Lenovo introduced the new Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 and Z13 at CES 2022 earlier this year as a brand new series of business laptops for the modern, environmentally-conscious consumer. A few months later, in May, the laptops were released.
We have been testing the AMD Ryzen Pro CPU platform, larger display, and slightly different design made of recycled materials for a couple of weeks now. Is the ThinkPad Z16 as good as its smaller brother, and how does it compare to other 16-inch business laptops? Let us investigate.
Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Design and Features
Lenovo chose to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the ThinkPad series by launching the new Z series. The Z16 is the first of its kind, and it’s quite different from the typical ThinkPad design. Its body is 75% post-consumer recycled aluminum rather than the more common carbon fiber and magnesium alloy, giving it a heavier but sturdier feel. Despite the material change, the laptop still meets MIL-STD 810H durability standards.
The laptop isn’t exactly light at 3.99 pounds (1.81kg), but it’s well-balanced and slim. It’s 0.62 inches (15.8mm) thin, with a beveled bottom that makes it appear smaller than it is. The lid can be opened with one hand (always a sign of careful engineering), but it does not sit flat.
The lid is colored Arctic Grey, which we’ve seen on a few ThinkPad laptops in the past. It’s almost sacrilege to change the standard flat black finish on a ThinkPad, but the Z16 is all about change. The top finish effectively conceals fingerprints.
An aluminum band runs around the front three sides of the chassis, separating the black keyboard surround and the black bottom panel. These are typical smudge factories, but they are easily cleaned. The aluminum band gives way to a plastic lip that protects your wrists and palms from getting marked up while typing or pointing.
My first impression upon opening the laptop is that it resembles Dell’s XPS 15. It has a spacious keyboard, top-firing speakers flanking the keys, a massive touchpad, and a display that appears to stretch further than it should due to the thin bezels. It gives the overall appearance of being sleek.
A new haptic touchpad with full glass palm rests is part of the Z16’s allure (what Lenovo calls a ForcePad). It’s worth noting that this isn’t the same Sensel touchpad that we saw in the ThinkPad X1 Titanium or the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. It’s almost certainly made by Elan, who also provides the drivers.
This entire area is distinct from the rest of the keyboard surround, and it is immediately noticeable. Instead of the typical moving parts inside when you click, the haptic sensors simulate a click wherever you push. This feedback can be customized to your preferences, and I found that turning it up when I was first getting used to it aided my transition from a traditional pointer.
While the surface is smooth and tracks well, I did encounter some accuracy and ghost touch issues. I saw the cursor jump to random areas several times while navigating a Word document, even with the touchpad’s sensitivity turned all the way down. I tried to keep my palms away from the edges of the pad, but typing quickly drew my hands in. The touchpad’s off-center orientation may also be a source of annoyance. I like the move to haptics, but I think it could be done better in the second generation.
If there was ever a time to abandon the TrackPoint system, this would be it. Because of the new haptic setup, Lenovo did remove the physical buttons (which are now integrated into the top of the touchpad), but the red pointing nub is still present for die-hard ThinkPad fans. It works as well as it always has, though not being able to feel where your thumb is resting (except for a few minor bumps on the touchpad) may take some getting used to.
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Keyboard
The Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 keyboard looks similar to any other ThinkPad offering, but its key travel has been reduced to match that of the ThinkPad X1 Nano. It makes sense for a laptop to try to be as thin as possible, but those used to 1.5mm will notice the difference. The cupped keys are also a little mushy.
My Dell XPS 13 (9300) has only 1mm of key travel, but switching back to it after using the Z16’s keyboard gives the impression of more movement. It could be the XPS model’s crisper actuation. In any case, I typed thousands of words on the Z16 with no discomfort. The keys are well-spaced, most nav inputs (except PgUp and PgDn) have dedicated keys, and the Ctrl and Fn keys have been swapped to the more traditional layout used by all but ThinkPad. Of course, these can be swapped out again using onboard software. With a dedicated spot, a fingerprint reader is built into the keyboard.
Speaker
The Z16’s speakers are incredible. Despite having only 2W of power, they produce some of the loudest audio I’ve ever heard from a laptop. They’re placed on either side of the keyboard, so the sound is never muffled. It’s a pleasure to listen to Colter Wall’s deep gravel singing voice, and video calls with colleagues are crystal clear. Even at maximum volume, there is no distortion, there are a lot of basses, and the highs aren’t lost. Dolby Atmos is included for additional tuning, with five presets each with three different tunings.
The dual-array microphones come with Dolby Voice for better control over how you sound in calls. If you’re in a public place, you can set it to privacy mode so that it only picks up your voice and ignores everything else. Do you prefer a more natural sound? By default, it is set to collaboration mode.
A 1080p webcam is housed above the display in a communications bar that protrudes slightly from the bezel. The lip makes it simple to open the lid, and there’s enough space for the additional IR sensor and dual microphones. The camera has an f/2 aperture, and the image overall copes well with varying lighting. It’s clear and appears to be capable of focusing at various depths.
Mirametrix Glance software is included, which includes features such as human presence detection, privacy alerts (should someone be watching you), smart pointer, and smart window movement for multi-monitor setups. Overall, the communications bar adds a lot of value to the laptop, particularly for those who work with sensitive data. For added privacy, an e-shutter is included.
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Display
The base display is included in my review unit. It has a 16-inch display, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a 1920×1200 (FHD+) resolution. Lenovo claims that this ThinkPad has the highest screen-to-body ratio of any ThinkPad at 92.3%, and it certainly appears that way. The thin bezel wraps around all four sides, becoming larger only around the camera array.
