I get tons of Lenovo products at my workplace, and recently got the RTX ADA GPU version, specifically the Lenovo ThinkPad P16. So here's a unbiased informational review of it, if you have any questions please let me know below!

TL;DR: High-end 16″ mobile workstation with a 20‑core Intel CPU and professional RTX A1000 GPU, it easily runs through multithreaded workloads and never feels slow under normal multitasking. The 3840×2400 IPS display is gorgeous (800-nit HDR400, wide DCI-P3 gamut), and the build is rock-solid. Cons: It’s very heavy (~6.5 lbs) and battery life is pretty mid (~4–6h light use, ~2h heavy use). Fans get loud under load. The RTX A1000 handles CAD and occasional gaming at reduced settings but isn’t a gaming champ. Also expect some Lenovo bloatware on Windows that you’ll want to debloat (see tips below).

Quick Specs (what I had for testing)

• Model: Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (2025) — 16″ WQUXGA (3840×2400) IPS, 800-nit HDR, anti-glare, 60Hz

• CPU: Intel Core i7-14700HX (20 cores: 8 Performance + 12 Efficient, Raptor Lake-R)

• GPU: NVIDIA RTX A1000 Ada (Laptop GPU, 6GB GDDR6 – mobile 40-series professional GPU)

• RAM: 32 GB DDR5

• Storage: 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD

• Weight: ~2.95 kg (6.5 lbs) – very hefty

• Keyboard/Extras: Backlit TrackPoint keyboard (with numpad), fingerprint reader, IR webcam (1080p), Windows 11 Pro.

What I tested

• Synthetic tests: Cinebench R23 (multi-core and single-core), Geekbench 5 (multi-core and single-core), and 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics) for CPU/GPU performance baselines.

• Real-world workloads: Multi-tab Chrome/Edge browsing + Slack + VS Code (coding/compiling) to simulate daily multitasking. A short video export in Adobe Premiere (10min 4K timeline, with some color grading) to see render performance. I also ran a brief gaming session (Fortnite and Cyberpunk 2077) to gauge how the RTX A1000 handles games.

• Battery test: Measured mixed usage battery life (web browsing, streaming video, docs) at ~200 nits brightness (about 50% brightness) with Wi-Fi on, to reflect typical office/mobile work.

Benchmarks

Below are my results (along with rough averages from public benchmarks for the same components):

Cinebench R23 (Multi) | ~22,300 pts (my run ~22,200)

Cinebench R23 (Single) | ~2,100 pts

Geekbench 5 (Multi) | ~17,700

Geekbench 5 (Single) | ~2,000

3DMark Time Spy (Graphics)| ~4,700 pts

Battery (typical mixed use)| ~4–6 hrs (light use); ~2 hrs under heavy load

In real terms, 22k+ in R23 means this laptop can compile code or render video much faster than most consumer laptops. In my Premiere export (10min 4K project with basic LUTs and cuts), it took around 8–10 minutes – fast, but still longer than a dedicated RTX 3080 laptop. The RTX A1000’s 3DMark ~4,700 score is roughly on par with a GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile. In games that translated to roughly 50–60 FPS in Fortnite (1080p High/Performance mode) and about 25–30 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at low settings (1080p). In everyday multi-tab browsing and IDE use it felt instantaneous – apps opened and switched quickly thanks to the strong single-core CPU speed.

Battery wise, I got about 5 hours of light productivity (web, Docs, video at 200 nits) before the 94Wh battery hit ~10%. Heavier multitasking (VMs, video, or just Teams calls) pushed that below 3 hours. So yeah, the battery life is not the best, but I did not expect a workstation laptop to have good battery life regardless.

Performance (day-to-day & sustained)

Day-to-day performance is excellent. Everything from web browsing with 20+ tabs, Zoom/Teams, and coding in VS Code to launching large apps feels instant. The i7-14700HX’s strong single-core turbo means quick app launches and snappy UI. It really shines on parallel tasks: multitasking with dozens of Chrome tabs and a VM running still left plenty of CPU headroom. The 32GB RAM keeps plenty of room for heavy multitasking and large datasets.

