Hands on with the only Intel Core Ultra X7 laptops with upgradable RAM: Lenovo's singular new ThinkPad T14 G7 and T16 G5

[Redaktion]

Lenovo's ThinkPad T series is known to be the dependable workhorse series, but with the new T14 G7 and T16 G5, Lenovo takes a bold swing: Thanks to LPCAMM2 memory, the T14 Gen 7 and T16 Gen 5 are the only laptops thus far that combine the powerful Panther Lake X7 CPUs with Intel ARC B300 graphics and upgradeable RAM.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Hands-on-with-the-only-Intel-Core-Ultra-X7-laptops-with-upgradable-RAM-Lenovo-s-singular-new-ThinkPad-T14-G7-and-T16-G5.1241172.0.html

[Hegarmin]

This laptop has lots of things going for it: good repairability, pioneering LPCAMM2 in consumer laptops, the ThinkPad brand and so on. However: the battery is smaller on the T16 than last year. Why? The TDP is low. Why? It could come with a 86WHr battery like last year and a TDP of 50W so it can make use of the beefy iGPU. Is it even confirmed that it will come the X7 chip? The card next to the laptop on the picture says Intel Xe graphics. For sure that's not the B390.

[Benjamin Herzig]

We asked Lenovo at about it - yes, it is confirmed that these will come with ARC graphics, with up to 12 Xe units. The "Xe Graphics" is a mistake on the specification card.

As far as the battery goes, according to Lenovo, they wanted to keep the battery compatible between the different models - which means the smaller T14 Gen 7 gets an upgrade to 75 Wh (up from 57 Wh), but the bigger T16 Gen 5 gets a downgrade (down from 86 Wh).

[Hegarmin]

We asked Lenovo at about it - yes, it is confirmed that these will come with ARC graphics, with up to 12 Xe units. The "Xe Graphics" is a mistake on the specification card.

As far as the battery goes, according to Lenovo, they wanted to keep the battery compatible between the different models - which means the smaller T14 Gen 7 gets an upgrade to 75 Wh (up from 57 Wh), but the bigger T16 Gen 5 gets a downgrade (down from 86 Wh).

Appreciate the answer, Benjamin!

Any info regarding the TDP of the 16" model, tho? It would be a shame if such a big chassis would be limited to 30W. Or do both models have only one fan hence why the lower TDP?

[Why no LPCAMM2 in AMD?]

Overall, it is no surprise the T14 Gen 7 and T16 Gen 5 scores 10/10 on the iFixit repairability score.

Then the WLAN and WWAN cards are not soldered?

The up to 64 GB RAM won't allow to fit and run Gpt-Oss-120B. Time for LENOVO to increase the maximum capacity to 96 GB RAM in the T-series. I don't know how it's for INTEL, but AMD APUs support up to 256 GB RAM. Unfortunately, typically 96 GB RAM is the maximum in the P14s / P16s series. Time also for the P14s and P16s series to up the maximum RAM capacity to 128 GB RAM. And (up to) 256 GB RAM for the P16 non-s series (currently up to 192 GB RAM).

[Benjamin Herzig]

Appreciate the answer, Benjamin!

Any info regarding the TDP of the 16" model, tho? It would be a shame if such a big chassis would be limited to 30W. Or do both models have only one fan hence why the lower TDP?

Pleasure to be of assistance!

TDP is 30 W on both, yes, as both use the same single fan cooling system. T14 and T16 are essentially the same laptop, same motherboard, cooling system, battery etc. - the difference is the screen size, the numpad on the T16 and of course the footprint of the chassis. Plus the fact that the T16 has a metal aluminum lid.

Possibly, the 16 inch may run a bit cooler than the 14 inch due to the increase in space inside the chassis, but it is too early to say.

[OCD]

I wonder why the touchpad is slightly offset to the left. I understand on the 16" with numpad but the 14"?

Or is it the way it works is, it's aligned / centred based on the track point position. Since the trackpoint is slightly off-centred to the left so is the touchpad. The centre of the touchpad has to align with track points position?

[lenovo glazer]

dark blue? im probably the person in the world who is put off by that colour, not because of racism (lmao), but because the thinkpad c14 chromebook was dark blue... would've liked to see that red colour, because some of the old budget thinkpads had this red lid!

anyways, lpcamm2 is hype. amazing. and i already thought so after seeing the new x1c, but repairability has been going up. keyboard seems to be modular, battery doesn't require tools, fan comes off without taking the entire heating system (this is actually unbelievably useful), and modular ports are great! i had a thinkpad with a loose usbc port, which was annoying... no spudger needed for the back too?

judging from the picture, i do wish the cooling setup was bigger, but it should be fine.

wide bar hinge might need getting used to, because ive associated them with the cheaper thinkpads... but it's actually an improvement, so.

one handed opening is nice

cant wait to have one in 5 years time.

[Worgarthe]

I wonder why the touchpad is slightly offset to the left. I understand on the 16" with numpad but the 14"?

Or is it the way it works is, it's aligned / centred based on the track point position. Since the trackpoint is slightly off-centred to the left so is the touchpad. The centre of the touchpad has to align with track points position?

Correct: https://imgur.com/a/70CnV6E

(it's, also, like that on all 12.5", 13.x" and 14/14.5" ThinkPads)