Thinkpad Z13 OLED [AMD 6860z powerhouse!] - USER Review - gaming, thermals, productivity, usability

[@NORCLA]

Finally someone who got the Arctic Grey! Waiting for mine, will just watch your video while waiting 😊

[@TechGuyBeau]

It’s quite nice. I suspect much more durable in the long run. And is more sleek. The leather looks very nice too though. I don’t think either is a wrong decision

[@davidklsn]

Thanks for this review! I am going for the z16!

[@aes1373]

That offset trackpad is triggering my OCD to high heaven

[@95TBake]

I own can confirm this rig absolutely rips with the 6860z

[@TheCarlosMendonca]

Lenovo did a great job here. It has great Linux support btw. I wish the SSD was faster/full 2280 length, though. Also, they keep saying the all black version and the version with LTE are coming soon to NAmerica, but that never happens.

[@TechGuyBeau]

They definitely have some issues with releasing the full lineup in different places. Previously I was interested in the P 11 Pro tablet, which was never released in Canada. And now the new generation is here and not in other places The Legion seven lineup is also all over the place depending on region

[@95TBake]

One the greatest builds by Thinkpad, some say mobo issues but, can confirm when under pressure the little 13 in can perform compared to a m1-2

[@TechGuyBeau]

My mobo blew up :(

[@fredericrandria9499]

What happened with the Mobo ?

[@TechGuyBeau]

@@fredericrandria9499 just stopped working. Probably a random defect.

[@kuro68000]

Thanks for reviewing this. I'm looking at the 16" model and this was really helpful. I guess you were using the APU graphics. I think I might get the dedicated GPU with 4GB.

[@tortenschiebermitsenf9282]

Mine is coming on Monday. Cant wait....

[@TechGuyBeau]

Hypppee

[@tortenschiebermitsenf9282]

@@TechGuyBeau is da.....erster Eindruck......Hammer

[@nikifora.738]

"Find a way to justify affording it, whether you can or not." That's one of the best lines I've heard in a very long time

[@rockfieldlangley1955]

Great review. Thank you

[@Dunestorm333]

Great review here by the way! Would you say that you have to crank up an OLED display more than an LCD display in order to comfortably view content? Or does the higher contrast ratio allow you to lower the brightness and still have good legibility?

[@TechGuyBeau]

I don’t actually use the oled that’s great because the contrast is good. I also have a 42 inch LG oled screen and I don’t have it super bright in most case The only negative of those screen types is that they have a lot of Claire because of the glass touchscreen, so in a bright room you might have to turn it up more for reflections

[@MikeMcIntyreintechrity]

I noticed you have Civ6 on there, how does it handle that? How are the graphics and heat/fan noise in it?

[@TechGuyBeau]

The 680m iGPU can easily handle civ 6 with high graphics/resolution. The fan CAN get noisy (for the size) when doing a lot of turn processing, but it was never bad. This laptop basically runs it perfectly

[@ithinkabout4369]

great review!

[@TechGuyBeau]

Thanks 👍

[@deimjons4096]

The main question and dealbreaker: Is this trackpad working on Linux?? And I think it is not comparable with macbook pro.. maybe with macbook air m2 by performance.. When they make a similar laptop with 14 inch and passive cooling I move from mac.. I so tired from apple. But in the PC world no equal options. I hope 2-3 years and we will see it with 3nm processor inside.

[@nathansteeves3984]

Why does everyone harp on the price? I bought one with 32GB Ram w FHD Touch screen for $2035 CAD. A macbook Air M2 w 16GB is $2400 CAD with Tax

[@cryptoctupus5680]

where?

[@TheAgentAssassin]

They;re on sale right now!!!! I have one in cart 32gb ram , OLED , 7 PRO 6860Z , 256SSD for $1656.00 US

[@nezuko3836]

When you press the edge of the screen, especially on the bump, does it sink slightly into the case? My Z13 with the touch panel does that, and it feels weird to me. I was wondering if the same thing happens on an OLED model.

[@TechGuyBeau]

Strange. Definitely not on the OLED model. It’s class an has no movement when touched.

[@play150]

I really wanted the T14s with touch but there seem to be no good options, so I'm thinking about the Z13 now. I really wanted the 14" display over the 13.3", but it'll probably be not the biggest difference, oh well. I see a Z13 specced out rn for 1333 USD w Lenovo student pricing!

[@TechGuyBeau]

That’s a really good price wow

[@play150]

@@TechGuyBeau I waited a day and now it's out of stock 😢 It was 6860Z, 32 gb RAM with 1TB SSD (no vegan leather back though)

[@RandomUser-tj3mg]

16:10 not 19:10

[@ragaadin9408]

how about the WWAN slot? can you place m.2 ssd on that?

[@TechGuyBeau]

It didn’t work. The system wouldn’t even boot lol.

[@BlizzardWind99]

hope Microsoft implement the haptic trackpad in all of their surface beside pro 8/x cause that's detachable keyboard like ipads

[@isuruthiwanka2595]

If it is a laptop I always go for Lenovo

[@daysleeper2844]

Thanks for your review. Is the ssd still fast enough?

[@TechGuyBeau]

It’s quite fast. The only barrier is it’s 2240 form, so they don’t make gen 4 at 2tb yet. But assuming 1tb is enough then it’s a great drive

[@daysleeper2844]

@@TechGuyBeau thank you. Did you run any benchmark tests on the 1tb model? Which brand is used as ssd?