However, under sustained load you see the limits of this chassis. In a long Cinebench R23 loop or a multi-hour export, the CPU still scores high but doesn’t stay at peak forever – expect it to draw ~90–100W and hit ~90°C before stabilizing and throttling down a bit. In practice, you get near-peak performance for short bursts (compiles, single heavy tasks), but very long renders or benchmarks will see some step-down. That said, it still outpaces most thin-and-light laptops; it just can’t beat a full desktop or larger 17” workstation on continuous load. The RTX A1000 GPU handled GPU-accelerated tasks well (Blender tests and GPU encoding), but it’s not aimed at high-end gaming, it managed light gaming, 3D CAD, and CUDA workloads fine, but 4K gaming on Ultra settings is out of reach.

Thermals & Fan Noise

Thermals are aggressive. In normal web and office use, the fans stay almost silent and the chassis stays cool. But crank it up with Cinebench loops or a CUDA render and you’ll hear this thing spin up quickly. I saw CPU package temps hit the high 80s/low 90s °C, with the top vents blowing really hot air (around 80–85°C). The fans get loud – not obnoxiously so, but you definitely know it’s working (think ~60–70 dB at close range). Lenovo’s thermal solution seems competent, but it has to work hard with a 20-core HX chip. Keep an eye on Windows power profiles and Lenovo Vantage updates, as firmware updates have sometimes tuned fan curves.

In short workloads, you’ll get full performance with quiet fans. During a long render, expect noticeable throttling once the fans peg out. If absolute silence is your goal, consider using “Quiet” mode in Lenovo Vantage, but that will cap performance further. Bottom line: don’t expect this P16 to stay cool and silent under pro workloads – it’s doing work!

Battery Life

Battery life is just okay for a desktop-replacement laptop. On my typical “office work” loop (~200 nits, Wi-Fi on, mixed browsing/Docs/streaming), I got about 4–6 hours before shutting down. In practice that means roughly half a day if you’re careful (and even less with 800-nit HDR on). Once you throw in video editing or multiple monitors, it plummets to 2–3 hours. Lenovo’s 94Wh pack is large, but driving a 20-core CPU and 4K+ screen means it runs out fast under load. As noted on forums, if you’re just doing a Teams meeting or light browsing, you might eke out 3–4 hours. But don’t plan on traveling cross-country on battery. For full performance you’ll want to stay plugged in (and use the 230W adapter – this thing will draw it if you let it!).

Display & Build

The 16″ WQUXGA IPS display is a highlight. It’s a sharp 3840×2400 (16:10) panel, 800 nits peak with HDR400 support and factory color calibration. In practice, colors are punchy and contrast is excellent for an IPS. I measured near-100% DCI-P3 coverage, making it great for photo/video editing and any color-critical work. The high brightness means HDR content really stands out, though the 60Hz refresh is standard. The anti-glare matte finish avoids reflections (preferable for daylight/hard light work), though it’s not as black as an OLED. Lenovo tuned the X-Rite calibration nicely – out of box it looked pretty balanced. (One caveat: at this brightness there is some high-frequency PWM; if you’re sensitive, you may want to check the panel in person.)

Build quality is ThinkPad-class: super solid aluminum & magnesium chassis, MIL-spec durability, minimal flex on lid or keyboard deck. The keyboard is comfortable with that signature ThinkPad feel (long 1.8mm travel) and includes a numpad – unusual for a workstation this size. The TrackPoint is there (red nub), along with clicky touchpad buttons. I had no keyboard flex or rattles. Ports are plentiful: two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), HDMI 2.1, miniDP via TB dock, USB-A, Ethernet, SD card, etc. It also has a useful full-size SD reader. In short, the build inspires confidence – it feels like a road warrior’s machine. The tradeoff is weight: at ~6.5 lbs, it’s not going to win any portability contests. Expect to leave it on a desk most of the time.

Comparisons

• Apple MacBook Pro 16 – If your workflow can live on macOS, the M2/M4 MacBook Pro offers similar 16″ power with much better battery life and quieter operation. Its mini-LED display and unified memory are stellar, and the OS feels very polished. Downsides: no NVIDIA GPU and it’s locked to Mac software. More expensive.

• Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 – A thin-and-light 16″ (with OLED 4K option) aimed at creatives, up to 13th Gen Intel or AMD CPUs and discrete GPUs (4060/4070). Sleeker and lighter, but smaller battery and (for Intel models) less battery life under load. More expensive as well.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• High end CPU performance – 20-core i7 excels at compiles, builds, virtualization, multi-threaded work.

• Huge, gorgeous 16″ 3840×2400 IPS screen (800 nits HDR) – excellent color and brightness for media.

