Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G4+ review: Good multimedia laptop with a lot of power

With the ThinkBook 16 G4+, Lenovo is introducing a 16-inch multimedia notebook with powerful components and plenty of modern features for a RRP of 1,200 Euros (~US$ 1200). In addition to the latest Intel Core i7-12700H processor, there is the dedicated GeForce RTX 2050 from Nvidia, as well as modern features such as Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E or PCIe 4. 0.

The display is a matte WQHD IPS panel and there is a large 1 TB SSD alongside 16 GB of RAM. Our review sample is a campus model without an operating system. Lenovo mainly uses aluminum for the case (i.

e. the lid and base unit) and the surfaces are sandblasted as well as anodized. The smooth surfaces feel pleasant and convey a high-quality impression.

Fingerprints can be seen relatively quickly, but can also be removed easily. Visually, the silver-colored case looks elegant and fits well in professional environments. The only visual accent is the two-tone display lid with two different shades of gray.

In terms of workmanship, the ThinkBook gives a fundamentally good impression, but there is still room for improvement. We were able to elicit quiet creaking noises from the base unit and the keyboard area can also be pressed in. The display lid proves to be more stable – we were unable to bring about any image errors, but the display clearly teeters when the opening angle is changed.

A maximum of 180 degrees is possible and the hinges are well adjusted, as one-handed opening presents no issue. With the exception of the Acer Swift X , the 16-inch devices in the comparison field are very similar in terms of size. However, the ThinkBook is a little thinner than most of the rivals at only 1.

65 cm. The weight amounts to 1. 82 kg, not including the additional 400 grams for the power adapter.

The ThinkBook 16 G4+ offers practically all the ports you could want. In addition to a modern Thunderbolt 4 port, there are also regular USB-A ports, a full-fledged HDMI output, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. There is even a hidden USB port under a flap on the right side, which conforms only to the 2.

0 standard, but is perfect for permanently connected dongles, such as external input devices. There is an SD card reader on the right side that does not fully accommodate the memory cards (they protrude by about 2 cm). We measured transfer rates of almost 90 MB/s via our reference card (Angelbird AV Pro V60 UHS-II), which puts the ThinkBook ahead of competitors whose card readers only function via USB 2.

0. In addition to the Gigabit Ethernet module (Intel I219-V), Lenovo installs the very modern Intel AX211E Wi-Fi 6E module, which theoretically supports the latest 6 GHz networks. However, we were unable to connect to the 6 GHz network of our reference router from Asus.

Yet the transfer rates were very high and stable on the 5 GHz network, which is why there are no real limitations in practice. The ThinkBook offers a 1080p webcam with a mechanical shutter that delivers better images than previous 720p modules. Additionally, there is an IR camera for face recognition via Windows Hello.

The baseplate is fastened with a total of 10 Torx screws (T5) and can be removed easily. Afterwards, you are able to clean the two fans and access the two M. 2-2280 slots for SSDs.

The WLAN module is partially glued over, but can be replaced in principle. Only the RAM is soldered and cannot be upgraded. The dark gray keyboard offers a two-level white backlight as well as a dedicated number pad on the right side, although the keys are a bit narrower here.

In terms of typing feel, the ThinkBook is more along the lines of the manufacturer’s IdeaPads rather than the ThinkPads. Key travel is quite short, but at least the feedback is very precise and the keys do not rattle either. In our opinion, Lenovo wastes some potential here; there are more comfortable inputs if you frequently type very long texts.

The power button is located on the right above the keyboard and includes a fingerprint scanner. The large ClickPad has been shifted slightly to the left and, at 12 x 7. 5 cm, offers enough space for pointer navigation as well as gestures with up to four fingers.

This works very well thanks to the Microsoft Precision standard and the pad doesn’t rattle either. The lower half can be pressed physically, but this is characterized by loud and cheap-sounding clicking noises, so you should only tap the pad (tap to click). Lenovo equips the ThinkBook 16 G4+ with a matte WQHD panel in 16:10 format, but there are two different versions of the IPS screen.

Our review sample uses a 60 Hz panel, but according to the spec sheet, a 120 Hz model with factory color calibration is also available as an option. Our subjective image impression of the matte panel is very good. Content is displayed clearly, colors are vivid and bright areas are not grainy.

