Lenovo has joined the bandwagon, introducing a brand new model of its ThinkPad T14s constructed round Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips for PC. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 options the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100, which is a lower-spec variant, however the laptop computer itself is among the dearer choices at $1,745 as examined (and that worth is with Lenovo’s ever-shifting reductions that obscure the actual worth of merchandise), and the value comes above aggressive Intel- and AMD-powered laptops just like the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7440 (2024) and Asus Zenbook 14 OLED.

Whereas the efficiency and reliability of the Snapdragon chip contained in the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 nonetheless has to show itself in the long term, what we’re seeing from the system to date is respectable in on a regular basis operation and downright sensible in effectivity when mixed with the remainder of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6’s {hardware}. It is a very effectively rounded machine for productiveness and effectively price digging additional into. 

Additional studying: Finest laptops 2024: Premium, funds, gaming, 2-in-1s, and extra

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Specs and options

On the time of testing, Lenovo was not providing a number of configurations of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. Since then, it has launched a customized configuration possibility that’s nonetheless constructed across the similar Snapdragon chip and show however options Home windows 11 Residence and configurable storage that begins at 256GB alongside a beginning worth of $1,279. Because it nonetheless comes with 32GB of reminiscence, we’d anticipate efficiency in most conditions to stay largely unchanged.

Lenovo presents some upgrades with the customized configuration, together with 64GB of reminiscence for $193 additional. The bump to 1TB of storage prices $490 additional, although there’s additionally a $180 possibility for 512GB, each of which appear too costly. 

You may get a contact show for $125, however it’s going to function a unique panel with decrease colour gamut and will not have the identical power financial savings that this mannequin will get. A 2880×1800 OLED show can be obtainable with a wider colour gamut, 120Hz refresh charge, and anti-glare end, however it prices $315 extra and can be more likely to influence battery life.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5X
• Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno built-in graphics
• Show: 14-inch FHD+ IPS
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p
• Connectivity: 2x USB4, 2x USB-A 5Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1 (4K60Hz), 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: Home windows Hi there fingerprint, facial recognition
• Battery capability: 58 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.37 x 8.64 x 0.67 inches
• Weight: 2.66 kilos
• MSRP: $1,754 as-tested ($1,279 base)

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Design and construct high quality

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 comes out trying very like nearly some other ThinkPad. It’s rocking the signature black and pink design that makes it a bit sleeper with refined type. Lenovo has saved gildings to a minimal, with solely a small Lenovo badge on one nook of the lid and ThinkPad engraved into the other nook with a small illuminated dot within the “i” of the identify. 

The chassis doesn’t make an announcement. It’s not obscenely skinny or made out of clearly luxurious supplies, as Lenovo has hidden the recycled aluminum, magnesium, and CFRP (carbon fiber strengthened polymer) in a soft-touch-like black coating. However the entire system nonetheless finally ends up pretty svelte at simply 0.67 inches. The body feels just a bit low cost due to how light-weight it’s at simply 2.66 kilos, however that’s additional offset by the smoothness and sturdiness of it. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 simply feels constructed effectively. There’s some keyboard deck flex, however I’ve to essentially press arduous to see a lot. If ever there was a delightfully utilitarian laptop computer, this feels prefer it, and it’s finished effectively. 

The body sits on three rubber toes, with two small toes out entrance and one lengthy foot spanning the width of the laptop computer on the again. These aren’t the grippiest, however they maintain the laptop computer regular sufficient whereas typing and navigating.

The lid strikes easily, however it has sufficient friction that it requires holding the bottom down whereas opening — no one-handed opening regardless of the lid having a small lip that should have facilitated simpler one-handed operation. It additionally wiggles a bit after it’s been moved, however fortunately it doesn’t shake round whereas I’m typing.

There’s a small hole between the bottom of the laptop computer and the show hinge, and the exhaust vents dwell in that hole. This lets vented air go each up towards the show and get directed down by the sting of the show. Air consumption is dealt with by a single fan seen proper behind a grate on the underside of the laptop computer.

All put collectively, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is a pleasant little laptop computer that doesn’t get caught up in efforts to exude type however nonetheless has magnificence and spectacular robustness for such a light-weight system. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The keyboard on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is nice, however not fairly as rock-solid as I’d have hoped. The keys have a great little bit of journey to them, however they don’t supply a lot resistance and are subsequently not extremely effectively stabilized or poppy to sort on. This results in extra errors drifting off the sting of 1 key and hitting its neighbor due to their tendency to tilt, and it leads to loads of missed presses if I don’t decelerate.

Speeding, I find yourself with low accuracy. At the most effective, I used to be capable of hit 117 phrases per minute with 96 % accuracy in Monkeytype, which is first rate however nonetheless a methods away from my finest efficiency. Nonetheless, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6’s keyboard has its pluses.

For one factor, it has offset arrow keys which might be straightforward to really feel out. In addition they embrace small Web page Up and Web page Down keys. For writing or enhancing, the top-right of the keyboard additionally squeezes in Residence, Finish, Insert, and Delete to supply some simpler navigation, choice, and enhancing. 

