Lenovo ThinkPad P16s 16" Gen 4 2024

Lenovo packed a ludicrous 96GB of RAM and a stunning 4K OLED touchscreen into the ThinkPad P16s Gen 4, making it a mobile workstation dream for memory-hungry tasks. The RTX PRO 1000 GPU is fine for CAD but not a powerhouse, and the price is steep. Only buy it if you truly need that RAM and screen combo.

Lenovo went all-in with the ThinkPad P16s Gen 4. We're talking 96GB of DDR5 RAM in a 16-inch workstation that you can actually carry to a meeting. That's double what most "pro" laptops offer, and it's paired with a 4K OLED touchscreen that covers 100% DCI-P3. It's clearly built for developers running massive virtual machines, CAD jockeys, and AI tinkerers who need local memory headroom. You also get a Core Ultra 7 265H with vPro and Intel's NPU, so corporate IT will be happy and light AI inferencing stays snappy.

But this isn't a true desktop replacement for heavy GPU work. The RTX PRO 1000 has 8GB of GDDR7, which is fine for professional viz and some ML tasks but won't push 3D renders the way a high-end GeForce or M4 Max will. You're paying a premium for that 96GB and a drop-dead gorgeous OLED, so if you don't need that specific combo, your money could go further elsewhere.

That 96GB RAM pool sits at the 100th percentile in our database, absolute best-in-class, and it shows. Multiple Docker containers, 4K timelines, and memory-hungry datasets won't make this thing flinch. The Core Ultra 7 265H lands in the 89th percentile, strong enough for sustained compiles and simulations. The 2TB NVMe SSD is right up there too, at the 94th percentile. The screen? 97th percentile brightness and color accuracy made our test images pop. On the flip side, the RTX PRO 1000 is just above average at the 72nd percentile, so real-time 3D rendering and high-refresh gaming are not its strong suits. The port selection is a standout, though, and overall reliability sits at a respectable 78th percentile.

Price tags bounce from $4,749 all the way to $6,531 depending on where you look, so shop around hard. At the low end, you're getting an unmatched RAM and screen combo for under $5K that no MacBook Pro can touch at that memory spec. At the high end, you're overpaying. If you genuinely need 96GB of RAM in a portable workstation and the best mobile OLED, this is a solid investment. But if half that memory would suffice, grab a MacBook Pro M4 Max or a well-configured ZBook and pocket the savings.

Apple's MacBook Pro M4 Max trashes the P16s in GPU performance and battery life, but to get 96GB of RAM in a 16-inch Mac you'll push past $5K. The ASUS ROG Flow GZ302EA is a gaming machine with a faster RTX 4060, but it's a convertible with less RAM and no OLED. Samsung's Galaxy Book5 Pro has a killer AMOLED and better portability, but again, RAM tops out at 32GB. The MSI Stealth A16 AI+ and HP ZBook Ultra G1a are both more balanced, but neither match this ThinkPad's memory ceiling or screen quality. The P16s is in a weird niche: it's the "RAM monster with a brilliant screen" that no competitor exactly replicates at this price.

Skip this if you travel constantly and need something under 1.5kg or with all-day battery. The P16s is a desk-bound workhorse that you'll feel in your bag. Also, if your work relies on heavy GPU rendering or gaming, the RTX PRO 1000 will be a bottleneck; look at a MacBook Pro M4 Max or an ASUS ROG Flow instead.

Buy the P16s Gen 4 if you're a developer juggling enormous virtual environments, a data scientist who needs to hold giant datasets in memory locally, or a CAD professional who lives in color-critical work and wants vPro manageability. It's a specialist's laptop through and through, and for that crowd, the RAM and OLED justify the cost.