Lenovo ThinkBook 14" 14s Premium Business Review

This ThinkBook 14s is a weird, fascinating machine. It's got a massive 2TB SSD and 32GB of RAM crammed into a tiny 1.3kg body, but it's powered by a CPU from 2018. The one thing you need to know is this: it's a storage and memory monster trapped in a body that can't keep up. If your work is all about moving huge files and having a hundred browser tabs open, but you don't need raw processing speed, it's a niche pick. For everyone else, it's a confusing spec sheet.

The performance story is a tale of two halves. That 2TB NVMe SSD is blazing fast for storage, landing in the 87th percentile, and 32GB of RAM means you'll never worry about memory again. But the Intel Core i7-8565U CPU is ancient and slow, sitting in the 11th percentile. It'll handle basic office tasks and web browsing fine, but ask it to compile code or run complex spreadsheets and you'll hear the fans spin up while it struggles. The AMD Radeon 540 GPU isn't much help either, scoring in the bottom half for graphics.

At $1250, the value proposition is shaky. You're paying for tons of storage and RAM, but the brain of the computer is severely outdated. You could find a modern laptop with a better CPU, a nicer screen, and still decent specs for the same price or less.

Compared to a modern ultrabook like an ASUS Zenbook, you'll get a much faster processor, a vastly better screen, and similar portability, but you'd have to settle for 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Against a gaming laptop like the MSI Vector, you'd get exponentially better CPU and GPU performance for the same cash, but it'll be heavier and have worse battery life. This ThinkBook only makes sense if your workflow is 100% dependent on having massive, fast local storage and tons of RAM, and you don't care about processing power.

I can't recommend this specific configuration for most people. The outdated CPU holds back everything else. Only consider it if you found it heavily discounted and your work is purely storage and memory-bound. For $1250, you should expect a balanced, modern machine, and this isn't it.