Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 and ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 unveiled with AMD Ryzen 7000 processors

[Redaktion]

Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 and ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 at MWC 2023. Both laptops feature 16:10 IPS/OLED screens, AMD Ryzen 7000 processors, two USB 4.0 ports and LPDDR5x memory. The Z16 Gen 2 goes on sale in August, and the Z13 Gen 2 in July.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Z13-Gen-2-and-ThinkPad-Z16-Gen-2-unveiled-with-AMD-Ryzen-7000-processors.697550.0.html

[sam33]

These two laptops are useless without USB-A or HDMI ports. its a thinkpad for gods sake. this is a crime for a thinkpad.

also the external GPU 6550M is slower than last year 6600m(6700s). Its probably same speed as the integrated 780M.

these wont sell IMO

[BobMiller]

I actually had just received the Z16 Gen 1 before the weekend. It's a brilliant machine but some things I would change:

• Increase battery capacity to over 90 WHr
• Move the intake fan vents from the bottom to the sides like the Macbook so that it won't overheat when used on a lap/cushion.
• Improve the speakers so they are a closer match to the Macbook
• Remove/change the touchscreen layer so that there isn't a visible pattern effect on screen.
• I'm all for USB-C devices but there are still plenty of peripherals which require USB-A ports, so please add one.
• Add Play/Pause controls to the FN keys (or just add option in Vantage to change each of those keys)
• Reduce the prices. Unfortunately the Macbook is still better in almost every respect, except for having MacOS instead of Windows. You shouldn't be charging Macbook prices whilst delivering comparatively worse machines.

Some things I really like about the machine:

• The AMD CPU has a much better integrated GPU than the Intel CPU's, which allows me to run 3D programs better whilst still saving on battery.
• The haptic touchpad is so much nicer to use than a traditional touchpad.
• The OLED screen is really nice and doesn't seem to have PWM issues
• Build quality and keyboard feel

[heffeque]

Reduce the prices. Unfortunately the Macbook is still better in almost every respect, except for having MacOS instead of Windows. You shouldn't be charging Macbook prices whilst delivering comparatively worse machines.

Yup, that seems like a big summary right there.

Question: what CPU was it? 7940HS by any chance?

[kuro68k]

64GB RAM is very welcome, that was a major issue for me with the gen 1. I guess it will be soldered in though, so you get to pay Lenovo prices for it.

Single NVMe slot? Sounds like it if they are listing 2TB as the maximum. At least it has 2 USB4 ports. Hope they are directly attached to the CPU instead of via a bridge chip.

[lksdfjksd]

Dear #Lenovo #ThinkPad team, please address the following issues in the next ThinkPad Z16 G3:

- 35W AMD Ryzen 8940HS
- 65W+ Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti (8GB)
- 2.5k screen
- better webcam with physical privacy shutter
- 90-165Hz screen
- Thermal Grizzly liquid on both CPU and GPU
- vapour chamber for CPU and GPU
- 99.9Wh battery
- 4x USB 4 (USB C) ports and HDMI port
- 3.5mm on the left side
- 1.5mm keyboard travel with quieter keys (the 2021 Legion 7 was amazingly quiet)
- make 3rd party USB C PD 3.1 chargers compatible with all Lenovo laptops with full power e.g. Anker, Apple and Baseus 140W USB C chargers, and stop limiting them at 100W
- make Lenovo charger with removable cables and duckdeads like MacBook USB C chargers

[NikoB]

No. Improved keyboard (with numpad) from T16, with 1.8mm key travel. 4k @ 120-144Hz screen with a response of no more than 6ms when working from a PSU.

3 x usb-a 3.2 Gen 2 ports and 2 x usb40 ports (exactly as many as Phoenix Zen4 supports)

RJ45 at 10Gbps.

HDMI 2.1 at 48Gbps and DP2.1 at 80Gbps to support 8K monitors. But Zen4 only supports the infamous 40Gbps DP2.1 - 1/2 of the full DP2.0

And 1440p webcams as in HP G9 series. With 60fps and autofocus.

