Radeon Rx 6550m Performance Debut: Lenovo Thinkpad Z16 Gen 2 Laptop Review

The ThinkPad Z16 G2 succeeds the one-year outdated ThinkPad Z16 G1 with new AMD Zen 4 CPU choices, sooner Radeon RX graphics, and a brand new 2400p OLED touchscreen. It additionally occurs to be one of the vital only a few laptops with the unusual entry-level Radeon RX 6550M. The chassis is another way similar to the ThinkPad Z16 G1 and so we propose trying out our present overview at the first technology type to be told extra concerning the bodily options and connectivity choices of the sequence.

Our particular overview unit is the highest-end configuration with the Ryzen 9 Professional 7940HS, Radeon RX 6550M, OLED touchscreen, and 64 GB of RAM for roughly $2600 USD. Lesser SKUs get started with the Ryzen 5 Professional 7640HS, built-in graphics, and a 1200p IPS show for $1600. The ThinkPad Z16 may also be thought to be as a semi-professional multimedia or content material writer pc because it carries Ryzen Professional CPUs as a substitute of the everyday non-Professional choices.

Possible choices to the ThinkPad Z16 G2 come with different high-end 16-inch content material writer laptops just like the MSI Author Z16P, Apple MacBook Professional 16, Asus Vivobook Professional 16X, or the Dell XPS sequence.

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Lenovo has swapped out the Qualcomm WCN685x from ultimate ’s type for a MediaTek MT7922 in this ’s type. Switch charges stay stable and superb when paired to our Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E networks.

Even supposing Lenovo advertises a 2 MP webcam, we are handiest in a position to choose as much as 0.5 MP with the integrated digital camera app as proven by way of the screenshot in the appropriate. We have now notified Lenovo of the computer virus and can replace this phase will have to we obtain a reaction.

Taking out the ground panel presentations no primary inner variations between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 variations. Our Gen 2 configuration, on the other hand, does now not come with WAN reinforce and so the M.2 WAN slot and antenna are absent. This sadly signifies that customers can’t acquire a WAN-less SKU so as to upload a WAN module someday.

Lenovo gives 4 show choices as follows all of which might be 60 Hz handiest and with out a FreeSync reinforce:

• 1920 x 1200, IPS, matte, non-touch, 100% sRGB, 400 nits
• 1920 x 1200, IPS, shiny, contact, 100% sRGB, 400 nits
• 3840 x 2400, OLED, shiny, contact, 100% DCI-P3, 400 nits, HDR400

The similar Samsung ATNA60YV04-0 OLED panel on our overview unit can be discovered at the contemporary ThinkPad P1 G6 and so the viewing enjoy is the same between those two fashions. It isn’t unusual for a producer to deploy the similar panel choices throughout a couple of fashions.

When in comparison to the 1200p panel on our Gen 1 unit, the OLED panel gives deeper black ranges, HDR reinforce, sooner black-white reaction occasions, extra colourful colours, and the next local answer. Regardless of the choice, we are happy to peer complete sRGB protection come same old with out a low-end SKUs to steer clear of. We are hopeful that long run revisions will come with excessive refresh panels a l. a. the Asus VivoBook sequence.

The OLED show is well-calibrated out of the field with reasonable grayscale and colour deltaE values of simply 2.0 and 1.41, respectively. An end-user calibration is due to this fact now not important for nearly all of customers.

Viewing angles are wider than IPS whilst the deeper black ranges assist to handle colours when underneath brilliant ambient lights. Even so, glare from the shiny overlay is unavoidable and most brightness is not any brighter than the bottom 1200p IPS configuration. Compared, the show at the MacBook Professional 16 is 50 % brighter for higher outside visibility.

We set Home windows to Efficiency mode previous to working the benchmarks under. The pre-installed Lenovo Industrial Vantage device does now not come with any further energy profile settings atop the standard Home windows variety. It’s however essential for BIOS updates and adjusting battery charging habits.

The Ryzen 9 Professional 7940HS plays identically to the Ryzen 9 7940HS as discovered at the Asus TUF Gaming A16. Thus, customers would possibly not wish to sacrifice efficiency to profit from Professional options. General efficiency is similar to ultimate ’s twelfth gen Core i9-12900H in each single- and multi-threaded workloads.

The efficiency variations between our Zen 4 Ryzen 9 Professional 7940HS and the Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 Professional 6850H in ultimate ’s ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1 may also be slightly important at 35 to 45 % for multi-threaded workloads because of the bigger collection of cores. Thus, the efficiency uptick with Zen 4 is among the primary causes for opting for the Gen 2 model of the ThinkPad Z16 as a substitute of Gen 1.