The keyboard options white backlighting, and Lenovo claims it’s spill-resistant. Like different ThinkPads, the keyboard options the basic TrackPoint nib, which gives an additional strategy to mouse across the laptop. It’s efficient and performs effectively with the bodily left-, right-, and middle-mouse buttons above the trackpad, letting me preserve my fingers on the keyboard always.

There may be additionally a small trackpad beneath the keyboard, which is splendidly clean with its mylar floor. Navigating with it’s responsive and correct, although it may well get a bit cramped for multi-finger gestures.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Show, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

Utility is on the forefront of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6’s show. It’s a easy 1920×1200 possibility with no excessive refresh charge or snazzy OLED panel, however it’s nice for work all the identical. The decision within reason sharp on a 14-inch panel, and even when it’s not dazzlingly colourful, it nonetheless covers one hundred pc of the sRGB colour house.

Maybe better of all of productiveness is that the matte end is extremely efficient, knocking out glare left and proper. That mixes with the panel that hit 473 nits in testing, making indoor and out of doors use doable. Even distinction is powerful, reaching 1670:1 to place most different IPS panels on the market to disgrace. It’s not distinctive, however it’s a great trying show that can keep out of your means if you’re making an attempt to get work finished. 

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 has a pair of two-watt audio system that sit at both facet of the keyboard. Regardless of low energy, they really pump out some spectacular quantity. In a quiet room, they readily get too loud for comfy listening at arm’s size. For boisterous music, they could be a bit grating at excessive quantity ranges, however they play good with extra mellow tracks, like Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” and supply a stunning quantity of bass depth. For video calls, the audio system are a lot to have the ability to hear fellow attendees. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is a small 1080p unit that provides combined efficiency. With out nice lighting, it winds up turning visuals into an extremely blurry mess. However activate a pleasant gentle to fall instantly in your face, and it produces a pleasant, sharp image. Go too shiny, as with sunshine coming by a window, and the distinction can’t sustain and can dim an excessive amount of of the remainder of the image, casting many particulars into shadow.

The digicam presents a large sufficient subject of view to crop into or match a pair individuals in the event you get pleasure from group calls. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 features a handy privateness cowl for the digicam that slides over the lens and reveals an easy-to-see pink dot so you’ll be able to plainly inform when it’s lined.

Along with serving for calls, the webcam helps Home windows Hi there facial recognition. This makes for fast sign-ins, and for the reason that webcam has a large subject of view, it doesn’t take a lot fussing round to get centered for recognition. There’s additionally a small fingerprint scanner on the top-right nook of the keyboard for one more fast and simple strategy to securely signal into the laptop computer.

The microphones paired with the digicam also can do a great job. Even with a small little bit of background noise, they decide up my voice loud and clear. My voice is pretty full and doesn’t sound distant. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 reveals that being a thin-and-light laptop computer doesn’t must entail a sacrifice of ports. The suitable fringe of the laptop computer contains two USB-A 5Gbps ports and a Kensington Nano lock slot. The left facet presents a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone/mic combo jack and two USB4 ports. I’d like to see SD or microSD card assist, however I’m not mad on the combo of Sort-A and Sort-C ports with the show output as well. 

Wi-fi connectivity can be prepared for the longer term with Wi-Fi 7 that proved quick and secure when examined on my Wi-Fi 6 community. Bluetooth 5.3 can be onboard, although Bluetooth 5.4 would have been a welcome improve. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Efficiency

Like fairly a number of of the thin-and-light laptops we’ve examined right here at PCWorld within the final two months, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 runs on a Qualcomm chip as an alternative of one thing from AMD or Intel. On this case, it’s the lower-end Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 that was additionally within the HP Omnibook X 14.

It is a couple steps down from the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 we noticed within the Asus Vivobook S 15 (S5507), and that mannequin is available in at $1,299, which is kind of a bit extra inexpensive than the $1,754 of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. There are much more inexpensive threats with extra tried-and-true Intel and AMD chips, just like the $999 Dell Inspiron 14 Plus with an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H or the $849 Asus Zenbook 14 OLED with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS.

As I’ve seen on the opposite programs examined with Snapdragon chips, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 struggles to show aggressive when it must run x86 packages by emulation and doesn’t get to make use of ARM-native packages. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 places up solely a modest 6,824 multi-core rating in Cinebench R23, which is an x86 program, and 1,119 factors for single-core efficiency.

This lags behind each the Omnibook X and Vivobook S 15 by a substantial margin. It’s price noting that single-core efficiency on the ThinkPad really beats the opposite Snapdragon programs, serving to to clarify why the ThinkPad nonetheless felt extremely responsive in observe even whereas falling wanting its opponents in total would possibly. 

Lenovo’s efficiency begins to look like a acutely aware alternative as effectively. Whereas this take a look at was carried out with the system set to its default Balanced mode and plugged into AC energy, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 really was capable of attain a 7,700 multi-core rating in Efficiency mode. Making issues even weirder, efficiency on battery energy was higher nonetheless. Balanced mode reached a 7,623 multi-core rating and Efficiency mode went as excessive as 9,099, actually closing the hole.