To make it easier on the eyes, the IPS non-touch panel has a low power designation, an anti-glare finish, and TÜV Low Blue Light certification. It’s not washed out at all, the contrast is good, and it gets quite bright at times.
Using a SpyderX Pro colorimeter, I obtained 100% sRGB, 78% AdobeRGB, and 81% DCI-P3 color accuracy. The maximum brightness was 474 nits, with a minimum of 20 nits. When combined with the anti-glare finish, you should have no trouble working in well-lit areas, and the 20 nits are low enough to work in complete darkness.
Lenovo provides two additional displays for the Z16. The first is an anti-reflective touch version of the FHD+ screen I tested, and the second is a UHD+ OLED panel with HDR, Dolby Vision, TÜV Low Blue Light, an anti-reflective finish, and 100% DCI-P3 color. This should provide most people with the variety they require to get what they want. If you work with color-sensitive content, you should probably go with the UHD+ panel.
Ports
The ThinkPad Z16’s port selection is more akin to the X1 Nano than the X1 Carbon. On the left side, there are two USB4 ports connected by a fast UHS-II SD card reader. Because of the AMD platform, there is no Thunderbolt 4, but USB4 is a close second in terms of performance. The laptop’s right side features a standard USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) port, 3.5mm audio combo jack, Kensington Nano lock slot, and recessed power button.
Some of Lenovo’s reference documents mention 4G LTE support, but it doesn’t appear to be available in all regions. I couldn’t find any models with the extra hardware in the United States. Otherwise, all laptops include Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1.
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Performance and Battery Life
Lenovo frequently divides its performance profiles between its included Vantage app and the standard Windows 11 settings, but not in this case. Power profiles are left to the operating system, though Intelligent Cooling continues to work in the background to balance fans and heat.
The dual-fan cooling system has four heat pipes in total and appears to keep the Ryzen 7 CPU and integrated graphics cool. Unlike the smaller ThinkPad Z13, neither the bottom nor the keyboard gets hot. I measured 49 decibels of fan noise from about a foot and a half away from the screen under heavy load. Even in a quiet office, that won’t cause any problems.
AMD’s Ryzen Pro 6000 CPUs come in Ryzen 5, 7, and 9 configurations. I have the Ryzen 7 Pro in my review unit, which includes a number of security features similar to Intel vPro. The chips are designed for both enterprise and small businesses and include manageability features as well as Microsoft’s Pluton security chip.
We have previously discussed how AMD slows down some of its battery-powered systems to extend battery life. This extends to the point where some laptops’ SSD transfer speeds are reduced when not plugged in. Fortunately, that isn’t an issue with the Z16. When running on battery power, the extreme SSD speed does not slow at all, and overall performance does not suffer nearly as much as in other AMD systems.
On the Performance and Balanced Windows 11 power profiles, We ran PCMark 10’s Modern Office battery rundown test. Beginning with the latter, the Z16 achieved a time of 14 hours and 35 minutes. When tested again in Performance mode, the Z16 lasted 11 hours and 51 minutes.
Remember that these battery statistics were obtained using the baseline display. Upgrading to FHD+ with touch or (especially) UHD+ with OLED will reduce the runtime. Even with the tail end on the battery saver, you should be able to get through a workday without needing to plug in the laptop. A battery threshold setting allows you to change the maximum charge percentage, which is useful for those who work with a laptop dock.
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Competition
The ThinkPad Z16 reminds me a lot of Dell’s XPS 15, though the Dell laptop isn’t necessarily as business-oriented. This makes it a better choice for those who don’t require all of the extra security and management features, while still providing a beautiful design, strong performance, and long battery life.
The most recent XPS 15 (9520) models are built on a modern Intel platform, with prices starting around $1,399 for a model with a Core i5-12500H CPU, 16GB of DDR5-4800MHz RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, and a 15.6-inch FHD+ non-touch display. Configuring an XPS model to the same introductory Z16 price (approximately $1,999) gets you a Core i7-12700H CPU, discrete NVIDIA RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a stunning 3.5K OLED touch display. That is a large laptop.
HP’s ZBook Firefly G9 is another top business competitor with plenty of extra security features. It’s likely the closest competitor to the ThinkPad Z16, with many of the same security and high-end features.
The laptop is slim, sleek, and reasonably light. Models start just under $2,000, with a Core i7-1260P chip, 16GB of DDR5-4800MHz RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, and a 16-inch FHD+ non-touch display costing around $2,199.
If you prefer a more traditional ThinkPad look, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) may be what you’re looking for. Models currently start around $1,852 and quickly rise from there. More ports (including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, and HDMI) are available on the X1 Carbon, as are 12th Gen Intel Core U- and P-series CPUs, LPDDR5-5200MHz RAM, and M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage.
There are numerous 14-inch display options available, including FHD+ non-touch, UHD+ touch with the anti-reflective finish, 100% DCI-P3 color, Dolby Vision, and HDR 400. These laptops are both durable and compact, and they include additional security and management features that are ideal for the business sector.
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Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 price and release date
Lenovo provided a review unit of its first-generation ThinkPad Z16. An AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H processor (CPU), 16GB of soldered LPDDR5-6400MHz RAM, integrated AMD Radeon 680M graphics, a 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), and a 16-inch FHD+ non-touch display are all included in my model.
This specific model is currently unavailable on Lenovo’s official website, but there are plenty of other configurations available starting at around $1,976. Newegg also has a number of pre-configured models beginning around $2,025. My review model is available on Amazon for approximately $2,258, though it is from a third-party seller at a competitive price. Lenovo sells a ThinkPad Z16 with a Ryzen 9 Pro 6950H CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a touch display, and a discrete Radeon RX 6500M GPU for around $2,025 USD.
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