ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 – 2 Weeks Hands-On Review

My configuration:

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 386H
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell
• RAM: 64 GB LPCAMM2-8533
• Storage: 4 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe
• Display: 16" 3200×2000 Tandem OLED, 40–120 Hz VRR
• Battery: 90 Wh

TL;DR

Pros

• Excellent performance while staying relatively quiet
• The display is a marvel
• Battery life is finally good
• WWAN is back
• Excellent keyboard and trackpad

Cons

• Expensive
• Cooling system may be difficult to clean
• Some issues with VRR / Dynamic Refresh Rate

Verdict: This is the machine I've been looking for for a long time. It improves on previous P1 generations in several important ways, while finally addressing many of the compromises I've had with other high-performance laptops.

I received my ThinkPad about two weeks ago, and I think I've spent enough time with it now to write up a first review.

Some background

I'm a programmer and a long-time Mac user. I started with the very first MacBook Air back in 2008 and then went through several MacBook Pros. Unfortunately, when Apple moved to ARM, I became effectively locked into x86 because of some of the software I need to run.

I was also getting increasingly frustrated with Apple's constant OS changes. With every new version, more old applications became incompatible, while performance on aging hardware seemed to get worse and worse.

So I eventually switched from my last Intel MacBook Pro to a Lenovo Legion 7i (Core i9-11980HK, 32 GB, RTX 3080 16 GB, 16" matte 500-nit IPS display).

The Legion was an absolute beast, but it had two major drawbacks compared with the MacBook: it was too loud and too big/heavy, especially when you include the 300 W power brick.

A couple of years later, I replaced it with a Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 14" (Core i9-13905H, 64 GB, RTX 4070 8 GB, 14" glossy 1200-nit Mini-LED display).

Once again, this was a fantastic machine. The display was incredible, and the laptop was very compact and easy to carry. But it had its own problems.

After the Legion, the Yoga actually felt surprisingly slow, despite being more or less comparable on paper. Even something as simple as opening a new Finder window could have a noticeable delay, with individual UI elements appearing one after another.

I suspect there was something related to the PCIe implementation, because the SSDs never seemed to reach their expected performance. For example, my Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB was getting around 300–400K IOPS instead of the advertised 1.6M. I tried several different SSDs and always saw the same thing: significantly lower random read/write performance than expected.

The Yoga was also quite loud in Performance mode, with the fans quickly ramping up to full speed, while Balanced mode made it noticeably slower.

Battery life was another major weakness: around 1.5–2 hours of movie playback in my typical use.

And then there was the glossy screen. I often work outdoors, and even in the shade the Yoga's display was difficult to use because of reflections.

So I started looking for my ideal laptop again.

What I wanted

My main requirements were:

• Matte 16" Mini-LED or bright OLED display
• 64 GB RAM
• Fast SSD interface, ideally PCIe 5.0
• Powerful CPU, preferably one that isn't heavily thermally restricted
• Slim and relatively lightweight
• As quiet as possible

I almost bought the P1 Gen 8, but then Panther Lake came along and the early reviews were extremely positive. I decided to wait for the P1 Gen 9.

And here we are.

My P1 Gen 9

My configuration is:

• Intel Core Ultra 3 386H
• 64 GB LPCAMM2-8533
• RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell
• Tandem OLED display
• WWAN-ready
• NFC reader

I was initially very much in doubt about whether to get the P1 or T1g with the RTX 5070 12 GB, but eventually went with the P1 for several reasons.

First, I don't really game or run local AI models on my laptop. I have a desktop with an RTX 4090 for that.

Second, the P1 was available in a WWAN-ready + NFC configuration for only about €20 more. And the WWAN option gives you more than just the possibility of installing a modem: the WWAN model has a different speaker configuration.

The regular models have two downward-firing speakers, while the WWAN version has an additional two upward-firing speakers.

Third, the P1 was actually a little cheaper. For some reason, the memory upgrade cost was lower on the P1 than on the T1g, and the discount on the P1 was also better.

I also considered the X9-388H configuration without a dGPU, but the iGPU-only model has a significantly different and smaller cooling solution that doesn't cover some of the VRMs. That could potentially become an issue for fan noise, thermal stability and throttling.

Another customization I made was ordering it without a preinstalled OS and with the smallest possible SSD, since I already had a 4 TB SSD purchased before SSD prices went crazy.

Unboxing and teardown

First, the unboxing.

[Video: P1 Gen 9, size comparison with MacBook Pro 16 and Yoga Pro 9i 14]

I also compared the three Lenovo 140 W power adapters: the one that came with the Yoga Pro 9i, the ThinkPad adapter, and the GaN Legion charger that I find particularly convenient for travel.