Operating Cinebench R20 on battery energy, with the Balancer energy plan and Chrome and Slack each working, occupying system sources, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 managed to hit a 3,676 multi-core rating, which is greater than a 30 % enchancment over its outcomes on AC energy with no different purposes working.

For Cinebench R24, the soar was equally dramatic, going from a 567-point common to 792 factors when switching from Balanced settings on AC energy to Efficiency settings on battery energy. I noticed some related funkiness on the HP Omnibook X and have heard different opinions make related observations. Nonetheless, none of this is sufficient to let the Snapdragon chip meet up with the stalwart Intel or AMD chips, which beat the most effective outcomes by a large margin. The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus hits 13,363 in Cinebench R23’s multi-core take a look at and the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED reaches 13,777 and each additionally handle considerably increased single-core efficiency. 

We’ve seen some staggering variations in efficiency when the Snapdragon chips get to run native apps as an alternative of emulating x86, as proven in our Floor Laptop computer 7 assessment. Certain sufficient, working the ARM model of Cinebench R24, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is ready to put ahead a 106-point single core rating and 567-point multi-core rating.

That is near the outcomes of the Framework Laptop computer 13 with an Intel core Extremely 7 155H with a 595 multi-core rating or the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 with an Intel Core Extremely 5 125U and 456 multi-core rating. However the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 nonetheless appears to be holding again, because it falls effectively quick subsequent to Snapdragon-powered opponents just like the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, which hit 1,043 factors on the identical chip.

The mixed CPU and GPU efficiency for the system isn’t proving any higher as we see the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 once more come up quick in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark. With a rating of simply 1,702 it lags ever so barely behind its Snapdragon compatriots, which in flip fall very wanting the efficiency obtainable in AMD’s Radeon 780M discovered within the Zenbook 14 OLED or the Intel Arc Graphics contained in the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus.

The Night time Raid benchmark tells a considerably completely different story, because the benchmark has native ARM assist. Right here, the entire Snapdragon-powered programs regain some floor, although the general hierarchy nonetheless stays with the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 narrowly trailing the pack and the AMD and Intel programs out entrance and virtually tied. 

Whereas the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6’s efficiency is clearly finest in ARM-native purposes, usually use, the place the system isn’t making an attempt to place the pedal to the metallic, the efficiency hit that comes from emulation isn’t as more likely to really feel like an enormous downside. It’s nonetheless a responsive laptop computer, and since thin-and-light laptops aren’t actually meant to function workstations, it might be becoming its position effectively. For what it’s price, I additionally seen far fewer graphical hang-ups in on a regular basis use in comparison with the HP Omnibook X and Dell XPS 13, which each run Snapdragon chips however have solely 16GB of reminiscence and could also be seeing the GPU stumble when that reminiscence fills up. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Battery life

Each blow the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 took in our efficiency benchmarks appears to have been with one purpose in thoughts: longevity. It’s clear the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 can run quicker, as some benchmarks confirmed when utilizing completely different settings, however by default it’s not geared to.

As a substitute, it’s set as much as go away all of the competitors within the mud in the case of runtime. In our 4K video playback take a look at, it put even the great-performing slate of current laptops to disgrace. With a median runtime of 1,412 minutes (about half an hour shy of 24 hours), it led the following closest system on this pack by virtually six hours. It additionally obliterates the Asus Vivobook S 15, which sat at what now appears an anemic 15 hours.

Whereas the tempered efficiency is definitely taking part in an element within the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6’s longevity, the selection of show possible has a job as effectively. Lenovo has opted for a low-power show with a not-so-demanding 1920×1200 decision and 60Hz refresh charge. The 2880×1620 OLED of the Vivobook might be hurting it. It’s all of the extra spectacular when contemplating that the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 has the smallest battery as effectively. Its 58Wh battery sits 1Wh beneath the Omnibook, 6Wh beneath the Inspiron, 12Wh beneath the Vivobook, and 17Wh beneath the Zenbook. 

It’s not simply in video playback that the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 impressed. In common office-related use, it typically put itself on observe for round a 10-hour runtime.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6: Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 might be a superb laptop computer in the correct fingers. It’s not a high-performance workhorse and the variable efficiency it sees in numerous situations makes it a bit arduous to depend on for velocity. A few of that volatility could get ironed out as Snapdragon laptop computer chips spend a bit extra time in the actual world. Regardless of this, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 nonetheless stays a constant machine in lighter duties, possible because of the additional reminiscence Lenovo is actually insisting on. 

Past that, it is a high-utility laptop computer. The keyboard is OK. The show isn’t the sharpest or most attractive, however ensures visibility in most situations. The battery can chug alongside for ages, placing just about something we’ve examined to disgrace. And all that is coming from a bit laptop computer that weighs beneath three kilos and feels fairly effectively constructed.

Whereas our take a look at configuration is a bit expensive to have considerably underwhelming efficiency, those that can do with out the additional storage can save a ton with the $1,279 base configuration. In case you’re after a reliable machine that can sustain with gentle workloads wherever you go, this would possibly simply be the one.