Decrease-end configurations be offering the Ryzen 7 Professional 7840HS or Ryzen 5 Professional 7640HS as a substitute. The Ryzen 7 choice plays virtually identically to the Ryzen 9 choice in keeping with our time with the Lenovo Legion Slender 5 16 and so it’s endorsed to make a choice a Ryzen 7 configuration to avoid wasting on prices. In reality, the Ryzen 7 Professional 7840HS stocks the very same collection of cores and lines because the Ryzen 9 Professional 7940HS with handiest very minor 100 to 200 MHz variations in goal clock charges.

Downgrading to the Ryzen 5 Professional 7640HS configuration is anticipated to affect processor efficiency extra considerably by way of about 30 to 35 % in keeping with our time with the HP ZBook Firefly 14 G10. The efficiency deltas around the Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, and Ryzen 9 choices are due to this fact closely skewed between the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 SKUs.

LatencyMon presentations minor DPC problems when opening a couple of browser tabs of our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is another way easiest with out a dropped frames recorded not like what we skilled at the contemporary Intel-Nvidia-powered ThinkPad P1 G6.

Our take a look at unit ships with the Kioxia XG8 while our older ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1 would send with the Samsung PM9A1. Nevertheless, the 2 SSDs are high-end PCIe4 x4 NVMe drives with an identical most learn charges of ~7000 MB/s every.

Sadly, the Kioxia pressure would additionally show off efficiency throttling problems after a couple of mins of tension just like with the Samsung pressure on our ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1 as proven by way of the comparability graph under. Learn charges would drop from ~7000 MB/s to ~5800 MB/s over the years most probably because of inadequate warmth dissipation. Together with a big thermal pad between the SSD and steel backside duvet might assist with efficiency.

RAM is soldered and there is not any reinforce for a 2nd SSD not like at the MSI Author Z16P which integrates two RAM slots and two M.2 SSD slots.

The connection between the Radeon RX 6550M and RX 6500M is similar to the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3050; their variations are minor and inside 10 share issues on reasonable. Certainly, the 2 Radeon GPUs proportion the similar 64-bit reminiscence bus width, RDNA2 structure, 1024 movement processors, 4 GB GDDR6 VRAM, and extra. The Radeon RX 6550M reaches fairly upper goal clock charges (2560 MHz vs. 2191 MHz) and most TGP (60 W vs. 55 W) than the 6500M., however this is it.

The minor build up in clock charges ends up in simply minor will increase in benchmark rankings as proven by way of the comparability chart under.

Working on Balanced mode as a substitute of Efficiency mode affects efficiency simply fairly as proven by way of our Fireplace Strike leads to the desk under. Working on battery energy would scale back graphics efficiency a lot more considerably than processor efficiency.

Take into account that the RDNA2-based Radeon RX 6550M is coming proper off the heels of the release of the high-end RDNA3-based Radeon RX 7900M which means that that extra midrange RDNA3 GPUs are coming quickly. RDNA3 is a vital development over RDNA2 with regards to efficiency, energy intake, AI upscaling reinforce, and particularly ray-tracing features.

Efficiency when gaming can vary from being virtually similar to the Radeon RX 6500M to being as much as 30 % sooner relying at the identify and settings. As an example, Ultimate Delusion XV would carry out just about the similar between our Radeon RX 6550M and 6500M fashions whilst different titles like A long way Cry 5 or F1 22 can run as much as 15 to 30 % sooner. In the meantime, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands can run as much as 30 % sooner provided that on upper graphical settings. Effects are due to this fact very dependent at the utility, however the efficiency benefits are normally upper than what the 3DMark rankings would another way counsel which is superb information for avid gamers.

Apparently, general efficiency is neck-to-neck with the MacBook Professional 16 M3 Professional when checking out more moderen video games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3. When making an allowance for that our Radeon is a bigger discrete GPU, this speaks volumes concerning the potency of the built-in Apple SoC resolution.

Fan noise habits is extremely dependent at the energy profile decided on. As an example, the lovers are handiest in point of fact silent when at the Energy Saver profile as they’re another way all the time energetic at virtually 30 dB(A) regardless of the onscreen load. In a similar way, fan noise if gaming on Balanced mode could be round 41 to 45 dB(A) in comparison to 52 dB(A) if on Efficiency mode which is a vital distinction regardless of the minor efficiency variations between the 2 profiles as discussed above. Efficiency mode specifically is noticeably louder than many different 16-inch laptops just like the MSI Author Z16P or MacBook Professional 16.

