Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 review – full Tiger Lake power with surprisingly bad iGPU performance

Last year, Lenovo started another brand in the name of the ThinkBook series. It was aimed at people with a more stylish personality and should have been a ThinkPad under disguise. As you know, the latter is known for its robustness and industrial look, so the new design choices were refreshing.

Nevertheless, the old unit was poised with some build quality issues, as well as a lack of features, and in the model, we tested – aggressive PWM for brightness adjustment. This leaves a lot of room for improvement for the new model, which we will look through today.

The ThinkBook 15 Gen 2, features a brand new look, 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors, and a 1080p IPS display, which comes in TN and IPS iterations with the latter having multitouch options, as well as 100% sRGB ones. Now let’s pop the box open, see what it comes with, and check the actual device out, shall we?

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkbook-15-gen-2-intel/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) - Specs

  • LG LP156WFC-SPD1 (LGD0563)
  • Color accuracy  4.9  3.8
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 8000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 40GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Home, No OS
  • Battery
  • 45Wh, 45Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 357 x 235 x 18.9 mm (14.06" x 9.25" x 0.74")
  • Weight
  • 1.70 kg (3.7 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 1.4b
  • Card reader
  • MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC
  • Ethernet LAN
  • 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ac/ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0/5.1
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Digital Microphone
  • Speakers
  • 2x 2W, Dolby Audio
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Kensington Lock Slot
  • Slot Integrated Bluetooth Earbuds

All Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, there was some paper manuals, as well as a 65W USB Type-C power adapter.


Design and construction

In terms of visuals, the second generation ThinkBook 15 features a dual-tone gray finish on the back, similar to that of the performance-oriented ThinkBook 15p. It’s good to see that Lenovo was able to shave off some of this notebook’s weight, going down from 1.80 kg to 1.70 kg. As for the profile – it stays at 18.9mm, which is actually in the sweet spot for 15-inch notebooks. Once again, the manufacturer has gone for an aluminum lid and a plastic base. Unfortunately, the material on the base is very soft, which causes the laptop to bend quite massively when twisted. Once again, they have failed to secure the chassis from the inside.

Additionally, you won’t be able to open the lid with a single hand, as the hinges seem too stiff. Thankfully, the bezels seem pretty reasonable, and the top one houses an HD camera with a ThinkShutter for privacy against spies, Google, and the government.

Next, let’s take a look at the keyboard. Let’s start with the fact that the board bends when it is pressed harder. On the bright side, the unit is backlit and has spill-resistance. Also, Lenovo has put a shortcut button for their Premium support, which is neat. Although, it reminds us of some BMWs that had easy to fix parts, that were made this way because the manufacturer knew they would break soon enough.

Nevertheless, the keyboard experience is not ideal. Even though there is some click when you press a key, the travel is a bit too short, which makes it slightly less comfortable. Again, this is a personal preference, so don’t draw any conclusions on our behalf. Of course, this laptop has its upsides, as well. One of them is the fingerprint reader, which is embedded into the power button.

Also, the touchpad with its glass-imitating Mylar surface offers a smooth gliding experience, as well as nice tracking.

When you turn the laptop upside down, you will see the ventilation grills, as well as the weirdly placed speaker cutouts. Hot air, respectively, is blown away from the chassis through a grill, located in between the lid and the base.

Ports

Long and behold, this laptop now features Type-C charging. This is done mainly through the USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port on the left. It also supports DisplayPort 1.4 output. Now, other manufacturers might want to take a look at this because Lenovo has decided to separate the Thunderbolt 4 connector, and will be always available, even if you’re charging your device. Moreover, you can charge it from there, as well. Next in line, there is the HDMI 1.4b connector, followed by a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an audio jack. On the other right, there is a designated lock slot, an RJ-45 connector, another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and a full-sized SD card reader. By the way, some units will come with a tray, hiding wireless earbuds, which is sick.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

To get inside of this notebook, you need to undo 10 Phillips-head screws. On our unit, 6 of them were captive, while 4 detach from the bottom panel. After you undo them, pop the panel with a plastic tool and lift it away from the chassis.

Even though this device comes with a ULV processor, the cooling solution looks good. There are two thin heat pipes, which lead to a rather long heat spreader. And the heat is blown away with the help of a pretty large fan.

In terms of memory, this laptop comes in two iterations – one with 4GB and one with 8GB of soldered RAM. Additionally, you can put 32GB more thanks to the single SODIMM slot. Keep in mind that the integrated memory is capable of running in dual-channel mode, so for the best performance, it is advisable to pair the soldered chips with the appropriate amount. Storage-wise, we see two M.2 PCIe x4 slots. Interestingly, Lenovo says that their laptop can fit a 2.5-inch SATA drive, however, we see no bracket, nor a cable included with the machine.

A bit surprising is that it comes with a relatively small 45Wh unit.

Display quality

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 comes with a Full HD IPS panel, model number LG LP156WFC-SPD1. Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 142 ppi, their pitch – 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 60 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

The viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality.

The maximum measured brightness is 302 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 271 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 15% (inappropriate). The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6350K (average) – slightly warmer than the 6500K optimum for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 83% Brightness (White level = 144 cd/m2, Black level = 0.12 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1200:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2’s color gamut coverage.