• Solid premium build and keyboard (full-size with numpad, TrackPoint, fingerprint) – feels very durable.

• Large 94Wh battery (for a workstation) – still only “okay” life, but better than many smaller gaming rigs.

• Windows Pro + vPro firmware (if enabled) – good for enterprise IT manageability.

Cons:

• Very heavy and thick (6.5 lbs) – not good for lap use or frequent travel.

• Battery life is so-so (~4–6h light use) – expect to plug in for intense sessions.

• RTX A1000 is a lower-tier GPU – fine for CAD/office/games on low, but far from high-end gaming/AI performance.

• Fans get loud under load – workloads aren’t silent.

• Lenovo bloatware in Windows – comes with some preinstalled apps (e.g. “MyX”) that you’ll want to remove.

Tips for Buyers

• Debloat your install. Use tools like CTT Debloat (https://christitus.com/windows-tool/) to strip out Lenovo bloatware. Uninstall "MyX", Lenovo Vantage extras, and other vendor trial apps you don’t need – it cleans up boot times and background crap.

• Install updates. Get the latest BIOS and firmware (especially for battery and fan improvements) via Lenovo Vantage. Early P16 Gen2 units had some fan-curve quirks that recent updates have smoothed out.

• Power adapter: Use the 230W charger if you want full performance. The standard 170W adapter will power it, but heavy GPU+CPU loads will throttle if not on the 230W. If you have a Thunderbolt dock, Lenovo even makes a 230W TB dock that keeps it topped up.

• Thermal profile: In Lenovo Vantage or Windows power settings, check that you’re in “Performance” or “Balanced” mode when doing heavy work. “Quiet” mode will reduce clock speeds.

• Warranty/ADP: If you rely on this for work, look into extended warranty/accidental damage plans (some sellers bundle them). A P16 is an expensive tool, having ADP coverage is nice peace of mind.

A potentially better choice

If you need similar 16″ power but with much longer battery life and a smoother OS/trackpad experience, consider the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (assuming your workflow supports macOS). It offers a comparable (or better) screen, phenomenal battery life, and silent fanless video playback. Of course, it can’t run Windows apps natively or leverage NVIDIA CUDA, so only go this route if Apple’s ecosystem works for you.

Overall

I like the ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 as a mobile workstation: it delivers desktop-crushing performance in a relatively portable (for a 16″) chassis. Everyday tasks are fast and you can throw huge workloads at it without blinking. The display is one of the best you’ll find on a Windows laptop. My biggest gripe is battery life and portability – it’s simply not an all-day-away-from-plug machine, and it’s heavy enough that it mostly stays in one place. The RTX A1000 GPU, while great for CAD and occasional gaming, is not going to make you a gaming champion.

(Heads up: This post has amazon affiliate links. If you buy through them, I will get a small commission , doesn’t cost you extra. Helps support the time I put into testing and writing these reviews, so I appreciate it)

And please upvote this if you think it was helpful :)

If you have any questions lmk!

Hello, I'm considering buying a ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 for my new daily driver. Currently with coupons on Lenovo site I've got it down to about $2320 which is really not bad for the specs on this machine.

Here are the P16 Gen 2 Specs:

• Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-13980HX Processor (E-cores up to 4.00 GHz P-cores up to 5.60 GHz)

• Operating System: Linux Ubuntu

• Memory: 8 GB DDR5-5200MHz (SODIMM)

• First Solid State Drive: 256 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC Opal

• Second Solid State Drive: None

• SSD Total Capacity: 256 GB

• Display: 16" WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 400, 100%DCI-P3, 800 nits, 60Hz, Low Blue Lightselected upgrade

• Graphic Card: NVIDIA RTX™ A1000 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6

• Camera: 1080P FHD RGB/IR Hybrid with Microphone

• Wireless: Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 2x2 AX vPro® & Bluetooth® 5.1 or above

• Near Field Communication: NFC

• Fingerprint Reader: Fingerprint Reader

• Keyboard: Backlit, Grey with Number Pad - English (US)

• System Expansion Slots: Smart Card Reader

• TPM Setting: Enabled Discrete TPM2.0

• Absolute BIOS Selection: BIOS Absolute Enabled

• Battery: 6 Cell Li-Polymer 94Wh

• Power Cord: 170W Slim 30% PCC 3pin AC Adapter - US

• Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in

For context let me give some background on what my current daily driver is and what my typical workflow is like.

