In today’s world, working from anywhere has become the norm, especially with the surge in popularity of Work From Home (WFH). The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 emerges as a business-class laptop designed to meet the needs of users who seek uninterrupted productivity. Moreover, this laptop offers advanced features that not only streamline activities but also enhance security. To delve deeper into its capabilities, here is the experience with the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1.
Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 Review
Display – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Battery – 8/10
Features – 8/10
Design – 9/10
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
Conclusion
The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 offers a comprehensive package for seamless work, featuring a reliable Ryzen 7 Pro performance, stunning OLED display, comfortable keyboard, and elegant business-class design for client meetings.
What We Liked
Stunning OLED display
Reliable Ryzen 7 Pro performance for work
Elegant business-class design
Comfortable keyboard and touchpad
Supports Windows Hello
What We Didn’t Like
Only two available ports
Relatively high price point
Upon first glance, the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 exudes an aura that immediately signals it’s not an ordinary laptop. The lid is cloaked in premium-looking vegan leather material, giving it a classy and sophisticated appearance. Bronze accents adorn its edges, adding to its aesthetic appeal. The iconic ThinkPad logo is still present on the lid, complete with the signature red dot that illuminates when the laptop is in use.
The lid is remarkably lightweight and can be opened with just one finger, smoothly and without any resistance. While seemingly simple, this provides a level of convenience, especially when hands are occupied with other items.
The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 falls under the category of 13-inch laptops, making it incredibly compact while housing formidable power within. Weighing in at approximately 1.2 kg, this laptop is incredibly easy to carry, allowing you to work anywhere.
Its chassis is crafted from aluminum, allowing it to remain sturdy while maintaining a lightweight build. The combination of design and materials truly showcases its class, making it a perfect companion for meetings and client interactions.
However, its compact form does come with some sacrifices. Aside from the 3.5mm audio jack, the laptop only provides two USB-C 4 ports, with the one on the left also used for charging.
Lenovo includes a separate Ethernet and HDMI dongle in the sales package for those who may require them. Nevertheless, the available ports are quite limited, requiring the addition of a dongle or USB hub to connect multiple devices.
For users who wish to connect an external mouse, the good news is that the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 features a spacious and smooth touchpad. Additionally, it includes the signature red TrackPoint for cursor navigation.
This provides an option for more convenient navigation without having to reposition your hand while typing or performing other tasks. To further enhance usability, the laptop is equipped with a backlit keyboard that is exceptionally comfortable to use.
Both the keyboard and touchpad are sure to be appreciated, especially for tasks centered around typing. What’s more, the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 is equipped with a display that is a visual feast.
The panel boasts an OLED display with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, featuring an anti-glare coating to reduce reflections and an anti-smudge layer that effectively keeps the screen surface clean.
The anti-smudge feature proves to be highly beneficial, especially since the screen supports touch input for navigation. The bezels surrounding the display are reasonably thin, providing an expansive view despite the laptop’s 13-inch size.
This combination results in a highly satisfying display for various activities, especially when consuming visual content. Colors are vivid with sharp details, resembling real-world visuals.
At the top of the screen sits an FHD 1080p camera and an infrared sensor, allowing the laptop to utilize Windows Hello for convenient and secure face recognition login. The camera’s quality is impressive and more than adequate for video conferencing. Additionally, there is an E-camera shutter that can be activated with the press of the F9 key.
Powering all of these functions is the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads with a Max Boost speed of up to 4.75 GHz, alongside Radeon 680M graphics with 12 Compute Units.
This processor is paired with 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD from Micron, meeting the needs of modern users for running popular applications and storing personal data.
The performance offered by this laptop is nothing short of impressive. The system is highly responsive when navigating and opening applications. Processes like booting Windows occur swiftly, minimizing wait times.
When used for work, the laptop shows no signs of struggle when opening more than 15 browser tabs while simultaneously running photo editing applications and video playback. The laptop remains responsive in this scenario, reflecting its suitability for general use.
Benchmark Score (points)
Cinebench R23 Multi Core 7,826
Cinebench R23 Single Core 1,397
PCMark 10 4,938
PCMark 8 Work 4,492
3DMark Time Spy 1,956
3DMark Night Raid 12,532
The performance of the Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U is evident in the Cinebench R23 benchmark, achieving scores of 7,826 points for Multi-Core and 1,397 points for Single-Core. Additionally, the system attains a score of 4,938 points in PCMark 10.
Interestingly, the laptop proves capable of handling gaming if desired. Even a demanding title like Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs smoothly, maintaining over 30 FPS under optimal conditions, averaging around 28 FPS at native resolution and Medium graphics settings.
Considering the laptop’s slim profile and lack of a discrete GPU, these FPS figures are commendable. It can handle casual gaming quite smoothly, providing an enjoyable way to spend leisure time.
As such, this laptop can be relied upon for various needs, from work to entertainment, performing admirably. Additionally, it features Dolby Atmos speakers that deliver clear
audio even at high volumes.
One point to note is that the laptop’s aluminum frame can lead to the bottom of the laptop feeling quite warm under heavy workloads. Fortunately, the area around the keyboard remains tolerable, ensuring it doesn’t disrupt usage.
The efficient processor also translates to impressive battery life for the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1. Using PCMark 8 Work at 50% screen brightness, the laptop achieves a score of 4 hours and 32 minutes, which is above average for mainstream laptops.
Charging is also relatively fast. The 51.5Wh battery can charge up to 80% in just 60 minutes. The included 65W charger is compact, ensuring it doesn’t take up much space when carried along.
In terms of security, this business laptop is equipped with advanced features such as Windows Hello, both facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. This provides convenient and secure access to Windows through biometric authentication.
Additionally, it features a Discrete Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) for encryption, including Bitlocker available on Windows 11 Pro. In terms of connectivity, the laptop supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Overall, this laptop, priced at around IDR 38 million, is highly reliable for both work and entertainment. Its high performance within a compact form factor, coupled with a stunning display, are its main attractions.
While there are a few considerations, they are outweighed by what it offers in other aspects. Its elegant design makes it suitable for various purposes.
Specifications: Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1
Dimensions & Weight: 295 x 200 x 13.99 mm & 1.2 Kg
Display: 13.3-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED, anti-reflective, anti-smudge, touchscreen, Dolby Vision, 400 nits, low blue-light
Operating System: Windows 11 Pro
Memory: 32GB LPDDR5
Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD PCIe 4
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U 2.70 GHz, up to 4.70 GHz Max Boost, 8 Cores, 16 Threads)
Graphics: AMD Radeon 680M Graphics
Camera: IR & FHD 1080p with E-camera shutter
Battery: 51.5Wh
Connectivity: WiFi 6E 802.11AX (2 x 2), Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: 2x USB-C 4, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack