Review of the ThinkPad T14s /w AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U
Tags: Tech, Writing, Review, Gadgets, Technology

ThinkPad T14s with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U.

Review of the ThinkPad T14s /w AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U

One of the *hottest* laptops this year

I finally pulled the proverbial trigger on the new ThinkPad T14s by Lenovo. I was holding out, because I knew the new 7 nm Ryzen Renoir silicone would be making it’s way into Lenovos most popular ThinkPad line, the T-series. And oh the wait was worth it — kinda.

Spoiler: This thing is phenomenal in many ways, but one.

My configuration

Processor: Ryzen 7 4750 Pro (7 nm), 8 cores, 16 threads

Memory: 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, 3200 MHz, dualchannel (soldered on)

Screen: 1920x1080, 16:9, 400 nits, low power IPS

Graphics: integrated Radeon Vega 7 graphics

Storage: 512 GB NVMe SSD with Opal security features

Biometrics: fingerprint reader, Windows Hello IR-camera

My usecase

This was supposed to be my main machine and after about 10 days with it and intensive testing I made up my mind. Let me share my thoughts.

The idea: Using it in conjunction with the USB-C hub in my P27h Thinkvision monitor as a workstation and as a thin-and-light when I’m out and about. My main occupation is that of a commercial graphics designer (until I can make some career U-turn happen), I mostly build ads, brochures and catalogues. Thus I work in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat most of the time. I produce several large print-ready PDF files on a daily basis. Besides that I am writing, almost half of my day. I like to take my ThinkPad with me, switch off Wifi (to have some peace of mind and also to save some battery life) and get really into writing somewhere remote, preferably in the woods, a cosy hotel room or mountainside, close to my home. Occassionally I dabble into video editing, using DaVinci Resolve, outputting 1080p 25/30 fps videos. Nothing too fancy.

Very rarely I enjoy a quick match of League of Legends or Two Point Hospital, to wind down.

“Let me get one thing out of the door first: This sleek thing does everything I need it to do — and then some.”

Measurements and weight

Really sleek, thin and well built.

This thing is sleek and tiny. Closing the gap to the famed X1 Carbon.

Length: 32,9 cm

Width: 22,6 cm

Thinness: 1,61 cm

Weight: 1,3 kg

It’s really tiny in person, pictures don’t do it justice. It’s more metallic than your classic ThinkPad rubbery coating, it looks a bit like a very dark grey coating with metallic sparkles (very subtle) in it. Very premium looking and feeling too. It’s built like a tank, but you definitely don’t want to drop it, just because it’s so pretty.

Processor

This is the star of the show, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U. With a TDP of just 15 Watts it boasts 8 cores with 16 threats and easily rivals 35/40 Watt mobile chips by Intel in performance. Would have anyone expected to see an 8-core CPU in an ultrabook just a few years back? Seriously, I cannot stress enough how much performance this thing manages to offer, at a compromise.

I’m capable to throw everything I need for work at it, huge files in InDesign or Illustrator are no problem at all. It eats through huge PDF files for print and it mostly stays snappy and quick. The feeling of “awe” is something that I lost for tech in the past couple of years, everything got a bit stale. But the jump in performance, compared to other offerings in this laptop class is astonishing. The Ryzen 7 really is a beast. An angry/hungry one.

It only runs within a 15 Watts TDP envelope, when it could go up to 25 Watts by the processors spec. You might think now like missing out on performance. Subjectively, you really don’t. At least not because of TDP limitation.

While this processor is a monster when it comes to performance, it also runs really hot. And this is also the ultimate caveat with this machine. Yes it performs blazingly fast, but will also throttle hard and run into it’s 105°C thermal limit like a semi truck hitting a brick wall, the moment you put some sustained workload on it. Also the right and upper right area of the chassis and the keyboard get hot, really hot. If you’re using a mouse with this, prepare to get some sweaty palms because the exhaust vent is just right there.

Keyboard

Premium materials, deep key travel, actually useful TrackPoint.

ThinkPad keyboards are legendary and probably the best typing experience you can get on a laptop. It’s neatly backlit with 3 brightness levels of white LEDs (off, 75% and 100%) and sport’s the (in)famous trackpoint, often lovingly called “the nipple” or “the nub”. Yes it’s a relic from the past, when laptops didn’t have trackpads yet, but many still swear by it. Personally, I enjoy using it to scroll through documents or readjust my cursor quickly when editing documents. Without actively planning to use it, I find myself reaching for it occassionally, other times I instinctively go for the trackpad — I guess at the end of the day, it’s good to have options.

The key-travel of the keyboard is deep and satisfying (for a laptop keyboard of course, it can even compete to some level with a proper mechanical keyboard). Also the feeling of the materials used for the keycaps is absolutely premium. The concave “smile-shape” of each key draws your finger into the right position. Typing on this is a joy and the ThinkPad keyboard was actually the one feature that made me look at ThinkPads as my main machine for writing in the first place, as I’m building my second career as a writer.