Its display is limited just to 51% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 26 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2’s backlight does not use PWM at any brightness level. This ensures comfort to the eyes in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusions

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2’s IPS panel, which by the way, is the same as that on the ThinkPad E15 Gen 2, has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, good contrast ratio, and a non-flickering backlight. Unfortunately, it has poor uniformity of the luminance across the area of the screen, and it covers only 51% of the sRGB color gamut.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 configurations with 15.6″ LG LP156WFC-SPD1 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2’s speakers sound good, although they are not the loudest out there. Thankfully, there are no deviations in the entire frequency spectrum.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkbook-series/thinkbook-15-g2-itl/downloads/driver-list

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This laptop’s 45Wh battery lasts for 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing and 5 hours and 59 minutes of video playback. Keep in mind that some units will feature a larger 60Wh battery pack.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

As for now, the processor choices include the Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1165G7.

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)


GPU options

And since there are only integrated GPU options, the respective choices are the UHD Graphics, Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU), and Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU).

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 (Intel) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS49 fps40 fps16 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS58 fps36 fps– fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-1165G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 23.63 GHz (B+32%) @ 94°C @ 45W3.32 GHz (B+19%) @ 94°C @ 38W2.87 GHz (B+3%) @ 80°C @ 28W
Dell Inspiron 13 7306 2-in-13.12 GHz (B+11%) @ 99°C @ 33W2.68 GHz @ 99°C @ 25W2.04 GHz @ 83°C @ 16W
ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX3713.48 GHz (B+24%) @ 90°C @ 43W2.79 GHz @ 90°C @ 27W1.95 GHz @ 69°C @ 14W
Acer Swift 3X (SF314-510G)3.74 GHz (B+34%) @ 95°C @ 45W3.45 GHz (B+23%) @ 95°C @ 37W3.09 GHz (B+10%) @ 85°C @ 28W
Acer Swift 3 (SF313-53)3.55 GHz (B+27%) @ 95°C @ 44W3.17 GHz (B+13%) @ 95°C @ 34W2.32 GHz @ 64°C @ 17W
Acer Swift 5 Pro (SF514-55GT)3.54 GHz (B+26%) @ 94°C @ 39W3.27 GHz (B+17%) @ 94°C @ 31W2.44 GHz @ 74°C @ 17W

This laptop manages to maintain a high power limit, although the clock speed is slightly lower than that of the 14-inch Acer Swift 3X (SF314-510G).

Verdict

Another year has passed, and Lenovo is improving their ThinkBook 15 quite well. Now, the processor they use is being used pretty well, and the cooling solution is able to maintain the higher 28W sustained power limit of the Core i7-1165G7. Interestingly, the graphics performance is extremely poor, considering the power of this GPU. And this is with all performance enhancements and the latest drivers.

Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2’s IPS panel (LG LP156WFC-SPD1), which by the way, is the same as that on the ThinkPad E15 Gen 2, has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, good contrast ratio, and a non-flickering backlight. Unfortunately, it has poor uniformity of the luminance across the area of the screen, and it covers only 51% of the sRGB color gamut.

Also, the smaller 45Wh battery pack is a bit underwhelming, as we got 8 hours and 20 minutes of very light Web browsing and about 6 hours of video playback. It’s not bad, but it’s just not something to write home about.

Thankfully, the I/O of this device is loaded. You get everything from an SD card reader to HDMI and Ethernet connectors, and a Thunderbolt 4 connector. Also, you get a fingerprint reader and Wi-Fi 6 support. Some units even come with a tray for the included Earbuds. Additionally, you get a single RAM SODIMM slot, which can upgrade the soldered memory modules to a total of 36GB or 40GB (depending on the configuration you get).

On the other hand, Lenovo seems to have failed to fix their build quality “issues”, mainly regarding the soft plastic, used for the base. Also, the keyboard isn’t great for typing, although it features spill-resistance, which will help it survive clumsy hands, and a backlight, which will help you see what you type in the dark. Pretty self-explanatory.

So, if you want a ThinkPad, but you are sick of the industrial look, and want to express your stylish self – the second generation ThinkBook 15 might be for you. However, there is an AMD option, as well, which will surely be cooler thanks to its more efficient architecture.

Pros

  • Adequate price tag
  • Two M.2 NVMe drives
  • Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6 connections + SD card reader on board
  • The power button is equipped with an optional fingerprint reader
  • Sustains the larger 28W power limit
  • Doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment (LG LP156WFC-SPD1)
  • It has comfortable viewing angles and a good contrast ratio (LG LP156WFC-SPD1)


Cons

  • Build quality is not the best
  • Surprisingly poor iGPU performance
  • Uneven luminance across the area of the screen (LG LP156WFC-SPD1)
  • Covers only 51% of sRGB (LG LP156WFC-SPD1)

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkbook-15-gen-2-intel/

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Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Have you guys noticed this? If the Tiger Lake CPU performs admirably in a laptop, the iGPU sucks in it and vice versa. Intel really screwed this up. Show me a machine where both – the Tiger Lake CPU and GPU perform well.

RetiaryLime
RetiaryLime
3 years ago

You can choose the best configuration; intel i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce MX450, 100% sRGB & 60Whr battery.

Arthur DK
Arthur DK
2 years ago
Reply to  RetiaryLime

the upgrade from the i5 to i7 isn’t worth the money. they have bought 4 cores and 8 threads. and the i7 cannot maintain its clock speed. userbenchmark says the i7 is 1% better dan the i5

Doc
Doc
2 years ago

How it’s possible for the graphics to be so poor? I would like an explanation for that

Arthur DK
Arthur DK
2 years ago
Reply to  Doc

probably when they tested it the software of the new kind of igpu was still not on point. maybe its better now.

Arthur DK
Arthur DK
2 years ago

i bought the laptop. I hasn’t arrived jet. i have gone the extra mx450 gpu and apparently discharge it during the game while charging with the inclueded 65wh charger. bought usb-c port support charging. i have another 45w usb-c charger. can i use both chargers at the same time or will it just fry something