Lenovo recently unveiled its latest ThinkBook 16 G7, the ARM-based laptop that offers decent performance and great battery life. We got a chance to review the product, and here are our thoughts about it.
Design
Lenovo’s latest series of large-screen Windows laptops has been getting attention lately, especially the models that feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. The main screen comes with a 16-inch IPS panel, and the screen resolution is 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA). While the display also boasts 300 nits of brightness, 91.3% STBR, and anti-glare coating, the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, which shouldn’t really be a dealbreaker.
The new ThinkBook 16 G7 features a dimension of 16.7mm x 356.4mm x 248.4mm, and weighs about 1.82kg. The chassis features a Luna Grey color. The laptop offers a lot of connectivity options. On the left, you have a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, two USB-C ports with 10 Gbps transfer for DisplayPort and power delivery, and one headphone/mic combo audio port. On the right side, there is a full-sized SD card reader (support for SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC), two USB-A ports with 5Gbps connectivity, and a Kensington Nano security slot. One of the USB-A ports comes with support for Always-on connection.
The outer side of the laptop’s lid comes with the ThinkBook logo on the top left side, along with the vertical Lenovo logo on the bottom right side. Lenovo has also designed the lid in such a a way that users will easily be able to open the screen with a single hand.
The keyboard comes with Lenovo’s smiley-looking keycaps. The keyboard is also spill-resistant, and there is a dedicated numeric keypad portion and a Copilot key. The Precision Touchpad is quite large with a smooth surface. There is also a dedicated power button above the keyboard that also doubles as a fingerprint reader.
There are air vents on the bottom panel of the laptop, along with dual speakers located on either side. The speakers come with support for Dolby Atmos. There are dual-array mics next to the front-facing webcam. The camera features a 1080p sensor, along with a privacy shutter.
The contents of the product’s box include the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 laptop, a 65W 3-pin AC adapter with USB-C, and a quick start guide. Lenovo mentions that the laptop’s adaptor is made of 90% post-consumer content (PCC) recycled plastic, 50% PCC recycled plastic for keycaps, 30% PCC recycled plastic for speaker enclosure, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified plastic-free packaging with 90% recycled content, biobased plastic, non-wood biobased fiber material, and/or sustainably-forested materials.
Performance
With regard to performance, the laptop is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 processor, with speeds clocked at 3.4 GHz. The NPU used here is the Qualcomm Hexagon, capable of maxing out at up to 45 TOPS, and the integrated graphics are handled by the Qualcomm Adreno GPU with 3.8 Tflops of performance. It should be noted that the Snapdragon X Plus is a slower version of the Snapdragon X Elite chips.
That said, the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 comes with configurations up to 32GB, however, our review sample came with 16GB of onboard LPDDR5X memory. The laptop also runs on Windows 11 Home ARM edition OS, installed on a modest 512GB WD SN740 PCIe 4.0 SSD. The device also The laptop’s performance is snappy most of the time, and the battery life is long-lasting throughout the day.
We tested the laptop with Cinebench 2024, Geekbench 6 (CPU, Vulkan, OpenCL), and CrystalDiskMark benchmark apps. Take a look at the results below.
The laptop also comes with an 84 Whr battery life with support for Rapid Charge fast-charging capability. Thanks to the low-power ARM chips, the laptop is capable of lasting for over a day of use. Other features include WiFi 7 802.11be (2×2) and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity. Lenovo also mentions that the laptop comes with ThinkShield, an advanced security suite with data encryption and biometrics.
Verdict
For those looking for a large-sized laptop that can deliver good performance and long battery life, we recommend the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7. The laptop comes with a 16-inch IPS display, featuring a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200. The display also comes with 300 nits of brightness and anti-glare coating. The keyboard also comes with a dedicated CoPilot key and is resistant to spills. The laptop weighs 1.82kg and features dimensions of 16.7mm x 356.4mm x 248.4mm.
The laptop also comes with several connectivity options that includes HDMI 2.1, USB-A, and USB-C ports. The main power button also comes with an integrated fingerprint scanner. The laptop’s performance is great, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor. The device also houses an 84 Whr battery with support for fast charging capability. The laptop also comes with WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity options.
