Lenovo P17 Review: A Powerful 17-inch Workstation Laptop

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Lenovo P17: At First Glance

Getting an excellent workstation laptop nowadays can be a difficult task. This is due to the fact that there are numerous workstation laptops out there from various manufacturers.

However, a particular workstation laptop that has been making waves since its release in 2020 is the Lenovo ThinkPad P17. This laptop offers a 17-inch anti-glare display with multiple resolution options, including the 4K UHD resolution.

Also, the Lenovo P17 offers a majority of outstanding specs, like a super-fast SSD and several dedicated graphics card options. However, this laptop is somewhat expensive, starting at a price of $1,897 when this review was published in November 2022.

Now the main question is whether or not the laptop has enough delightful features to make up for its expensive price tag. Why not read on to find out?

Lenovo P17: Design, Display, Ports, and Connectivity

When it comes to design, Lenovo does not seem ready to change the design of the ThinkPad series anytime soon. This is because most of the laptops in the series feature similar designs, including the Lenovo P17.

However, instead of the popular magnesium/aluminum build material, the Lenovo P17’s external parts are made with glass-fiber reinforced plastic material. Meanwhile, the internal parts of the laptop feature the traditional ThinkPad structure with magnesium material.

Sadly, the entire body of the laptop has a velvety texture coating that makes it prone to fingerprints. Nonetheless, the Lenovo P17 is pretty sturdy and should be able to handle rough handling.

Also, the laptop’s lid barely wobbles thanks to the rigid metal 180-degree hinges that connect it to the base. Moreover, the lid features a slanted “ThinkPad” inscription at the top right corner.

In addition to that, you will also find a “Lenovo” inscription at the bottom left corner of the Lenovo ThinkPad P17’s lid. When you open this laptop’s lid, the first thing you will encounter is a massive 17-inch display screen.

Lenovo offers two resolution options for this massive display. Hence, you can either buy the Lenovo ThinkPad P17 with an FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution or a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution.

However, this review focuses on the Lenovo P17 with the 4K UHD resolution. With this resolution option, this Lenovo laptop will be able to produce colorful and realistic picture quality for an ideal viewing experience.

Besides, the laptop’s display features an anti-glare surface that prevents reflections and reduces the intensity of sun glares. That’s not all; the display also has an IPS (In-plane Switching) panel, which allows it to offer wide viewing angles.

Therefore, you will be able to watch the Lenovo P17 from the sides or off-center without losing picture quality or noticing color distortion. Impressively, with the 4K UHD resolution, the laptop’s display offers a maximum brightness of 500 nits.

As a result, you will be able to clearly see content on the display even when you use the laptop outdoors or in well-lit areas. Sadly, the Lenovo P17’s display is surrounded by thick bezels.

However, you will find a 720p HD webcam with ThinkShutter and fixed focus at the center of the top bezel. This webcam may not be particularly good for taking selfies, but it is excellent for video conference calls and casual skyping.

Moving on, the Lenovo P17 comes with a keyboard that offers two-stage backlighting for typing in dark areas. Furthermore, the keyboard features well-spaced keys with a 1.8 mm key travel for a comfortable typing experience.

In case you are wondering, key travel simply means the distance between a key’s resting point to full depression. Impressively, due to the large size of the Lenovo P17, the keyboard features a dedicated Numpad.

Below this laptop’s keyboard, you will see a spacious touchpad with a glass surface and integrated click buttons. This touchpad is responsive, and its surface is smooth.

Hence, navigating with the touchpad should be seamless. Moreover, there are also three dedicated click buttons at the top of this touchpad.

These dedicated buttons are for the laptop’s TrackPoint. As expected from a ThinkPad laptop, the Lenovo P17 features a red TrackPoint in the middle of its keyboard.

This TrackPoint serves as an alternative to the touchpad. Hence, you can also use it to control the cursor on the laptop screen.

Outstandingly, to the right side of the Lenovo P17’s touchpad, you will see a fingerprint sensor. This fingerprint sensor allows for biometric login into Windows via Windows Hello.

Interestingly, there is also a slanted “ThinkPad” inscription on the right side of this laptop’s touchpad.

That being said, the Lenovo P17 offers a good number of ports. Moreover, the ports are divided between the sides of the laptop, except for the front side.

Specifically, the laptop’s backside features an Ethernet port, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and a charging port. Meanwhile, on the right of the laptop, you will find an SD card reader, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a Kensington lock.

However, the left side of the laptop houses an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (always on) port, a sim tray, and a headphone jack.

