Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

MSRP $1,355.00

“The ThinkPad Z13 is a ThinkPad any in contrast to you’ve got ever seen.”

professionals

• Glorious battery life

• Efficiency is spectacular

• Small footprint

• Webcam is strong

• Distinctive design

As a lot as Lenovo has tried, the model “ThinkPad” most likely would not make you consider adventurous designs or innovation. dependent? surah Legacy? sure However not design experimentation.

The ThinkPad Z13 may not depend as “experimental,” but it surely actually seems like one thing new on the earth of ThinkPads. The faux-leather materials seems to be (and feels) distinctive, and it is even a bit extra reasonably priced than the everyday ThinkPad.

specs

	Lenovo ThinkPad Z13
Dimension	11.59 x 7.86 x 0.55 inches
weight	2.78 kilos (2.63 kilos for non-touch)
processor	As much as AMD Ryzen 7 Professional 6860Z
Graphics	As much as AMD Radeon 680M
R.A.M.	As much as 32GB LPDDR5 6400MHz
display	IPS LED (1920 x 1200), contact or non-touch 2.8K OLED (2880×1800), contact
Storage	As much as 1TB PCIe SSD Gen 4
contact	Elective
ports	2x USB4 40Gbps, headphone jack
Wi-fi	WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
cam	1080p + IR digicam
working system	home windows 11
batteries	51.5 watt-hour, helps Fast Cost (80% in 1 hour)
Value	Begins at $1,355

Rewriting the method

Calling the ThinkPad Z13 a “ThinkPad” seems like a stretch. Exterior the purple TrackPoint nub within the keyboard, there’s little or no about this laptop computer that resembles the traditional ThinkPad design.

Then once more, this would not be Lenovo’s first try to increase the design language of the ThinkPad model to one thing a bit extra trendy. We now have the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga, each of which enterprise out of the acquainted ThinkPad method. Heck, even the foldable ThinkPad X1 Fold is technically a “ThinkPad.”

So, what makes the Z13 stand out? A few issues catch the attention at a look. The primary is the lid, an usually ignored factor of laptop computer design. This one has a faux-leather texture that appears distinctive and feels grippy. I all the time advocate producers for searching for supplies to make use of apart from aluminum or plastic, not in contrast to what HP does with its Dragonfly Folio G3.

In the meantime, the highest edge, which features as an inverted notch, is emphasised with a brushed metallic protrusion fairly than downplayed. Lenovo calls it the “Communication Bar.” In fact, the purpose of emphasizing the Communication Bar is to let you know, the customer, that it is a severe enterprise laptop computer meant for the fashionable employee. Which means a 1080p webcam (with built-in Home windows Good day IR digicam) and twin microphones, all housed in that bronze-backed Communication Bar.

As Lenovo factors out, it additionally permits the bezels across the show to be fairly slim with out utilizing a notch just like the MacBook Professional.

The sensor on the digicam is 1.4 micron pixels with an aperture of f/2.0 — and the result’s a good digicam for videoconferencing. Lately, 1080p has grow to be the brand new commonplace for decision, and I am glad to see that Lenovo included it right here.

The digicam handles most lighting conditions nicely sufficient, managing pores and skin tones and lower-light situations with steadiness. I did discover that photos are likely to get grainy and noisy in darker edges of the body, particularly in rooms that includes plenty of distinction, akin to a state of affairs the place somebody is sitting by an open window.

The ThinkPad Z13 is kind of moveable too. At 0.55 inches thick, it is one of many thinnest ThinkPads ever made, coming in barely smaller than each the ThinkPad X1 Nano and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Its proportions share most in frequent with the X1 Nano, as each have a smaller footprint than the usual 14-inch ThinkPad measurement.

Ought to this be a ThinkPad?

The touchpad is the final little bit of experimentation that is value mentioning. That is the primary ThinkPad to incorporate a haptic suggestions trackpad, that means it would not have a bodily click on mechanism in any respect. This one makes use of haptics to simulate the sensation of a click on, even when there is no melancholy of a button by any means. That makes the left and proper buttons on the prime of the trackpad that should be used with the TrackPoint are even much less helpful. It actually makes you marvel why Lenovo bothered making this a ThinkPad in any respect.

Lenovo counters that by permitting some customization of those elements, however not with something you possibly can’t already simply entry on the keyboard.

The glass trackpad, or ForcePad as Lenovo calls it, feels good, although the implementation feels a bit much less clean because the haptics on laptops just like the Floor Laptop computer Studio or Dell XPS 13 Plus. It is onerous to explain, simply would not really feel fairly as convincing, and the simulated click on feels a bit sticky.

