Given its name, it should come as no surprise that the Lenovo ThinkPad E16 is essentially a scaled-up version of the entry-level ThinkPad E14. Like the E14, the E16 is an entry-level business laptop with Intel or AMD processors and is designed for essential productivity tasks at an affordable price.
While the ThinkPad E14 is now in its fifth generation, the E16 is the first of its kind. Thinking about it, it's surprising that it took Lenovo this long to decide that there's a market for a larger version of its entry-level laptop. Unusually for an entry-level device, the E16 uses a tall 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio display instead of a more traditional 16:9 panel.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1: Design
The E16 has an unapologetic ThinkPad design. All-black and all-aluminum (except for the baseplate, which is plastic), the E16's design is either classically elegant or overly traditional, depending on your aesthetic predilections. We like our ThinkPads to look like ThinkPads, so the E16 gets the nod.
Although the E16 may be cheap, it feels just as solid as its more expensive siblings. Meets US Department of Defense MIL-STD 810H standards for impact resistance, particle ingress, and overall durability. The lid is impressively rigid, rotating 180 degrees backwards, and has the traditional ThinkPad edge so you can lift it with one finger (or rather, you could if the hinge wasn't so tight).
Given that the E16 weighs 1.77kg and measures 356 x 248 x 20mm, it won't take away sales from the MacBook Air, but it's not excessively large or heavy for a 16-inch laptop. Our only complaint with the design is that the black anodized finish shows up greasy fingerprints poorly.
The port selection should satisfy most users. On the left are two Type-C ports, one 10Gbps and one 5Gbps, supporting PD charging and DP alternative video, a 5Gbps USB-A port, HDMI 1.4 video output, and a 3. 5mm On the right is a Gigabit LAN RJ-45 connector, a second 5Gbps USB-A port, and a Kensington nano security slot.
There's no dedicated charging port, so the small 65W charger Lenovo includes is a Type-C affair. This means you'll lose one of those Type-C ports for charging duties. Wireless communications are handled by a MediaTek MT7921 card, which supports 5Ghz Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. It's not the latest spec by any means, but the absence of 6Ghz Wi-Fi wasn't entirely unexpected at this price.
Removing the E16 motherboard is not the easiest operation. Because the chassis is made of rigid aluminum, you have to be brutal to release the initial clips. Once inside, you'll find two SSD slots: a free M.2 2280 bay and an occupied M.2 2242 slot. 8GB of RAM is soldered to the motherboard, but a free SODIMM slot can take up to another 32GB.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1: keyboard, touchpad and webcam
Are ThinkPad keyboards as good as before? We'd say yes, at least in all the important ways. We found the typing action on the E16 to be a bit shallow despite the 1.5mm travel, but it's snappy, positive, and quiet to the point of silence. The keyboard deck isn't completely rigid, with a small amount of noticeable give in the middle under heavy pressure, but it's more solid than any other laptop in this price range we've encountered.
Lenovo's signature TrackPoint mini-joystick cursor controller is still located between the G, H, and B keys, and three large mouse buttons are still hidden beneath the space bar. Below them is a smooth 115 x 68mm trackpad. The trackpad has a comfortable, well-damped clicking action.
The keyboard has a two-stage white backlight and follows the traditional ThinkPad layout, with dedicated Home and End keys on the top row and Page Up and Page Down keys next to the cursor cluster. The cursor buttons are not full size, but they are almost square, which gives me a thumbs up. A full-size numeric keypad is located to the right of the main keyboard.
As usual on ThinkPad laptops, the Function and Control keys are in each other's place at the bottom left, but you can swap the actions in the Lenovo Vantage control panel and define the action of the F12 key by part of the user. There are also dedicated answer/hang up buttons that work with Teams.
The above-display 1080p webcam supports Windows Hello infrared facial recognition and has a sliding privacy shutter. Capture colorful images with minimal noise or static, even in low-light environments. If you prefer a fingerprint scanner for security, Lenovo has you covered with one built into the large circular power button that sits conveniently out of harm's way above the keyboard deck.