And then, of course, the obligatory disassembly video.

Technically, this is my second ThinkPad — but the first one I had was from around 2000, so I'm not sure that really counts. :)

Build quality & design

The build quality and materials are excellent.

I would probably still prefer the simpler all-aluminum body of the Yoga line, but I'm gradually getting used to the soft-touch ThinkPad finish.

The chassis is extremely rigid. There is virtually no flex, the lid can easily be opened with one finger, and it stays firmly in whatever position you put it.

The weight feels just right to me: not particularly heavy, but still substantial and solid.

I wouldn't call the P1 extremely thin, but the tapered edges make it look thinner than the actual measurements suggest.

Some people have mentioned that the finish is a fingerprint magnet, but I honestly don't see much difference compared with other laptops I've used. Maybe my fingers are just unusually dry. :)

Coming from a 14" Yoga, the P1 doesn't actually look dramatically larger despite being a 16" laptop. Even my wife didn't notice the difference at first. :)

It still fits comfortably into a standard backpack, and even some smaller ones. I'd say it's close to the practical limit of how compact a 16" workstation laptop can be.

The power adapter is also reasonably compact, although I'll probably continue using my Legion GaN charger when traveling.

Display

16" 3200×2000 Tandem OLED
40–120 Hz VRR
650 nits SDR / 1600 nits HDR
Matte

I was particularly excited to try the Tandem OLED display, and I have to say: it did not disappoint.

I frequently work in very bright environments, so maximum usable brightness is one of my highest priorities when choosing a laptop. I've rejected several otherwise excellent laptops simply because of their displays.

On paper, the Tandem OLED doesn't look dramatically better than the Mini-LED in my Yoga, particularly in terms of brightness.

In real-world use, however, it is much better.

Regardless of the quoted specifications, the P1's display is clearly better suited to bright environments because of the combination of the matte finish and OLED contrast.

Where I was running the Yoga at maximum brightness, I can now comfortably use the P1 at around 60% brightness.

At the same time, there is no noticeable light bleeding, so the display is also very comfortable in low-light and nighttime use.

What about the "graininess"?

When reading P1 Gen 8 reviews, I frequently saw complaints about screen graininess.

I honestly can't see any.

I've run various display tests and deliberately looked at small fonts, and everything looks perfectly sharp.

If you specifically try to find the graininess, you probably can.

I turned off the lights, set the display to its lowest brightness, displayed a dark gray image, and examined the screen from about 5–10 cm away.

Under those conditions, you can definitely see a colorful "grain" caused by the combination of the OLED panel and matte coating.

But that's an extremely artificial scenario. In normal use, even when looking at small text — both white-on-black and black-on-white — everything remains crisp and very readable.

So I wonder whether some of the reports of clearly visible graininess on the Gen 8 could have been related to variations or defects in the matte coating rather than being representative of the panel in general.

For me, the display is simply excellent.

Keyboard & trackpad

It's a ThinkPad, so naturally it has a great keyboard — and it does. :)

The typing experience is probably the best I've had in years.

I thought the Yoga's keyboard was already quite good, especially compared with Apple's recent keyboards, but the ThinkPad made me realize what a really good laptop keyboard feels like.

I'm not particularly obsessed with the TrackPoint or physical click buttons, so the all-glass haptic touchpad works very well for me.

As a long-time Mac user, I'm used to good trackpads, and the P1's touchpad feels very natural.

It's a significant improvement over the mechanical touchpads in my Yoga and Legion.

Performance

After installing Windows, I immediately ran some benchmarks. This was one of the things I was particularly interested in after my experience with the Yoga.

I haven't done any special tuning or optimization to squeeze out the maximum possible benchmark numbers.

3DMark Time Spy

• Overall: 10,673
• CPU: 15,937
• GPU: 10,086

CrystalDiskMark

Sequential 1M Q8T1

• Read: 14,145 MB/s
• Write: 14,149 MB/s

Random 4K Q1T1

• Read: 114 MB/s
• Write: 261 MB/s

The SSD performance is higher than I expected, especially compared with my Yoga.

Interestingly, I've also tried several games, and the FPS I get from the RTX PRO 2000 is significantly higher than what I was getting from the Yoga's RTX 4070.

But the benchmark numbers aren't actually the most important thing here.

What matters more to me is how the machine feels.

And here the P1 is excellent.

Just like with my old Legion, everything feels immediate. Applications open quickly, windows appear instantly, and the UI is responsive.

It definitely doesn't have the sluggish feeling I experienced with the Yoga.

Thermals & fan noise

This is probably one of the biggest improvements compared with my previous laptop.