Concerning the dimension and weight, the Lenovo P17 measures 416 x 281 x 33.2 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 3500 g. With this dimension and weight, this laptop won’t be easy to carry around.

Hence, it is better off on a desk all the time. Besides, compared to the LG Gram 17, the Lenovo P17 is very heavy and thick.

Precisely, the LG Gram 17 has a weight of 1338 g and measures 381 x 266.7 x 17.7 mm (W x D x H).

Overall, the Lenovo P17 offers impressive design features, an outstanding display, and a good amount of ports. However, the laptop is thicker and heavier than most of its competitors.

Thus, I will rate the Lenovo P17 an eight out of ten in this design review section.

Lenovo P17: Processor (CPU) Performance

The Lenovo P17 offers two processor options. These are Intel Core i5-10400H and Intel Xeon W-10885.

The Intel Core i5-10440H processor has a base frequency of 2.60 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.60 GHz. Furthermore, it is a quad-core (4 cores) processor with an 8 MB cache memory.

The Intel Xeon W-10885M, however, is an octa-core (8 cores) processor with a cache memory of 16 GB. Moreover, this processor also has a base frequency of 2.40 GHz and a boost frequency of 5.30 GHz.

Honestly, both processor options are high-end processors that are capable of handling most computing tasks and heavy multitasking. However, considering their speed and specs, the Intel Xeon W-10885M processor should be faster and stronger.

Gladly, this review focuses on the Lenovo P17 with the Intel Xeon W-10885M processor. To know how well this laptop can perform with this processor, let’s discuss its results on the Cinebench R15 test.

Briefly, the Cinebench R15 test is a cross-platform test that evaluates the overall processing ability of a computer. It does this by using photorealistic 3D scenes to stress the cores of the computer’s processor.

Furthermore, the Cinebench R15 test involves two tests, which are the single-core test and the multi-core test. The single-core test measures the processing ability of the computer when using one of its CPU cores.

Meanwhile, the multi-core test measures the computer’s processing ability when using its entire CPU cores. Just so you know, a high score on the Cinebench R15 single-core test and multi-core test means good performance.

Having said that, the Lenovo P17 with Intel Xeon W-10885M CPU scored 192 points in the single-core test. On the other hand, it scored 1667 points in the multi-core test.

In comparison, this Lenovo laptop has a better performance than the Dell Precision 3541, which uses an Intel core 17-9750H processor. Specifically, the Dell Precision 3541 scored 185 points in the single-core test.

Additionally, it scored 1,144 points on the Cinebench R15 multi-core test.

As a result, I will be rating the Lenovo P17 a nine out of ten in this processor review section.

Lenovo P17: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Lenovo P17 comes with a standard RAM of 8 GB DDR4 2933 MHz. Impressively, the laptop has four memory slots and supports a maximum memory capacity of 128 GB.

What this means is that you can upgrade the memory of the Lenovo P17 up to 128 GB, which is pretty impressive. However, this review focuses on the Lenovo P17 with the standard memory of 8 GB RAM.

With this amount of RAM, this Lenovo laptop should be able to perform most tasks and run most applications. Also, it should be able to multitask effectively.

To be precise, the laptop should be able to run about 15 Chrome tabs simultaneously without lagging or slowing down. As a matter of fact, switching from one browser tab to the other shouldn’t be a problem for the Lenovo P17 with 8 GB RAM.

To further prove the laptop’s capability with 8 GB RAM, let us check out its PCMark 10 benchmark test result. For the curious ones, this benchmark test measures the RAM capabilities of a computer by simulating a series of real-world productivity tasks.

Notably, a high score on this test equates to good memory performance. On that note, the Lenovo P17 scored an impressive 6620 points on the PCMark 10 test.

However, the laptop was slightly outperformed by the Dell Precision 7560, which scored 6752 points on the benchmark test.

Regardless, the Lenovo P17 deserves a nine out of ten rating in this memory review section. This is because the laptop supports a massive maximum memory of 128 GB and features four RAM slots.

Lenovo P17: Storage Options and Performance

Concerning storage, the Lenovo P17 comes with an M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD. Furthermore, the laptop supports a max storage capacity of 4 TB, which I believe should be sufficient for most people.

To make things even better, this Lenovo laptop comes with an SD card reader for storage expansion. Besides, SSDs are one of the fastest storage drives out there, if not the fastest.

Therefore, the Lenovo P17 should offer a speedy file transfer speed and rapid boot time. Also, it should have a fast read and write speed.

To prove that, I will now share the laptop’s result on the CrystalDiskMark benchmark test. In case you are wondering, this test measures the read and write speed of a storage drive.