We determined a very good contrast ratio of almost 1700:1 (black value 0. 23), which certainly also contributes to the vivid image impression. Lenovo specifies a brightness of 350 cd/m², which our panel just surpasses.

There is no PWM flickering and response times are inconspicuous, but there are clearly visible halos on dark backgrounds at high brightness levels. The viewing angle stability of the IPS display is very good, but HDR content is not supported. Our analysis with the professional CalMAN software (X-Rite i1 Pro 2) reveals a slightly bluish tint in conjunction with a color temperature that is slightly too cool.

On the other hand, the deviations of the grayscale and also the colors compared to the sRGB reference color space are already quite low. If you do not want to edit pictures, you don’t necessarily have to calibrate the panel, but there is still a lot of potential here and after our calibration, the results are much better and all colors are below the important DeltaE-2000 deviation of 3. Together with the almost complete sRGB coverage, image/video editing is also possible.

The matte screen surface helps outdoors, of course, and you can work comfortably on cloudy days, but the display needs to be a little brighter on very bright days. As usual, Lenovo offers its own power settings that can be set either via the preinstalled Vantage software or the Fn+P key combination. We have listed the respective TDP/TGP values for the CPU and GPU in the table below.

We used the High Performance setting for testing. The Core i7-12700H is a fast processor from Intel’s current Alder Lake generation that relies on a hybrid architecture with 6 fast performance and 8 efficiency cores. Thanks to high power limits, the performance yield of the ThinkBook 16 G4+ is very good and CPU performance is better that of the rivals.

Even under sustained load, the processor remains at 55 watts and delivers good results. However, maximum consumption is limited to 70 watts in battery mode and then quickly reaches 64 watts, which is why the multi-core performance is ~12% lower when not plugged in. More CPU benchmarks are available here .

In everyday use, the ThinkBook 16 G4+ is an extremely responsive laptop and given the powerful components, one should not worry about performance bottlenecks in the coming years. We were unable to run synthetic PCMark 10 in our review sample because it always crashed despite several reinstallations of the program and also of the drivers. This was the only problem we encountered during testing and the results in the other benchmarks are very good, as expected.

In our standardized latency test (web browsing, 4K YouTube playback, CPU load), the ThinkBook 16 G4+ shows severe limitations with the present version and is therefore unsuitable for using real-time audio applications. The ThinkBook 16 G4+ offers two M. 2-2280 slots for SSDs, one of which uses a fast PCIe 4.

0 connection, the other PCIe 3. 0. A compact Micron 2450 (M.

2-2242) is installed in our review sample, which is already a PCIe 4. 0 SSD, but this drive is not the fastest, since the manufacturer specifies a maximum transfer rate of 3. 6 GB/s.

The end result is that you have a PCIe 4. 0 SSD with PCIe 3. 0 speed.

Nevertheless, this presents no real restrictions in practice and performance remains stable even under prolonged load. The SSD offers a capacity of 1 TB, whereby 916 GB is still available after the first startup. More SSD benchmarks are available here .

In everyday use, graphics calculations are often handled by the processor’s integrated Iris Xe Graphics G7 . The dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 only switches on automatically under higher load. In principle, this GPU is a GeForce MX570 , but also supports RayTracing and DLSS.

The TGP is set at a maximum of 50 watts, whereby another 10 watts can be used by the processor. We observed a maximum core clock of 1,762 MHz. In the synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2050 usually ranks just behind the RTX 3050 , which works a little more efficiently.

Furthermore, the GPU is more than twice as fast as the Iris Xe Graphics G7 in demanding tests. There is no performance drop under prolonged load, as the demanding Time Spy stress test is easily passed with 99. 7%.

However, the GPU’s energy consumption is limited to 30 watts in battery mode, which leads to a performance reduction of 15%. More GPU benchmarks are available in our tech section . The gaming performance of the RTX 2050 is good, and the ThinkBook 16 G4+ again ranks behind the RTX 3050 Ti and in many cases also the RTX 3050 .

Many titles thus can be played smoothly in Full HD and high details, and native WQHD resolution is also possible in some cases. A reduction in details in FHD is only required for demanding titles such as Cyberpoint 2077. Our Witcher 3 loop shows that performance does not drop during longer gaming sessions.