Could easily hit 125 WPM peak with the great keyboard.

There are only two little complaints about the keyboard. There is a lot of light-leakage around the keycaps when the backlight is turned on and the position of the “Ctrl” and “Fn” key is switched to what you’re seeing on most standard keyboards. But if you’re a Mac user, you will notice, that on the Mac keyboards the “Fn” key is also the outermost key on your keyboard. If you can’t get used to it and often hit the wrong key (for example when copy-pasting something), you can comfortably switch the keys’ function in Lenovo’s Vantage software. I eventually got used to it within a day or two.

This year Lenovo added communication-centric function-keys to the F-keys, like for answering a call or ending one. I’m such a hermit, I won’t use them much, but if you’re video-calling on a regular basis, these buttons are for you.

You can also set a special function to the F12 key. I’m not sure what to use it for yet. It can launch programs or even execute a string of keystrokes.

Closeup of “the nub” and backlight bleed. Still absolutely stunning keyboard typing experience.

Webcam

Speaking of video calls and dedicated communication buttons, how is the webcam? Well it’s somewhere in the ball park of modern MacBooks. Which means: nothing to write home about, but good enough for video calls. I probably wouldn’t start a Youtube or streaming career with this thing though. It comes with the ThinkShutter, which basically is just a small, flimsy plastic switch, that will physically switch off and block the camera. Thanks to the built in microphones, voice is recorded relatively clear, if you want better quality, you need to use a headset anyways.

Chassis

No flexing, no bending — tough as a tank.

This thing is rigid, yet at first glance it almost struck me as “less substantial”. All materials used are ultra lightweight, but durable, so at times it can feel “hollow” — if that is the right word to describe it, I can’t quite put my finger on it though. Durability and toughness of ThinkPads are also legendary and they praise themselves to build their Thinkpads so strong, they can withstand a plethora of milspec tests. ThinkPads have been on expeditions and even on the ISS. The T14s here is no exception. That thing is sturdy, matte black (not calling it “space black” seems like a missed opportunity) and feels really great to the touch. No flexing anywhere, even though I wouldn’t want to drop it, but I’m sure it can take quite a few hits and bumps. The materials used are high quality plastics and magnesium alloys. It also has that love-it-or-hate-it “tool-like” aesthetic. This is no fashion statement, no accessoire. This thing means business. It’s one of the “darkest” black computers I have seen, lovely. Yes, it absorbs not only light but also smudges and fingerprints like, but not as much as last the 7th Gen X1 Carbon or this years T14, which feel way more “rubbery” than the new ThinkPad T14s. It’s a bit like having cats. If you love cats, you gotta live with hair on your shirts! When your ThinkPad is all “grimed up” you can either call it a “pattina” and parade it around proudly, or get to cleaning it! While this is a tiny computer, you still get a decent selection of ports that will fit your everyday needs just fine.

2 x USB C (PD and DP, no Thunderbolt 3)

docking-connector that doubles as a network port too (with an adapter, no full size network port, you need a T14 for that)

2 x USB A

1 x HDMI 2.0 (wheras the Intel models get only HDMI 1.4)

optional smartcard reader (didn’t get one)

SIM-tray on the back (that also takes a microSD card — put a 128 GB card in there, not convenient to switch on the fly)

combined headphone/microphone 3,5 mm jack

And that’s about it, but in most cases, you really should be fine without any “dongling”. Compared to the latest offerings by DELL and of course Apple, you’re really in port-heaven with even the slimmest ThinkPads.

Plenty of thin, plenty of ports.

Screen

With the AMD version of the Thinkpad T14s you’re limited to fewer screenoptions than the Intel kits. Actually I don’t mind. This is just a 14" screen, with full HD resolution you still get plenty of sharpness. A 4K panel for example wouldn’t do much to enhance clarity of text on your screen, only suck your battery dry quicker.

I consciously chose the 400 nits low power IPS screen, because it has fantastic viewing angles, good enough color accuracy (full sRGB, around 61% Adobe RGB) for occassional or non-color-critical design- and photo-work and no PWM flickering. 400 nits are bright enough to work outside, even in bright environments and the matte screen also helps with readability in changing light conditions. It’s also very evenly lit and all-in-all a great productivity screen.

There is a “screen lottery” though. You could get a slightly worse screen that’s prone to ghosting, if your panel is not from “Innolux”. I didn’t get the best one, only the second best and let’s be honest here, yes it’s blurring up a bit during quick and fast movements on screen. But this is a working machine and no gaming rig. I don’t mind. The screen is color accurate enough for my needs (most design work is done on an external, calibrated monitor anyways) and plenty bright and vibrant, just as advertised. I really don’t want to be a genital about what exact model of screen it is. During work, this is a legitimate non-issue for me.

The bezels could be a bit thinner, like they are on the recent refresh of the E-series. Personally, I don’t mind the “retro ThinkPad-look”. Compared to screen-wonders like the new XPS laptops, the bezels look dated though (*cough* MacbBooks *cough*).