Furthermore, the higher the “MB/s” value on the test, the faster the read and write speed of the computer’s storage drive. For your information, read speed is how fast a computer’s storage drive is able to open files.

However, write speed is how fast the computer’s storage drive is able to save files. So, according to the CrystalDiskMark test, the Lenovo P17 has a read speed of 3997 MB/s.

Also, it has a write speed of 1049MB/s. In comparison, this laptop has a faster read and write speed than the Dell Precision 5000 5750, which also uses an SSD.

Specifically, the Dell Precision 5000 5750 recorded a read and write speed of 2025 MB/s and 1438 MB/s, respectively.

All things considered, I will rate the Lenovo P17 a nine out of ten.

Lenovo P17: Graphics Card Performance

Regarding the graphics card, the Lenovo P17 offers several options. These options include NVIDIA Quadro T1000, NVIDIA Quadro T2000, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q, and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q.

The NVIDIA Quadro T1000 GPU has a base frequency of 1395 MHz and a boost frequency of 1455 MHz. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA Quadro T2000 GPU features a 1575 MHz base frequency and a 1785 MHz boost frequency.

Also, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 offers a base and boost frequency of 945 MHz and 1380 MHz, respectively. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q, however, comes with a 780 MHz base frequency and a 1380 MHz boost frequency.

Lastly, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q features a base frequency of 600 MHz and a 1350 MHz boost frequency. Impressively, all these graphics card options are dedicated graphics cards.

Hence, they feature a dedicated VRAM and don’t have to share the system memory with the CPU to perform graphics-related tasks. Specifically, the NVIDIA Quadro T1000 and NVIDIA Quadro T2000 feature a 4 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM each.

Meanwhile, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 has a 6 GB GDDR6 dedicated VRAM. However, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q comes with an 8 GB GDDR6 dedicated VRAM.

Finally, the graphics card with the highest dedicated VRAM is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q – it has a dedicated VRAM of 16 GB GDDR6. Hence, with any of these graphics card options, the Lenovo P17 should be able to perform graphics-demanding tasks like video editing effectively.

Also, the laptop will be able to play most high-end games. However, the graphics card options with the highest dedicated VRAM will offer better performance than the others.

Gladly, this review focuses on the Lenovo P17 with the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q GPU. With this GPU, expect the laptop to deliver up to 100 fps when playing Horizon Zero Dawn.

Additionally, the laptop should be able to deliver 159.9 fps while running Doom Eternal. That said, I will now share the Lenovo P17’s 3DMark 11 test result to assess its performance with the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q GPU further.

This test measures the 3D graphics rendering and overall gaming capabilities of a computer. Furthermore, a high score means good performance on the test.

So, the Lenovo P17 delivered an average score of 21300 points on the benchmark test. Comparatively, this laptop performed better than the ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro 15 W500G5T, which uses the same graphics card.

Specifically, this ASUS laptop scored 20824 on the 3DMark 11 test.

After thorough consideration, I believe the Lenovo P17 deserves a nine out of ten rating in this GPU review section.

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Lenovo P17: Battery Life and Performance

The Lenovo P17 is powered by a 6-cell 94 WHr Li-Polymer battery. As advertised by Lenovo, this battery can last for up to 14 hours and 6 minutes after a full charge.

To confirm this claim, we will now discuss the laptop’s result on a web-surfing battery test. This test entails continuously surfing the internet on the laptop over a Wi-Fi connection until its battery runs low.

At the conclusion of the test, the Lenovo P17 delivered a battery life of 7 hours and 32 minutes. Although this battery life is decent, it isn’t on par with the 14 hours+ that Lenovo claimed.

In fact, the LG Gram 17 has a longer battery life than the Lenovo P17. Specifically, the LG Gram 17 lasted an impressive 12 hours on the same battery test.

Thus, I will rate the Lenovo P17 a seven out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Lenovo P17 is a 17-inch workstation laptop with outstanding specs and features. This laptop offers multiple processor options that are capable of handling most computing tasks.

The laptop also features a solid build and supports a maximum memory capacity of 128 GB with four memory slots. That’s not all; the Lenovo P17 offers numerous dedicated graphics card options for handling graphics-demanding tasks.

Also, it comes with a super-fast SSD and supports a max storage capacity of 4 TB. However, the laptop is heavy and pretty expensive.

Nonetheless, I believe the Lenovo P17 has enough amazing features and specs that make it worth its price tag. So, if you need a large-screen workstation laptop with excellent performance, this Lenovo laptop is recommended.

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