Current Daily Driver

Currently I am running off of a System76 Oryx Pro 6. I got this machine back in 2020 and it has been a workhorse. It has an Intel® Core i7-10875H CPU, RTX 2080 Super, 64 GB DDR4, and I have two seperate NVMe's in it totalling 6 TBs of storage. I have been daily driving PopOS Linux on it since I got it. However, there have been some problems with it which is why I am making the switch to ThinkPad.

What My Workflow Looks Like

I am a penetration tester/offensive cybersecurity engineer. So everyday I am usually working with multiple VMs, thus the need for the beefy specs. When I am doing pentest, CTF, security research, or development I usually have at least 2 VMs spun up at the same time (often more), as well as hundreds of tabs but have found that 64 GB of ram tends to be enough for anything I am doing. Also I am usually running 2 - 3 external monitors when I am in my office, so good GPU helps with that. But the biggest reason I got an RTX 2080 in my current daily driver is for hash cracking, but with the ability to cheaply rent GPUs online now, I don't think it is worth the absurd amount of money to go all out on something like a 4080/4090 in a new machine. I also would like to be able to do a little bit of gaming on my new machine, not very often but every once in a while.

Upgrading Ram & Storage Myself

• To save some money, going to be installing 64 GB of DDR5 5600 myself, recommendations for which kits to buy are appreciated

• I will also be throwing a 4 TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe in it if I buy this laptop

Questions & Concerns Before Buying

• From the specs I included, I am considering going with the Intel i9-13980HX, I have heard that these run hot, any advice on alleviating that? Also saw that the benchmark comparison between the i9-13980HX and i9-13950HX vPro are basically the same. This machine won't be managed by enterprise so I figured it wouldn't matter getting vPro, but any reason I should consider going with that CPU instead of the 13980HX?

• Why no OLED display option? Reviews I saw for this model mentioned there was an OLED version, but that doesn't seem to be an option anymore, is there any way I can get my hands on OLED? Not a deal breaker but for the price, it would be nice to have

• Will the RTX A1000 hold up well for what I have described doing? Is it decent on the gaming side of things? Any reason to go with the A2000 instead?

• Any big issues with battery life I should know about?

• Since I will exclusively be runnig Linux on this machine, any driver issues I should be prepared for?

• I will be traveling often with this machine, new job I started requires me to travel every other week sometimes so other than the obvious weight is there anything I should be aware of?

• From the manual, it seems pretty easy to perform self-maintenance on this machine, can anyone confirm? Don't want to find out that it is a pain in the ass later lol

• Is the pricetag worth it? My general assumption is yes, but I need this machine to last for another 4-5 years, am I making good use of my money here? Is there another ThinkPad I should consider getting with better specs for a similar price?(I don't think there is, but given that I am new to ThinkPads I figured I'd ask)

All-in-all just want a killer mobile workstation that runs Linux smoothly and is going to last me for a long time.

I purchased this as work is paying part of the cost of a new laptop, that I get to use for personal use and keep if I ever leave the company. I mainly only work with PHP, JS, WordPress etc. So very small stuff. The Pc I went with is definitely overboard. I want it to last for a lot of years though, and I dislike the idea of being unable to do "x" in the future because my laptop can't handle it. But the price is still a bit much at $2140 (That's without the discount)

Here is the build (Any opinions are appreciated, as I could still backout):
Processor: 14th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-14700HX Processor (E-cores up to 3.90 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)
Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 64
Operating System Language: Windows 11 Pro 64 English
Memory: 32 GB DDR5-4800MHz (SODIMM)
First Solid State Drive: 512 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal
Second Solid State Drive: 512 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal
SSD Total Capacity: 1 TB
Display: 16" WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), OLED, Anti-Reflection/Anti-Smudge, Dolby Vision™, Touch, HDR 500 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 400 nits, 60 Hz, Low Blue Light
Graphic Card: NVIDIA RTX™ 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6
Camera: 1080P FHD IR Hybrid with Microphone
Wireless Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 2x2 AX vPro® & Bluetooth® 5.1 (Windows 10) or Bluetooth® 5.3 (Windows 11)
Integrated Mobile Broadband: Fibocom L860-GL-16 4G LTE CAT16
Near Field Communication: NFC
Fingerprint Reader: Fingerprint Reader
Keyboard: Backlit, Grey with Number Pad - English (US)
System Expansion Slots: Smart Card Reader
TPM Setting Enabled Discrete TPM2.0
Absolute BIOS Selection BIOS Absolute Enabled
Battery: 6 Cell Li-Polymer 94Wh
Power Cord: 230W Slim 3pin AC Adapter - US
Language Pack: Publication - Polish/Portuguese/English
Adobe Elements: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2024 and Premiere Elements 2024

Ordered the AMD 7840U / 64Gb Ram version and received the laptop a few days ago. So far, I must say I'm impressed.