More gaming benchmarks are available here . When idling or under low load, the two fans almost always remain deactivated, even in High Performance mode. However, they quickly reach maximum speed under higher loads in this mode, corresponding to a noise level of 47 dB(A).

This is already clearly audible and so we recommend headphones when gaming. In Intelligent Cooling mode, the laptop is only marginally quieter at just under 44 dB(A) when gaming. If you don’t require much performance, you can easily switch to battery-saving mode, since the fans rarely kick in and are hardly audible, but this mode is hardly suitable for gaming due to the power reduction.

No electronic noises were detected. The aluminum case does not heat up at all under low load. It only gets significantly hotter during gaming or stress testing.

On the upper side of the base unit, we registered around 42 °C in the middle/upper keyboard area, which is also noticeable when typing, but is not unpleasant. On the underside, there is a hotspot in the central rear area of the case, where we measured around 50 °C. Direct skin contact with metal surfaces should be avoided here.

In stress testing, the processor starts at full power and then levels off at 20 watts after a few minutes, while the graphics card stabilizes at 50 watts and remains at this level. The GPU is therefore prioritized in High Performance mode, while the processor is allowed to consume a little more power in Intelligent Cooling mode (24/36 watts). Lenovo equips the ThinkBook 16 G4+ with two stereo speakers (2x 2 watts), which are located in the front area of the base unit and direct the sound downwards.

Sound-wise, the modules are average and comparable to the direct competitor, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus , since both models lack power and bass. For background music or occasional videos, the sound quality is sufficient and is even very good for speech reproduction (e. g.

conferences) thanks the linear reproduction of trebles/highs. However, external speakers or headphones should be used for gaming or film evenings. The idle consumption values of the ThinkBook are perfectly acceptable in view of the large WQHD panel with a maximum of ~12 watts.

However, the included 100-watt power supply quickly becomes a limiting factor under load. In extreme cases, the HWiNFO tool outputs a maximum total consumption of 162 watts at the beginning of the stress test and, upon evaluation of the data, we see that up to 70 watts also has to be extracted from the battery for a short time. The situation stabilizes after a few minutes, but this is certainly not not conducive to battery life if the battery has to be tapped again and again under load.

The 71 Wh battery allows for decent runtimes, as our review sample lasted between 6:43 hours and 8:09 hours in WLAN testing, depending on screen brightness. A little more than 12 hours is even possible with video playback at 150 cd/m² (corresponding to 71% of maximum brightness). This big difference to the WLAN test shows once again that the current Alder Lake CPUs do not work particularly efficiently, even under single-core load (i.

e. when surfing the internet). The complete charging process with the device turned on takes around 100 minutes with a linear charging curve, but there is also an express charge option that takes just 73 minutes (60% is already available after 28 minutes).

The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G4+ is a very solid multimedia notebook that has few points of criticism, apart from the weak power supply during peak loads. The base unit could be a little more stable and Lenovo also has room for improvement in the keyboard, but these points wouldn’t deter us from buying it. The large 16-inch IPS display offers very good image picture quality free of PWM and bright surfaces do not appear grainy despite the matte surface.

While lacking in additional features such as HDR, a higher refresh rate or an extended color space here, the panel is nonetheless perfectly sufficient for its intended purpose. Performance values, thanks to the combination of an Intel Core i7-12700H and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 , are very good. Even gaming is not a problem with the ThinkBook.

In the ThinkBook 16 G4+, Lenovo offers a very good multimedia notebook that does not have any major weak points and impresses with its extensive connectivity, high performance and good IPS display in everyday use. Competing devices, such as the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus or the Acer Swift X , offer slightly faster and more efficient GPUs in the RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti , but struggle with darker displays. Overall, the ThinkBook 16 G4+ is a very solid laptop that, all things considered, ranks ahead of its rivals.

Availability of the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G4+ appears to be sparse worldwide. For example, Lenovo’s official website lists the laptop in France (1,079. 00€), Italy (1,659.

00€), Singapore (SG$1,504. 07) and the United Arab Emirates. This list is not exhaustive.

Prices are as of 20. 09. 2022 and subject to change.

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