It looks like Panther Lake is a significant step forward in terms of efficiency.

First, the Gen 9 does not use liquid metal anymore, unlike previous generations.

Instead, Lenovo uses phase-change PTM 7958. That's a big plus by itself: no need to worry about liquid metal potentially causing problems with the motherboard, and it also suggests that Lenovo has improved the thermal efficiency of the system.

Lenovo has a video showing the cooling assembly removal here:

Lenovo cooling assembly removal instructions

The cooling solution itself doesn't appear to be smaller than the one used in the Gen 8, while the CPU's power requirements are significantly lower.

The result is that the fans rarely need to ramp up, even in Performance mode.

Balanced mode is even quieter.

I tried measuring the noise with my phone, but the results weren't particularly useful — it was giving me numbers around 30 dB, which I don't consider reliable enough to report.

Subjectively, though, the P1 is noticeably quieter than my Yoga Pro 9i, both under load and at idle. The fan noise also seems lower-pitched and less annoying.

For me, this is a major improvement.

EDIT:

Checked the CPU power usage under stress hwinfo test:

This is on battery - stable 40 W draw - no spikes, no changes for 5 minutes of stress testing. The CPU temperatures are stable 60-70 C. (The Maximum values here are from the runs on AC power).

Note the total system power under the stress test! BTW, close to zero fan noise under stress test on battery.

This is on when plugged in - 60-65 W draw. The CPU temperatures are 85-92 C. When plugged in, there is some fan noise under stress test due to the higher power drain, but very minimal.

The fans actually really kick in when dGPU is run on full steam.

Second NVMe M.2 slot

There is an interesting detail in the Gen 9 PSREF.

There is a difference between WWAN and non-WWAN configurations: the WWAN module uses one of the M.2 slots, meaning that you can't have two SSDs installed at the same time in the WWAN configuration.

What isn't immediately obvious is whether this is a permanent limitation.

I needed a second SSD temporarily so I could copy all my files from the old Yoga to the new P1, so I decided to investigate.

It turns out that the second M.2 slot is occupied by a WWAN interposer module.

Basically, this is an adapter that occupies the motherboard's M.2 slot while providing its own M.2 slot for the WWAN modem.

Lenovo's instructions strongly advise against installing an SSD in the interposer's slot.

However, you can simply remove the entire interposer from the motherboard and install a second SSD directly into the motherboard's M.2 slot.

It works normally.

So, with the WWAN version, you can temporarily use two SSDs — at the cost of temporarily sacrificing the WWAN functionality.

Battery life

Finally, a Windows workstation-class laptop that can actually live without being permanently connected to a charger.

My general impression of battery operation is surprisingly close to my wife's M4 MacBook.

When running on battery, you don't notice a significant performance drop when you unplug it, provided you're not using the dGPU, and the battery just keeps going.

I haven't performed a proper standardized battery test yet, but based on my actual usage so far, I expect roughly 6–8 hours of normal use (not gaming).

That's a massive improvement over the 1–2 hours I was getting from the Yoga.

For a machine with this level of performance, this is probably one of the most important improvements for me.

Issues so far

So far, I've encountered only one actual issue.

When I enabled Dynamic Refresh Rate in Windows, the display occasionally started showing glitches.

Usually this appears as black lines or colorful junk/artifacts that flash on the screen for a fraction of a second.

I'm not sure exactly what causes it, but it definitely seems to be related to VRR.

The problem can be eliminated either by disabling Dynamic Refresh Rate in Windows or by disabling Panel Self Refresh in Intel Graphics Software → Display settings.

I'll keep monitoring this to see whether a driver or firmware update fixes it.

Cleaning the cooling system

I also have one concern regarding maintenance.

It appears that the fans cannot be removed separately from the entire cooling assembly, which could make cleaning the fans and heatsinks considerably more difficult.

I haven't yet had to clean it, so I can't say how serious this will be in practice. But it's something I'll be watching, particularly because I tend to keep my laptops for several years.

Final thoughts

Overall, this is pretty much the dream machine I've been looking for.

It combines the things I liked about the Legion — performance and responsiveness — with the things I liked about the Yoga — portability and an excellent display — while fixing some of the biggest problems I had with both.

The keyboard is excellent, the display is fantastic, performance is very good, the machine is surprisingly quiet, and — finally — battery life is good enough that I don't feel chained to the power adapter.

It's definitely expensive, but for my particular requirements, this is the first Windows workstation laptop I've used in years where I don't immediately start thinking about what I'd want to change.

It really feels like the machine I've been looking for.

At this point, it looks like the P1 Gen 9 is going to be my workstation for the next several years.

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