Without Microsoft's Studio Effects, you'll need to use the Lenovo Smart Appearance app to get options to blur or replace your background, frame your face, or enhance your appearance. That last feature can improve your complexion, lose weight, and simultaneously alter the size of your eyes, face, and forehead. The app can also blur the screen if someone walks up behind you, dim it if you're looking away, or lock the system if you're heading out to grab a coffee or go to the bathroom.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1: Display
The 16-inch, 16:10, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel on our review machine was pretty basic. Its maximum brightness was a decent 337cd/m2, which, together with a matte finish, makes it usable outdoors. The contrast ratio is also good, at 1375:1, thanks to a usefully low maximum black luminescence of just 0.25 cd/m2. After that, things start to go downhill.
The screen lacks color, with gamut volumes of just 56.4% sRGB, 38.9% AdobeRGB and 40% DCI-P3. With such narrow gamuts, the panel would never be too accurate, as it demonstrated, recording a Delta E color variation of 3.75 against the sRGB profile. That makes the screen look pale and colorless. This isn't a problem if you use your E16 primarily for basic productivity tasks like email or word processing. Still, when it comes to looking at images or videos, it's a bit miserable. As expected, there is no support for HDR.
US customers can choose between the standard FullHD, FullHD with 100% sRGB, FullHD touch, and 2560 x 1600 100% sRGB displays. It's a shame that neither of those options appear available in the UK.
The 2 x 2W speakers are also quite thin. Not only are they not overly loud, peaking at 71.7 dB(A) measured against a pink noise source 1m away, but they lack bass and are quite strident at maximum volume. For video calls, they work well, but beyond that, they struggle.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1: Specs and performance
Neither Intel nor AMD E16 uses cutting-edge silicon, so you'll have to forego the neutral AI-compatible processors that come with the latest Intel Meteor Lake or AMD Hawk Point CPUs and settle for Intel Core i5-1335U or AMD. Ryzen 5 7530U processor powering most ThinkPad E16s on sale in the UK.
My review machine came with the AMD chip, an efficient but still powerful 6-core, 12-thread system that uses Zen 3 cores with a maximum clock speed of 4.5Ghz. It is supported by AMD's integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 iGPU and 8 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 MHz RAM.
In it ITPro In the 4K multimedia test, the E16 scored 154 points, while in the PCMark 10 test it achieved 5,642. Those scores underscore that the E16 can handle daily office tasks without pauses or hesitation. No matter how big the spreadsheet you're browsing or how many browser tabs you have open, the E16 never hesitates.
Graphics performance is less impressive, with the Radeon iGPU scoring 11,820 in the GeekBench 6 OpenCL test and just 37 fps in the GFXBench Car Chase 1080p Offscreen test. That's slightly lower than the score you'd expect from an Intel Iris Xe G7 iGPU and well behind the new Intel Arc iGPUs and AMD's powerful Radeon 780M iGPU.
Even after a full hour under stress with the CPU and GPU running at 100%, there were no thermal issues or performance drops and the single fan never generated more than a low whisper.
Our review machine performed poorly in SSD speed tests, recording average sequential read and write speeds of 2,040 MB/s and 1,062 MB/s, respectively. That may be an issue with our particular drive, as retail drives should have a 2280 SSD installed as standard and a free 2242 slot rather than the other way around, as was the case with my test machine.
As for battery life, the E16 hits the ball cleanly out of the park with a drain time of just over 14 hours in our standard video loop test using VLC. That's MacBook territory and exceptional performance for an x86 laptop with a 57Wh battery.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1: Is it worth it?
Not make mistakes; The E16 range is priced very similar to the entry level. AMD machines start at just $756 (£685.99 inc. VAT). Given the low asking price, the new ThinkPad E16 is a very high-quality machine that looks and feels like a ThinkPad, which is quite an achievement. Thanks to its excellent battery life, quality keyboard, spacious 16:10 display, wide selection of I/O ports, and solid performance, the E16 is hard to beat for general office work on the go. The inexpensive screen and speakers take away some of the shine, but given the E16's intended use, they're good enough for the job at hand.
Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 Specification
| Show | 16-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS, 60Hz refresh rate |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 7530U |
| GPU | AMD Radeon |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4-3200MHz |
| Ports | USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 x 1, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 x 1, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 x 2, HDMI 1.4 x 1, RJ-45 Gigabit LAN |
| 3.5mm audio jack | Yeah |
| Camera | 1080p webcam with Windows Hello IR facial recognition |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth v5.2 |
| Weight | 1.77 kilos |
| Dimensions | 356x248x20mm |
| Battery capacity | 57Wh |
| OS | Windows 11 Pro |