As a context I currently have Macbook Pro 16 M2 Max (from work) and Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra (GB3U). I bought this was mainly for work / media consumption. The reason why I bought another laptop was I was not satisfied with neither laptops for the following reasons:

MBP

Pros:

• Mostly its advantages come from its CPU - the machine is powerful & quite.

• It also has a great battery life, but I don't think it is impressive given its weight (more on this below). This thing is 300-400g heavier than my Thinkpad P16s Gen 2 or Samsung GB3Ultra, which means that for the same weight, I can carry a 20,000mah battery pack and achieve similarly great battery life.

Cons:

• Its mini LED screen gives me headaches (I think it is due to strong blue light it is emitting, if I turn on night shift to max it goes away)

• Keyboard is better than GB3U but still it bottoms out so not suitable for a long typing session.

• Its speakers have mainstream bassy tuning which makes voices sound muffled --- I ended up using an equalizer to dial down the bass. But then I have to keep changing the eq settings depending on the audio output device which is annoying.

• Quite heavy for a non-gaming laptop --- the weight is unnecessary because I usually use servers for heavy workloads so I don't need that much CPU power on my laptop. You cannot game on this (pitiful support) so the weight feels very unnecessary. It can be unwieldy to carry by one hand.

• Have to use macOS, which I find too good, I much prefer to use Windows or GNU/Linux.

Samsung GB3U

Pros:

• Beautiful OLED screen. It is not a touchscreen so the screen door effect is not an issue anyway, but I found that Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is the only OLED touchscreen that I have ever seen that doesn't show the screen door effect. So maybe Samsung OLED panels are better in this regard.

• It sounds great (I prefer this to MBP).

• It is pretty light for a machine with 16 inch screen & dGPU. Substantially lighter than the MBP.

Cons:

• Keyboard is worse than MBP, and also the FN key placement is different from MBP so I made a lot of typos when I switch machines.

• Its touchpad is somehow slightly not accurate, making it annoying.

• Its audio jack produces noise when I plug in sensitive IEMs (e.g., Sony MDR-EX800ST).

So mainly I was going for the great Screen / Keyboard / Touchpad combination, and Thinkpad P16s Gen 2 AMD satisfied all those. I've used multiple Thinkpads (X61, a few X1 Carbons, P51, X1 Yoga, etc), but I must say this one has been the most solid one so far.

Pros:

• OLED screen is of course beautiful, and it is much more comfortable to look at then the MBP's screen. Since it is not a touchscreen, it doesn't have the screen door effect. I was tempted to get ThinkPad P1 G6 so I can play video games, but the dealbreaker was that it only comes with either a QHD or a 4K OLED touch screens, which means I had to choose less pixel density or the screen door effect.

• Keyboard is of course much better than both MBP and GB3U. Also the FN key is located at the end just like MBP, making it easier to switch machines.

• Touchpad is really good, I actually prefer Windows precision touchpads to MBP's.

• I haven't run much of heavy stuff on this laptop but generally this laptop has been very quite. For normal web browsing, it is silent.

• Even with the OLED screen, the battery life seems to be pretty good, it looks like it will last longer than GB3U but shorter than MBP. (Added: Just used it for an hour browsing with brightness at 45% and white background, and it used 14% of battery, which means it can go 7 hours at this brightness level)

• Pretty light for the screen size, substantially light than the MBP (about 400-500 grams difference)

Cons:

• Bezels are a bit thick (especially the top bezel)

• Speakers have no bass.

To me, better screen/keyboard/touchpad are much more important than slightly thicker bezel. In terms of speakers, I don't care much as long as voices are clear (so I can do video chat / watch youtube videos), I use dedicated headphones for music / movies anyway.

This laptop just does not offend me in any way --- I haven't found anything annoying about this laptop, which is very rare --- usually even if I like a laptop, there are a few things that bothers me, not sure I have ever had this experience haha. Even webcam is pretty good and the finger print reader has been reliable.