The keyboard is not a chunky ThinkPad keyboard, even when the keycaps look the half. The keys options 1.35mm of key journey, which seems like a lot for such a laptop computer.

When IPS is sufficient

The ThinkPad Z13 provides two display choices: an IPS LED mannequin and a costlier OLED possibility. Each are 13.3-inch screens with a 16:10 side ratio. They each even hit the identical 400 nits of brightness. The distinction is in distinction and shade. My assessment unit used the cheaper IPS Contact mannequin, and it would not come wherever near absolutely the black of OLED. That being stated, it isn’t a nasty display.

The IPS mannequin additionally comes with a extra fundamental 1920 x 1200 decision, in comparison with the 2880 x 1800 decision of the OLED panel. In fact, you do not get the intense black ranges and correct colours with the traditional IPS LED display, both. However it is a fairly good display for what it’s, and that OLED possibility is just out there on costly high-end configurations with 32GB of RAM that you will most likely by no means want.

Efficiency and battery life

The ThinkPad Z13 is a succesful little machine, but it surely’s not designed with heavy workflows in thoughts. Reasonably than the everyday Intel fare, this laptop computer comes with the Ryzen 7 Professional 6850U, AMD’s newest enterprise processors. These 8-core chips are nice for multitasking and less complicated functions, particularly when you work primarily in Microsoft Workplace or on internet functions. That is not saying that slightly Photoshop, internet design, or programming on the facet is not a chance — you simply do not need to purchase this when you plan on residing in these functions daily.

This laptop computer is supposed for the fashionable businessperson, and for these functions, it is greater than highly effective sufficient. To place issues in perspective, it beats a laptop computer just like the Dell XPS 13 Plus in most duties in PCMark 10, and even stays pretty quiet and chill whereas doing so.

The Z13 would not include an Intel possibility, and that may go away you questioning when you’d be getting extra efficiency out of the same Intel laptop computer. In fact, when evaluating efficiency between chips in laptops, you by no means have apples to apples. However AMD’s chips are inside 4% of Intel based mostly on testing of the ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2. It is fairly darn shut.

	Geekbench (single / a number of)	handbrake (seconds)	Cinebench R23 (single / a number of)	PCMark 10 Full
Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 (Ryzen 7 Professional 6850U)	1428 / 8208		1410 / 7865	5812
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2 (Core i7-1280P)	1493 / 8668	126	1575 / 7595	5094
Dell XPS 13 Plus (Core i7-1280P)	1316 / 8207	127	1311 / 6308	4309
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (Ryzen 7 6800U)	1417 / 6854	112	1402 / 8682	5647
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 (Core i7-1265U)	1699 / 5936	194	16181 / 5601	4975

Lenovo would not promote a mannequin with simply 8GB of RAM, which makes the bottom stage value of $1,355 a bit greater than different laptops. For instance, the M1 MacBook Air begins at $999, however for a configuration with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, it is solely $100 cheaper than the bottom mannequin ThinkPad Z13. It is a comparable story with Lenovo’s personal ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It is costlier when equally configured, even when the beginning base configuration is comparable. In the meantime, the ThinkPad Z13 is a strong $500 cheaper than the HP Elite Dragonfly G3.

In fact, you may also configure the ThinkPad Z13 with as much as 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, however the choices for personalisation are slimmer than what you get on different ThinkPads.

Past efficiency, the energy of those Ryzen Professional chips can also be in effectivity. The ThinkPad Z13 will get implausible battery life, lasting greater than 16.5 hours in mild internet shopping. This is without doubt one of the finest outcomes from this check I’ve seen on a laptop computer that does not have an Apple brand plastered to the lid. You will doubtless get much less battery life with the higher-resolution OLED mannequin, however both manner, you possibly can anticipate the ThinkPad Z13 to outlast most of its rivals.

On a median day of labor, I used to be discovering it simple to make it by way of with no need to search out an outlet. That is one thing most of the ThinkPad Z13’s opponents cannot do, and that features different comparable laptops just like the Dell XPS 13 Plus or ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2.

Do you have to purchase it?

As a sleeker and fewer typical tackle the ThinkPad, the Z13 is a hit. I recognize the cheaper pricing, and I benefit from the distinctive appear and feel of the chassis. The weather that make this a “ThinkPad” aren’t a distraction, however the truth that it is a ThinkPad itself would possibly flip off some folks from what’s in any other case a particularly trendy enterprise laptop computer.

Nevertheless it should not. From the unimaginable battery life to the spectacular efficiency, there’s little or no to complain about with the ThinkPad Z13 — one of the well-rounded new ThinkPad designs in recent times.

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