerprint. But battery life sucks. I read that fedora drain more battery than other linux distro. I'm planning to get new machine If you may, would you please test ubuntu battery life on that machine. Thank you

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Hi, I'm glad this video was helpful for you! I used to run Linux Mint (ubuntu-based) on this laptop, and from experience, the battery life is pretty much the same as Fedora, I didn't notice a difference at all. It's a really hard thing to quantify. Using powertop makes you look at it too closely, and it's hard to say "how many hours" because it depends on what task you're doing. For example, if you're doing nothing but one page of text-based web browsing, or one word document, you'll get 8-9 hours. But the second you start to do anything more intensive, it's going to go down. I've been really happy with the battery life though, with powertop getting down really low at idle, which is what usually kills Linux laptops (not idling properly). Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

[@MaisistkeinGemuese]

I had a Thinkpad Z13 Gen1 and my advice is to stay away from it! I've had 3 Motherboard Replacements and my Brother had 2 Motherboard Replacements! Nothing but trouble and heat issues! Since my brother and I both had so many issues, we both got a replacement Laptop for free, a Thinkbook 13x Gen4. Very good Laptop but I miss the high Quality built of the Z13. I wished we would've got the Z13 Gen2 but we still got lucky for getting a replacement at all.

[@RohitTiwari-mo8mi]

Garuda linux

[@yeyintaung9837]

Linux friendly ❤

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Very!

[@55rz55]

As a ThinkPad user, I do not recommend this. It has almost nothing in common with other ThinkPads aside it's name and the red trackpad. I'd recommend getting either an X1 carbon, X13, or a ThinkPad Yoga if you want a thin-and-light ThinkPad.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yeah it’s definitely a “love it or hate it” machine!

[@juliovata9194]

Sorry maybe I missed it but what resolution screen does your device have?

[@QuinsTechCorner]

1920x1200

[@priyanshusharma1812]

A ThinkPad with such poor IO is honestly an insult to the legacy of the brand

[@QuinsTechCorner]

It’s definitely the worst part of the laptop..

[@hoang16191]

Better with a hdmi port and usb.

[@caca4403]

1. No dedicated physical button for trackpoint 2. Pg up and down key combined with Up and Down Key They are a NO for Thinkpad users!

[@honyara-industries-employer]

everything perfect except them ctrl+fn keys

[@QuinsTechCorner]

hehe, yep, that's always the issue!

[@ebutuoy7190]

Enjoy your new toy!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Thanks! I have been, very much.

[@openbabel]

Way tooo small for productivity uses, does the z chip firmware like the snapdragon automatically send data to Microsoft, compromising security?. Why use any chip capable of been programmed to send data back to the server. Will this also happen with Linux software ,with this chip according to Lenovo, uses chip to cloud synchronization like the failed co-pilot spy programme at Microsoft ?

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yeah the small size isn’t for everything. The laptop itself doesn’t send data to microsoft, especially when you have no microsoft software installed!

[@eckee]

Tbh can't be a MB competitor with that sad screen

[@edhahaz]

Way too much branding indeed

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Agreed!

[@HansBaier]

If it doesn't has the ThinkPad keyboard the it's not a ThinkPad

[@kb8570]

Every MacBook has an excellent display which is why they cost a lot more.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

In this case the MacBook was cheaper than the Lenovo until I configured it to match the RAM/CPU of the Z13. (+$600)

[@QuinsTechCorner]

@@dolurosu It really is - it's far too much for simple upgrades. I was so happy to get a 16GB/512GB machine for less than an M3 macbook.

[@mahiabir6348]

Macs are just not meant for us who want easy upgradability and value pricing. I'd like to say frameworks are perfect but they are not cheap. So for now used Thinkpads are the best option we got in my opinion

[@aziz9488]

I prefer the framewrok 13 laptop, much cheaper than this one, if you buy 3rd party memory and storage.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

At the time of purchase the framework laptop was about $100 AU more for the same specs. It was a tricky choice though!!

[@aziz9488]

@@QuinsTechCorner without memory and storage ? (you can buy it cheaper elsewhere)

[@QuinsTechCorner]

@@aziz9488 Sorry, I should have said, even without memory/storage it was cheaper. I think the price of the Z13 has since gone back up a bit, but at the time of buying this was the best deal.

[@TheRedc0met]

The laptop is made and designed by Chinese people. Very good.

[@lowzyyy]

Laptop market is so bad if this shit is 1800$. For that amount of money i can build 16 core, 256gb ram and still a lot of money to spend. Real price is somewhere around 1000$

[@cartesius33]

60.1 Hz PWM display? If that's right, then this display is a joke. See notebookcheck review. Lenovo's OLED are pretty much useless to many eye concerning people.

[@honestabe3100]

Dude. It's actually MORE expensive than a comparable MacBook. So... no thanks!

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Dude. At the time of purchasing, it was less expensive than a MacBook with the same RAM/CPU and has higher CPU/GPU performance.

[@ClaraTony-m2z]

Martin Brian Martinez Timothy Johnson Eric

[@antonpodkur3520]

The only issue with this laptop is price

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Yeah it can be painful.. Thankfully I got this laptop with a heavy discount thanks to one of Lenovo’s legendary sales. They do them often so I always suggest to wait and never buy at full price.

[@ramicollo]

​@@QuinsTechCornerwhat's the typical retail price & what was the heavily discounted price? Thx

[@CvetanSimsic]

Macbook has no competitor. Period. And this comes from longtime apple hater. :D

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Fair enough!

[@_xX_me_Xx_]

Any laptop with reasonable performance and an ARM CPU is a macbook killer. There's 0 other reason to get a macbook.

[@AI-Hallucination]

The keyboard is shit same as all laptops my x270 would blow it out the water it preforms better than my MacBook Pro m3 pro believe me or not

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Keyboard wise, you probably do have the edge with the x270.

[@AI-Hallucination]

@@QuinsTechCorner 32 GB It sounds like it's going to take off but it's solid I would definitely throw that in my bag with my 5 batteries the 4g ready sim in the computer star link go for 10 days man my mac would be done these new macs have a good battery buts its not removable this x270 is a apocalypse device and it's solid 2000 dollers 5 years ago only 5 years ago 🤣

[@AI-Hallucination]

@@QuinsTechCorner and it has three buttons missing after I dropped my weights on it still alive 🤣

[@QuinsTechCorner]

@@AI-Hallucination Sounds solid lol