Customers are left in the dark: Only Vapor-Chamber models of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4/X1 Extreme G4 offer full CPU Performance

[Redaktion]

Depending on the dGPU configuration of the ThinkPad P1 G4 or ThinkPad X1 Extreme G4, you will get a more powerful cooling system and therefore more CPU performance. This is, however, not communicated very well, and you might pay a lot of money for a supposedly fast CPU if you do not pay attention.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Customers-are-left-in-the-dark-Only-Vapor-Chamber-models-of-the-Lenovo-ThinkPad-P1-G4-X1-Extreme-G4-offer-full-CPU-Performance.573365.0.html

[Brad Collins]

Thank you for publishing this. It seems a shame you can't opt for the better cooling with a smaller graphics card - that'd be a good config imho

[LL]

It is not only this laptop neither only Lenovo. It is a giant mess.

You need to read reviews, or you don't know what power CPU e GPU can use even if same models..

[ETT]

Allow me to correct one information here, according to PSREF from Lenovo, "Vapor Chamber cooling is available only with NV RTX A3000 /A4000 / A5000 and GeForce RTX 3070 / 3080 GPUs".

Looks like the Turing based GPUs and 3060 are the ones without vapor chamber.

A3000 does appear to have vapor chamber.

[DS—]

I ordered the one with the A2000 GPU as I need the 5G WWAN for work. Wondering if a thermal repaste would improve performance substantially. Has anyone tested this?

[Andreas Osthoff]

Allow me to correct one information here, according to PSREF from Lenovo, "Vapor Chamber cooling is available only with NV RTX A3000 /A4000 / A5000 and GeForce RTX 3070 / 3080 GPUs".

Looks like the Turing based GPUs and 3060 are the ones without vapor chamber.

A3000 does appear to have vapor chamber.

The RTX 3060 in the case of the X1 Extreme G4, it is not available for the P1 G4.

[John Arthur]

Also, if you get a vapour chamber model you are restricted to only 1 Nvme slot, I really wanted this but went for precision 7560 instead, solid, fast, 3 slots and almost silent, just wish it had 16:10 but you can't have everything (yet 😉)

[toven]

It's not just the price.  ROG g15 3080 has normal cooling while cheaper 6800m has vapor chamber.

[psd0930]

Since HP zbook studio g8 also only has vapor chamber on higher GPU configuration.
Will  Zbook studio g8 has the same issue as well?

[psd0930]

Could you test the HP zbook studio g8(without vapor chamber version) to see if it has the same issue?

[ksh]

One of the reasons I've bought Thinkpad P. series laptops for my last 2 laptops, is that it offers 2 NvME slots. (the P50 offered an additional 2.5" hdd as well)
Lenovo wants you to choose between good performance and storage. This is so much fail.

If Lenovo managed to offer Vapor chamber cooling with all options + expandable storage, that would be nice. But I don't see it happening even in the next gen. They will want to keep the same design for 2-3 gens. Time for the prices to drop.

If all I wanted was a laptop with good cooling, at the expense of upgradability, the MBP's that will come out tomorrow will also not be upgradeable, but they will likely beat the pants off these machines in terms of CPU performance. And offer better cooling, longer battery life.

The only use case left for me is the ability to dual boot Linux.

[LL]

ksh i am happy with my Lenovo Legion 5 17 buy:

Cinebench R23 multi:  13200 .   130w RTX 3060 with MUX.
It also have 2 NVMe slots, i know it is a 17 so bigger than 15.

[Marto]

I am in fact suffering a variant of this problem; I need a beast CPU and 5g WWAN ... but ... in case you choose P1 G4 Thinkpad ... if you want any WWAN, you are obliged to take the low GPU way (which I really prefer) ... BUT ... that impacts fully in my CPU performance due to the lack of vapor-chamber solution ...  ... It's a real pity ... I have to look for other options ... and after a deep seek the P1 G4 was the one I liked ... ...  ... a pity ...

Regards.

[SSCoupling]

According to some of the video reviewers on youtube, even with the model with vapor chamber would suffer serious throttling when both CPU and GPU are under high load. (something like 20w for CPU and 80w for GPU).

So clearly it is not a laptop for gaming.

[psd0930]

For the latest version of Zbook studio and fury (g8)

You can found the floowing :"he HP custom vapor chamber (Z VaporForce) is only available on configurations with NVIDIA RTXTM A3000 Laptop GPU or GeForce RTXTM 3060 GPU and higher GFX."
@ zbook studio g8 and zbook fury g8 introduction page