Fan pulsing is another way saved to a minimal. When working 3DMark 06, as an example, fan noise could be at a gentle 29.5 dB(A) all over all of the first benchmark scene with out a surprising spikes.

Floor temperatures upward push and fall relatively temporarily and by way of wider extremes since many of the chassis is steel. When working challenging so much like video games, sizzling spots may also be as heat as 47 C and 43 C at the keyboard heart and backside plate, respectively, however this may also be even hotter at over 50 C relying at the ambient temperature like what we seen at the ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1. Effects are however a lot cooler than what we recorded at the MSI Author Z16P which might get approach too sizzling for its personal excellent.

When working Prime95 tension, the CPU would spice up to 4.6 GHz and 82 W for only some seconds earlier than falling and stabilizing at 4.4 GHz, 69 W, and a toasty 100 C. It is transparent that the CPU is working as speedy as it could possibly inside the limits of the overlying cooling resolution.

GPU clock charges and board energy draw when working on Efficiency mode would stabilize at 2630 MHz and 59 W, respectively, in comparison to 2133 MHz and 39 W when working on Balanced mode. Maximum significantly, the efficiency deficit between the 2 modes when working Witcher 3 is minimum at only some frames even if the fan noise variations are important. Thus, customers might wish to believe gaming on Balanced mode for the a lot quieter lovers and fairly cooler core temperatures.

The 4K OLED panel affects energy intake by way of a notable quantity. As an example, energy intake could be simply 7 W when idling on an all-black display screen whilst an all-white display screen at most brightness can call for virtually 19 W in comparison to simply 10 W at the IPS configuration. The ability intake variations between IPS and OLED are explored in additional element right here.

Intake when working CPU or GPU in depth duties is fairly upper than at the ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1 even after accounting for the extra challenging OLED panel. Then again, the variations are minor relative to the massive efficiency boosts that the Zen 4 Ryzen 9 CPU gives.

We are in a position to measure a most intake of 132 W from the medium-sized (~14.6 x 7.7 x 2.3 cm) 135 W USB-C AC adapter. Gaming already calls for virtually 120 W which means the charging price will gradual to a move slowly if working challenging so much concurrently.

Runtimes are normally shorter than on ultimate ’s type due in large part to our extra challenging OLED panel. Since maximum internet pages are predominantly white in colour, energy intake may also be 10 W upper even supposing the energetic packages are undemanding as discussed within the Energy Intake phase above. We are handiest in a position to document a WLAN runtime of 6 hours in comparison to 10 hours at the ThinkPad Z16 IPS configuration or over 16 hours at the MacBook Professional 16.

Charging from empty to complete capability is slower than standard at about 2.5 hours in comparison to 1.5 to two hours on maximum Ultrabooks. This is among the few laptops with each Ryzen 9 and discrete graphics to be powered by way of USB-C.

In our overview of the unique Gen 1 type, we praised the ThinkPad Z16 for its robust and engaging construct and relaxed keyboard and trackpad. The Gen 2 type keeps most of these benefits whilst including a far sooner Ryzen Professional CPU and a top of the range OLED touchscreen for noticeably higher efficiency and colours, respectively. Those two additions are the main causes for opting for the Gen 2 model over Gen 1.

The ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 is surely swish and attractive and the brand new Zen 4 Professional CPU isn’t any slouch. The Radeon RX 6550M, on the other hand, is just too little too overdue particularly at this worth vary.

The brand new Radeon RX 6550M additionally is helping to differentiate between the 2 type variations, however its efficiency is unimpressive particularly whilst you issue within the excessive $1600+ asking worth. Now not handiest is the GPU of an older AMD structure, laptops with the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti may also be discovered for only a grand whilst providing a an identical point of efficiency. The Radeon GPU is surely one of the vital weakest facets of the ThinkPad Z16 sequence up to now.

If you do not maintain Ryzen Professional, then the Asus Vivobook Professional 16X and even HP Spectre x360 16 sequence can function superb possible choices to the ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 as every be offering an identical OLED and discrete graphics choices in skinny chassis designs. Optimistically long run revisions from Lenovo will come with both GeForce RTX or more moderen RDNA3 choices.

Lenovo is now delivery the ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 beginning at $1600 USD for the Ryzen 5, built-in GPU, and 1200p IPS configuration as much as over $2600 as reviewed.