The Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 is a nice business-focused laptop that can perform at its best for your business needs. It has a good IPS screen, comes with SSD and not that great speakers.
The Intel-powered ThinkPad E16 starts at $638 with a 13th Gen Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of memory, a 256GB solid-state drive, and a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel non-touch screen. It is priced at $909.99 at Best Buy and about $5 cheaper at B&H, doubles the RAM and storage, steps up to a Core i5-1335U chip (two Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 12 threads), and includes an IPS touch screen.
You can also buy an E16 with AMD silicon inside, starting at $613.25 with a Ryzen 3 7330U CPU. Interestingly, buyers on Lenovo.com can configure an AMD model with a sharper 2,560-by-1,600-pixel display not available on Intel systems.
The ThinkPad E16 has passed MIL-STD 810H tests against travel hazards like shock, vibration, and extreme temperatures, but cuts costs in several ways. Its processor skips Intel’s vPro IT management tech. Meanwhile, the laptop’s familiar matte black chassis combines an aluminum top with an ABS plastic bottom; you’ll notice some flex if you grasp the screen corners but not much if you press the keyboard deck.
This Lenovo is fairly trim at 0.77 by 14 by 9.8 inches and 3.9 pounds. You’ll find two M.2 slots for solid-state drives (one PCI Express 4.0, the other 3.0) and one memory socket plus 8GB on the motherboard for a ceiling of 40GB.
Ports – The laptop’s left side holds two USB-C ports—one 3.2 Gen 2, one Thunderbolt 4, either suitable for the AC adapter—along with USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A and HDMI ports and an audio jack. A retro USB 2.0 port joins an Ethernet jack and Kensington security lock slot on the right.
Camera – The 1080p webcam centered above the display has a sliding privacy shutter. It captures well-lit and colorful images with minimal noise or static. A Lenovo Smart Appearance app puts the camera through its paces with options to blur or replace your background; frame your face; or touch you up by softening your skin tone, narrowing a round face, or shrinking your schnoz. It can also blur the screen if someone comes up behind you, dim it if you look away, or lock the system if you leave.
Lenovo’s screen is a little dimmer than ideal, and we found tapping the F6 key in hopes of getting more brightness. Likewise, its colors are more bland than bold. On the positive side, viewing angles are wide, and contrast is decent, while details are clear, with no pixelation around the edges of letters. White backgrounds are clean instead of dingy, helped by the ability to tilt the screen back as far as you like.
Speakers – Bottom-mounted speakers produce modest sound that’s not very loud even at top volume. You’ll hear no bass to speak of, but you can make out overlapping tracks. Dolby Access software provides dynamic, movie, music, voice, and game presets and an equalizer; the movie and dynamic options make audio a bit louder but vague and hollow.
Keyboard – The backlit keyboard follows the time-tested, reviewer-approved ThinkPad layout with dedicated Home and End keys on the top row and Page Up and Page Down keys by the cursor-arrow cluster. You’ll find a full-size numeric keypad at right. The Fn and Control keys are in each other’s place at bottom left, but if you can’t adjust you can swap them with the supplied Lenovo Vantage utility. Top-row command keys include a pair to place and end Microsoft Teams calls.
Joystick – Lenovo’s trademark TrackPoint mini-joystick cursor controller is located at the intersection of the G, H, and B keys, with three large mouse buttons below the space bar and a smooth-gliding touchpad below them. The pad has a rather hollow but comfortable click.
There is an AI Meeting Manager software that helps international videoconferencing with real-time translation, dictation, and subtitles. A McAfee security trial generates plenty of pop-ups, however.
Verdict – Lenovo’s ThinkPad E16 is not all that great to convince brand loyalists to give up their mainstream ThinkPad T or premium ThinkPad X series laptops, but offers great value for the price. We wish the display was brighter, and that Intel fans could order the higher-resolution screen offered with AMD configurations. However, the the E16 makes few compromises for its low price, making it an excellent alternative to a ThinkBook or consumer laptop.
