Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 Review: Powerful Workstation, Premium Price

The Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 delivers professional-grade performance in a durable, feature-rich package, but its hefty price tag and competition from newer hardware make it a tough sell for many users.

Overview

Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 combines workstation-class capabilities with a touch of luxury through its vibrant OLED display. Built to withstand MIL-STD 810H durability testing, this laptop offers a wide range of hardware configurations including discrete GPU options and high-performance CPUs. However, the workstation pricing creates a significant challenge, as users who don’t require ISV certifications can find better value elsewhere.

Price When Reviewed: $4,218 as-tested (base model starts at $1,599)

Key Specifications

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 265H (vPro)
• Memory: 64GB DDR5-6500
• Graphics: Nvidia RTX Pro 500 6GB
• Display: 16-inch 3840×2400 OLED touchscreen, anti-glare, 60Hz, Dolby Vision
• Storage: 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD
• Battery: 75 watt-hours

Design and Build Quality

The ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 isn’t designed to be a thin-and-light laptop. As a mobile workstation, it requires substantial size for proper cooling and to accommodate its 16-inch display. At one inch thick (with rubber feet) and weighing 4.27 pounds, it’s portable but substantial.

Lenovo utilizes aluminum for the lid and base, departing from the typical carbon-fiber reinforced polymer found on many other ThinkPads. The keyboard deck maintains the signature soft-touch finish. Both materials show fingerprints easily.

The laptop takes full advantage of its footprint, incorporating a near-full-size number pad and offsetting the arrow keys. The trackpad is relatively modest in size given the available space. Lenovo also positioned the speakers on the bottom, tucked behind small grilles at the front edge, despite having ample space above the keyboard for upward-firing speakers.

Display and Audio Performance

The 16-inch OLED display stands out as one of the laptop’s strongest features. With 3840×2400 resolution, 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, 400 nits of brightness, and Dolby Vision support, it delivers exceptional visual quality. In testing, the display reached 402 nits of brightness and demonstrated strong color accuracy with a maximum dE1976 of 2.03.

The touchscreen is responsive, though limited to 60Hz refresh rate. The anti-reflective coating helps reduce glare, though it’s not as effective as a true matte finish.

Audio performance is respectable, with speakers that produce good volume and speech-focused sound. However, music playback reveals harsh qualities and excess sibilance, with minimal bass response.

Performance Analysis

The ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 delivers solid performance, though not exceptional for its price point. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265H CPU provides strong single and multi-core performance, and the laptop’s cooling system allows the chip to maintain performance under sustained loads.

However, competitors consistently outperform this configuration. The Dell 16 Premium, despite using a lower-tier Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, showed higher performance levels. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9 16IAH10, with an even higher-tier processor, significantly outperforms the P16s Gen 4.

The Nvidia RTX Pro 500 6GB discrete GPU, while helpful for graphics workloads and some AI applications, falls short of expectations. In 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark, it’s outperformed by systems with more powerful GPUs, including the RTX 5050 found in less expensive gaming laptops.

Battery Life Considerations

For a laptop with a large OLED screen and discrete graphics, the ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 offers respectable battery life, lasting nearly six hours in our video playback test. However, many competing productivity machines offer significantly longer runtime. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9 16IAH10 provides about four additional hours, while the Dell 16 Premium lasts even longer.

The most significant challenge comes from newer Panther Lake hardware, exemplified by the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+, which achieved over 34 hours of runtime in our tests—more than double what the ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 managed.

Verdict

The Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 is a well-built, capable workstation that excels in durability and display quality. Its keyboard is excellent, the OLED screen is stunning, and the overall build quality is premium. However, the combination of high price and competition from newer, more efficient hardware makes it difficult to recommend broadly.

This laptop makes the most sense for professionals who specifically need ISV certifications, MIL-STD 810H durability validation, or other enterprise features. For general users or those who can work with consumer-grade alternatives, there are significantly better value propositions available in the current market.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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