Lenovo ThinkPad T14s G3 AMD laptop review: Quiet and efficient workhorse with Ryzen power

[buscon]

Lenovo officially claim about better battery time with Zen3+ in Legion 7 series vs Alder Lake H. +25-30%. With same hardware and battery, but Lenovo not tested it with 4k video, only with fhd video. AMD SoC load igpu with hardware playback of 4k video on YouTube is about 2-2.5 times higher according to my observations. Not surprisingly, the consumption is greater. But in normal tasks, AMD wins in battery life and the speed of the laptop at the same TDP is much higher. Miracles don't happen. The SoC with the best process technology outperforms the SoC with the worst.

thanks for your comment.
This is why I tested it with Ableton Live, that is the software that I am going to use the most.
But even with that, there is 15% cpu difference between Intel and AMD, with Intel being the winner.
I am only suprised because all the reviews seem to say the opposite. Probably it also depends on what kind of use you do of your machine.

any idea how to test every day usage?

[NikoB]

any idea how to test every day usage?

At now usually under the "normal" use means "surfing".
Specialized software can give an advantage to a particular platform, depending on its specific load. When running from a PSU, obviously, Intel is now always faster, but at the cost of more heat and noise. Buyer choose what is more important to him..

The rise in notebook consumption to monstrous proportions clearly speaks of a real technological impasse with silicon.

They simply will no longer be able to increase speed due to the growth of TDP, which means further or a drop in speed if the authorities limit laptops in terms of consumption (and everything is going to this) or it will grow very, very slowly and only when changing radical leaps in technical processes there will be visible jumps, but each new technical process is harder and more expensive for them. The physical world imposes merciless restrictions...

[Daniele Rugginenti]

I bought a new one T14G2 from lenovo website, based on this article.
Just connected, still POWERED OFF, it wents to 40 celsius degrees, charging!

Contacted the support, asked for money back, sent it back after 3 hours, they answered after 10 days:
'The laptop has no problem. Can't money back because the box is not more sealed, was already opened'.

Was my dream sinnce the IBM 386sx I had in 1994 to get another one, it becames a nigthmare.

[Neenyah]

Lol, why is 50°C a problem? That is even too cool tbh.

[RobertJasiek]

Just connected, still POWERED OFF, it wents to 40 celsius degrees, charging!

Contacted the support, asked for money back, sent it back after 3 hours, they answered after 10 days:
'The laptop has no problem. Can't money back because the box is not more sealed, was already opened'.

In which country do you live and from which country have you ordered?

[Neenyah]

Wait, 40°C, not 50 (I was almost sleeping when I wrote my previous comment).

Ok, even more interesting - why is that a problem for a charger that's charging a yet-to-power-on laptop?

I don't get it. Normal temperature as long as the batter is below 90% (then it slows down and with that it also cools down).

[NikoB]

notebookchat.com/index.php?msg=535339

[Gg]

Psref just release t14s amd gen4, waiting for NC's review!!!

[Ed Fang]

Do not purchase this laptop if you want to use it with eGPU.
The USB4 port will overheat.
It works for about 10-20 mins after a while the USB4 overheats causing the eGPU to reconnect.

[NikoB]

Do not purchase this laptop if you want to use it with eGPU.
The USB4 port will overheat.
It works for about 10-20 mins after a while the USB4 overheats causing the eGPU to reconnect.

Where do you get the information that this is an architectural problem for the entire series, and not a defect in your copy?

[Bizarro_NikoB]

Do not purchase this laptop if you want to use it with eGPU.
The USB4 port will overheat.
It works for about 10-20 mins after a while the USB4 overheats causing the eGPU to reconnect.

Sounds like you have a defective product mate. I have a t14s Gen 3 AMD and run it everyday with an egpu no problem. Never disconnects or overheats. The laptop is very rock solid for me and usb4 works flawlessly for hours on end - no disconnects.

[bailtree]

I have tested the noise level when this laptop is running a 3DMark stress test and it reaches about 36.5dB at around 15cm.

[NikoB]

Unfortunately, you cannot compare the results from the review with your own for a simple reason - your results were taken on different equipment and in different conditions, with another laptop copy, whose coolers may indeed be louder than others - after all, Lenovo does not officially indicate the series noise level limit, right? No formalization of test conditions - no reliable results. The results of rare copies of laptop this model provide no indication of what the next buyer will have in their hands...

Just like with HDD noise, you never know how noisy the next instance will be, because... HDD manufacturers indicate only _typical_ noise, not maximum. Do you understand the difference?

And laptop manufacturers have never even indicated typical noise under 100% load on the CPU/GPU, and even more so when only the CPU is loaded or 10-30-50-75% load of cores. They don't think it's important.

Where buyers pay very much attention to this (for example, in projector's market), the noise level is indicated. But even there, projector manufacturers lay out legal straws for themselves - they do not indicate either typical or maximum noise. Just noise. And what is it? Spherical horse in a vacuum...