Lenovo ThinkBook 16" G8 Review

The star of the show is a port selection that beats almost every other laptop in our database. The Intel 210H and integrated graphics are strictly average, so it's fine for office work but struggles with anything demanding. The tiny 45Wh battery is a real downer, so plan on staying close to an outlet.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G8 lands in a strange spot: it's got one of the best port lineups we've ever seen on a laptop, but on the inside it's about as average as it gets. The port selection sits in the 97th percentile of our database, meaning you're getting Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and Ethernet. It's practically a docking station with a screen. Meanwhile, the Intel Core 5 210H CPU and 512GB SSD score in the 61st and 53rd percentiles, respectively. That's fine for everyday office work, but don't expect any land-speed records when you're compiling code or crunching numbers. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM is a nice touch and helps keep things snappy, but overall performance is solidly middle-of-the-pack. The 16-inch 1920x1200 touchscreen is a nice perk, though its 300-nit brightness and 45% NTSC color gamut mean it's not going to win any beauty contests. Battery life is the real sore spot. The 45Wh battery is small for a 16-inch laptop, and our data shows compactness in the 31st percentile, so you're not even getting a super-slim chassis to justify the trade-off. At 1.70kg, it's not heavy, but there are lighter 16-inch options out there. This is a laptop built for someone who plugs into a desk most of the day and occasionally goes to a meeting.

Under the hood, the Intel 210H 8-core chip clocks in at 2.2GHz and handles the basics without complaint. Our benchmarks put this processor at the 61st percentile overall, which translates to an experience that's plenty responsive for Office apps, video calls, and light multitasking. The integrated Intel Graphics are about as exciting as plain toast. They score in the 54th percentile and push the 1920x1200 display without issue, but this isn't a machine for even casual gaming. The 19.1 gaming score in our database should make that painfully clear. The 512GB NVMe SSD is middle-of-the-road for speed and capacity, and while you can always add external storage, you'll fill it up quickly if you work with large media files. For a business laptop, the performance profile is reasonable, but don't mistake 'enough' for 'fast'. This laptop runs things, it doesn't run circles around them.

The price situation on this model is a bit of a puzzle. We're seeing a $905 to $38,410 spread across vendors, which is one of the wildest ranges we've ever tracked. At the low end, around $905, this is a solid value if you need a big touchscreen and every port ever invented. At $1,500 or above, there are competitors with better displays, longer battery life, and more power. If you can snag it near the lower end, the ThinkBook 16 G8 is an honest office workhorse. Just don't pay anywhere near the top of that range, because at that point you could buy two much better laptops and still have money left for a fancy lunch.

Stacked against rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro or the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Pro, this ThinkBook feels like it belongs in a different league. The Galaxy Book5 Pro gives you a stunning AMOLED screen, longer endurance, and a faster processor, but it'll cost more and lacks this many ports. The MacBook Pro is in another universe for performance and build, but you'll pay double and give up the touchscreen and USB-A. Even within the business laptop space, the MSI Prestige 13 Evo A2 is lighter, has a better display, and often comes with similar specs for a bit more cash. The HP ZBook Ultra G1a outmuscles it completely but is aimed at workstation users. The ThinkBook's only real advantage is that it's the ports champion and can be found for a bargain price. If you don't need eleven different ways to plug things in, better options exist.

If your work involves anything beyond basic Office apps, look elsewhere. The integrated graphics score of 54th percentile and a gaming score at the bottom of our charts mean creatives and gamers are out of luck. The 45% NTSC display is a letdown for anyone who cares about color accuracy, and the small battery will frustrate road warriors who can't stay tethered to a desk. Put simply, if you need strong GPU performance, an all-day battery, or a vibrant screen, this ThinkBook is not your friend.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G8 is a one-trick pony, but it's a pretty good trick. That 97th percentile port selection makes it a fantastic choice for desk jockeys who connect to monitors, external drives, and Ethernet all day long. The 16-inch touchscreen and 16GB of RAM make it comfortable enough for everyday work. However, the small battery and underwhelming screen color mean you're making real sacrifices for that port flexibility. Pick this up only if you find it priced near the bottom of its enormous price range and you absolutely refuse to carry a dongle. Otherwise, most people can do better for similar money.