But all this is useless because of the wildly slow AMD memory controllers, which lose from 1.5 to 2 times the same Intel controllers even when the latter work with memory at a lower frequency.

The entire x86 camp was disgraced in 2023, when the RAM of Apple's M2 Max processors began to work 5 (!) Times faster than in x86 laptops.

The x86 camp is still held together only by a huge accumulated codebase that is poorly compatible with arm processors. Otherwise, both Intel and its antimonopoly pad - AMD would already be bankrupt.

[informatic]

What everyone is waiting for is to see the tests AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix= DDR5 + RDNA 3 + Pci 4.0 + USB 4.0 + HDMI 2.1 + Artificial intelligence designed with XDNA architecture developed by Xilinx and all at 4nm vs 10nm from Intel. This is the 1st Artificial Intelligence on X86 chip and Intel has not been able to achieve it, which makes AMD Zen 4 7040 Phoenix can take much more advantage of the offline potential of ChatGPT.
AMD Zen 4 7040 Phoenix CPUs outperform the Apple M2 in performance and efficiency until the M3 arrives, but it's a big leap for the Zen 4 7040 APU. If you want to know more just type in your search engine AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix

[Folie]

AMD ZEN 4 7040 Phoenix

One finds in every corner that the CPU has security gaps for malware, its AI makes smart phone calls and thus competes with China.

[Intel Not Inside]

• The OLED screen is really nice and doesn't seem to have PWM issues

That's the main issue... No way to verify OLED compatibility. Would be great if we got a DC-dimming on gen2 (gen1 is PWM), so we could verify good operation in low light / low brightness settings (which is my main reason for getting OLED - because low brightness / low light settings are a main use case for me).

[Intel Not Inside]

Dear #Lenovo #ThinkPad team, please address the following issues in the next ThinkPad Z16 G3:

- 35W AMD Ryzen 8940HS
- 65W+ Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti (8GB)
- 2.5k screen
- better webcam with physical privacy shutter
- 90-165Hz screen
- Thermal Grizzly liquid on both CPU and GPU
- vapour chamber for CPU and GPU
- 99.9Wh battery
- 4x USB 4 (USB C) ports and HDMI port
- 3.5mm on the left side
- 1.5mm keyboard travel with quieter keys (the 2021 Legion 7 was amazingly quiet)
- make 3rd party USB C PD 3.1 chargers compatible with all Lenovo laptops with full power e.g. Anker, Apple and Baseus 140W USB C chargers, and stop limiting them at 100W
- make Lenovo charger with removable cables and duckdeads like MacBook USB C chargers

Decent list. I wouldn't count on them to add paste correctly, so the issue is they need to make it easy to take apart without damaging it. No NVIDIA plz; disagree. You can use an eGPU now that its USB4.

Yes the display needs to be at least 120hz; 60hz is bottom of barrel and shouldn't be in a gen2/gen3 laptop today. Removing the webcam privacy switch is just a slap in the face of their own brand; no one is inconvenienced by that. Better keyboards always welcome of course.

64GB RAM is very welcome, that was a major issue for me with the gen 1. I guess it will be soldered in though, so you get to pay Lenovo prices for it.

Single NVMe slot? Sounds like it if they are listing 2TB as the maximum. At least it has 2 USB4 ports. Hope they are directly attached to the CPU instead of via a bridge chip.

It must have two m.2 slots because gen 1 claims to have two as well. If not, then its a dud.

[Intel Not Inside]

Hopefully the RAM is fast and doesn't waste the CPU & GPU potential - big difference between the different speeds of DDR5 RAM on Ryzen!

[Berni]

I'm confused, does it have Bluetooth 5.1 or 5.3? The article says 5.3 and the specs says 5.1.

[Anirban]

Thanks. Would you be doing a full review of this machine?