[@TheAgentAssassin]

usb4 you could use a EGPU with it too

[@TechGuyBeau]

Correct

[@jetmartin9501]

This is a premium laptop. While I do like the color accuracy and deep blacks of OLED screens the glossy-ness and reflectivity makes these screens really annoying at minimum to use in brightly lit rooms. Lucky this laptop also comes with a IPS matte screen option. For this price I'd expect much more connectivity. One USB-A port and a micro SD card slot would have been doable and would have made this laptop much more palatable. At minimum they should have throw in a USB-A dongle at this price...GEEZ!. The Asus Zenbook 13S OLED throws in a free USB-A dongle...and that system is only 1299 USD AND I believe it has 3 USB-4 ports. and you get 16GB and a 1TB SSD. Like most of Lenovo's laptops this one is WAY OVER PRICED for what you get. Lenovo typically plays this annoying game where they price their laptops ridiculously HIGH and then they occasionally have big sales...like $1500 off.. but at least they do go on sale....So I would not buy this laptop unless I got it on one of those big sales....but that's just me....I'm a value based shopper. So IMO at the standard list price this system is NOT a good value. If you can get it at $1,300 - $1,400 I think it's a good value...otherwise I'd pass. Keep in mind that the SSD on this laptop is the smaller form factor and the SSD's read/write performance is relatively poor for a system at this price.

[@beau-urns]

The laptop isnt really targeted at the value shopper though. Its marketed towards someone who wants a premium, but ultra sleek and high quality product. Someone more like a macbook user, but wants the Windows environment. At that point it is still cheaper than a macbook, more powerful, better equipped. a similarly spec'd macbook pro would cost about twice 150% price of this device. (and will not go on sale like a thinkpad will)

[@nazbodna8503]

can you run Rhino 7 on it?

[@brianchoclate]

I have a tough decision to make between the z13 oled vs the xps 13 oled. I am mainly looking for the best screen in a 13 inch. any help?

[@TechGuyBeau]

My issue with dell XPS is you are stuck with intel. Amd lower power CPUs are verbally much better for graphics, and even better on battery. It doesn’t make sense to get an ultraportable with intel nowadays

[@BonusCrook]

​@@TechGuyBeau"verbally"

[@cryptoctupus5680]

These are actually going up in price instead of down :(

[@brianbalzer4228]

Can you confirm the OLED screen does 90Hz refresh rate?

[@TechGuyBeau]

It is a 60hz OLED panel

[@shawnnguyen9121]

Does the OLED panel give you eye fatigue?

[@TechGuyBeau]

Actually the opposite. It has very good contrast and superb clarity due to being higher resolution. I don’t get any excess eye strain from it, like I do on my VA or IPS screens. Having not used an OLED on anything but a vita before, I forgot what’s a pleasure to the eyes it is

[@shawnnguyen9121]

@@TechGuyBeau Ah got it! The concerns I heard were about PWD that oled panels used that resulted in eye strain for some people. Good to know maybe I'll give this panel a try!

[@TechGuyBeau]

@@shawnnguyen9121 might be something specific to certain panels? This one doesn’t bother me at all. I spend hours on it a day. Hopefully you like it too 👍

[@shawnnguyen4820]

@@TechGuyBeau just to clarify, you get more eye strain on IPS screens compared to this OLED?

[@TechGuyBeau]

@@shawnnguyen4820 less I find. This one seems to be so much crisper in terms of text, and no blooming in wonkiness. So staring at text all day is nowhere near as bad. It’s shocking when I flip to my VA or IPS screens (I have both).

[@mikescool]

How much was it with your spec?

[@TechGuyBeau]

Mine was $1800 Canadian. But I got a really good deal. I think the base price is around $2500 - $2800 or so

[@mikescool]

@@TechGuyBeau I just ordered one, was 2k CAD flat w/out taxes!

[@rael_gc]

Missing the webcam + mic test.

[@TechGuyBeau]

The WebCam looks great, it’s a 1080 P WebCam with very good clarity. It is able to separate out my face despite having a bright light behind it The microphone is good, pretty standard for a high-end laptop They were smart to set up the little stand out part on the lid, so that they can nest in a proper WebCam and microphone. As a result despite being very slim it has great recording

[@EmaryTegan]

I agree. The razer trackpad is terrible

[@michaflak1370]

Battery disqualifies this, full day is expected in this day and age.

[@TechGuyBeau]

? It is a full day battery? Despite the OLED I get 8ish hours of standard use, bright screen, with an OLED. That’s all day. You could drop the brightness or get the IPS if you want more. Or you could get the lower spec CPU. This is the most powerful mobile ultrabook cpu that exists, yet is good on battery. You could spec the 6850, or get a weaker laptop. But you won’t find better battery out of an OLED laptop with a 6850u/6960z and 2.5 lb with better battery

[@michaflak1370]

@@TechGuyBeau If your workflow is a bit more compute intensive than web browsing or document editing, this will quickly drop to 6, and that's just not enough. For software development for example I would say you need like 14-16h of CLAIMED battery life to work all day and not stress over running out of juice in the middle of a zoom call. Pretty much the only laptops available that can do that are T480 which I used before, and M1 macs. I'm a lifelong thinkpad user and I switched to apple with a heartbreak for this very reason. Ryzens in the Z series are great, but lenovo really screwed up the battery sizes.

[@c.m.7037]

The OLED performs slightly less than the IPS screen when it comes to battery life.

[@TechGuyBeau]

@@c.m.7037 correct it does. Looks like with the screen maxed and basic use (browsing and such), im getting about 9-10 hours. I could get more by dimmin the screen. Mixed used id say 6-8 depending on tasks. My tasks involve computation loads so i am quite happy with anything in that range.

[@TechGuyBeau]

@@michaflak1370 Sure, but for people who want/need windows, find me an ultrabook with better battery life and this kind of performance. Truly I would be interested in seeing if anything exists

[@johnnyv2342]

PЯӨMӨƧM 😬