With a Laptop this tiny, I gladly trade an unneccesary higher resolution for longer battery life, which seems to be a success all over with the very efficient low power panel.

Storage

Testing read and write speeds of the internal Western Digital SN730 drive.

My system came with a 512 GB NVMe M.2 drive by Western Digital. I see great read speeds of around 2.800 MB/s and write speeds of about 2.700 MB/s. Yes, a fancy Samsung M.2 SSD might be a tad faster, but unless you’re constantly working with large files, shoveling them around on your drive, you won’t notice any difference in real life workloads. For added security this drive also is Opal-capable. Opal is is a layer of hardware encryption for added security. Don’t really need it, though.

There’s another M.2 slot, which is meant for a wireless internet card, but you can also “unofficially” use it to put a short 2242 M.2 storage drive in there. Just make sure it’s as flat as possible because space is tight in there.

Security

If there’s something else besides toughness and a good keyboard the ThinkPads are known for, then it’s security features. The T14s sports the latest security chip, an Opal NVMe drive, a ThinkShutter to physically close your webcam, a fingerprint sensor, Windows Hello IR camera and if you pay up, there’d also be a pretty trashy privacy filter for the screen (It’s really just a cheap layer of screen foil ruining the otherwise great viewing angles, so people who peek at your screen from the side can’t see anything).

Hardware-wise this is as secure as they come. If you’re now running Linux instead of Windows you can sleep calmly at night! :)

Sound

I didn’t expect much from a ThinkPad really, especially since the speakers are bottom-firing. It’s your typical run-of-the-mill, average business-laptop speaker experience, despite the fancy Dolby Atmos branding. The T14s speakers sound “reasonable” enough to listen to some music while working (if you’re not using headphones anyways) and watch the occassional Youtube video or Netflix series. They are loud enough and clear, but lack any substantial amount of bass. They are fine for calls and conferencing. I’m perfectly fine with how they sound, for such a thin and light machine.

A MacBook this is not.

Upgradeability

You can open the T14s quite easily. Just a few standard screws (which stay in place thanks to c-clips) and gently wedging the bottom plate away (refer to the manual to see where to start) and you get access to its internals. You cannot do too much though. You can upgrade the WWAN module, unfortunately short NVMe drives put into that M.2 slot are not recognized by the system. You can also change, or upgrade the existing main storage drive. The RAM is soldered onto the mainboard (but runs in dual channel mode by default). The battery can be replaced, when it’s at the end of its lifespan, but it cannot be swapped on the fly, like you could do with older bridge-systems.

RAM Speed

Due to an Intel limitation the DDR4 RAM speed in intel based ThinkPads will be limited to around 2666 MHz. With AMD, you get the full 3200 MHz speed and despite it not being advertised anywhere (not even in Lenovos specsheets) which has led to some confusion, yes, the soldered-on RAM is running in dual channel mode.

What does this mean? RAM in dual channel mode can provide twice the access-volume to the data stored in the RAM, feeding it quicker to the processor. Especially Ryzen processors can greatly benefit from vast amounts of fast RAM memory running in dual channel mode.

With the 32 GB DDR4 RAM running in dualchannel mode at 3200 MHz my system flies. I can easily hold all the applications and files I regularly use and my 50-ish open browser tabs (for research) in RAM. This kind of quick RAM combined with the fast storage drive makes the whole system snappy as all hell.

Benchmarks

Yes, these are synthethic benchmarks but they still give you a general idea of what kind of power you’re dealing with. This chip is far more efficient and powerful than many other chips double its price, offered by Intel.

Cinebench 20

Best run I got was 3.001 (once) at an average temperature of 80°C, with heavy throttling and an average CPU frequency of around 2,59 GHz. This is in the ballpark of capable desktop processors. Most of the time I managed a more or less constant 2.900-ish.

Geekbench 4

My Geekbench 4 profile page, showing other systems as well for comparisons. ThinkPad T14s at top.

5.129 singlecore

24.923 multicore

I have an Intel i5–9400F (6 cores/6 threads) desktop computer with a TDP of 65 Watts, that got beaten by quite a bit by the ThinkPad T14s.

Temperatures reached a very toasty 93°C.

Geekbench 5

A few systems for comparison in Geekbench 5.

1.155 singlecore

6.248 multicore

12.592 compute (Radeon Vega 7 Graphics)

Radeon Vega 7 integrated graphics in direct comparison with NVIDIA’s MX150 dedicated laptop graphics card.

These numbers are also astonishing. The T14s can easily trade blows with much higher wattage CPUs from team blue, despite being heavily limited by the thermal capabilities of the chassis and cooling solution, temperatures surpassed 95°C.

The Radeon Vega 7 Graphics easily outperformed a dedicated NVIDIA MX150 to such an extent, performance is around a dedicated NVIDIA MX330.

Very impressive!