Lenovo ThinkBook 15 G2 ITL 2021, Core i5-1135G7, 24GB, 1TB SSD, Black

For $429 USD, you get a 1TB NVMe SSD and 24GB of RAM, both impressive at this price. The port selection is a standout at the 87th percentile. But the CPU is below average and the display is a weak spot, so this is a work machine, not a multimedia or gaming laptop.

Let's talk about what this thing does well first. The 1TB NVMe SSD is a standout at the 80th percentile. Boot times will be snappy, apps will load fast, and you won't be playing the storage shuffle like you would on a 256GB budget machine. The 24GB of RAM is also a nice surprise. Most laptops at this price point ship with 8GB or 16GB, so having 24GB means you can keep a lot of stuff open without hitting swap.

The Core i5-1135G7 is where things get honest. Four cores at 2.4GHz base clock, and it ranks in the 33rd percentile of our database. That's below average for modern laptops. It'll handle Word, Excel, web browsing, and video calls without complaint, but don't expect it to chew through video exports or heavy multitasking. The integrated Radeon Graphics with 48GB of shared VRAM sounds impressive on paper, but it's pulling from system RAM and sits at the 47th percentile. Fine for spreadsheets, terrible for games. The gaming score of 15.1 out of 100 tells you everything you need to know there.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Air M4, this ThinkBook gets absolutely demolished on CPU performance and display quality. The M4 is in a different universe. But the MacBook Air M4 costs significantly more, and you're not getting a 1TB SSD or 24GB of RAM at this price point. The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition are similar stories, better screens and faster chips, but way more expensive. The HP OmniBook X Flip and Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro are also premium machines with OLED displays and newer silicon. What the ThinkBook offers is a budget-friendly workhorse with surprising storage and RAM. If you need a cheap machine that can hold a lot of files and keep a bunch of apps open, this is a contender. If you care about screen quality or CPU speed, look elsewhere.

At $429 USD, the value proposition here is interesting. You're getting a 1TB SSD and 24GB of RAM in a machine with an 80th percentile affordability ranking. That's a lot of storage and memory for under $450 USD. The port selection is also excellent at the 87th percentile, with Thunderbolt, three USB-A ports, HDMI, and Ethernet. For a student or office worker who needs a dependable machine with room to store files and keep lots of tabs open, this is a solid deal. Just know that you're trading CPU performance and screen quality for that storage and RAM.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 15 G2 ITL lands at $429 USD refurbished, and for that money you're getting a 1TB NVMe SSD and 24GB of RAM. That storage sits in the 80th percentile of our database, which is genuinely impressive for a budget machine. The RAM is solid too, middle of the pack at 57th percentile, but 24GB is more than enough for a dozen browser tabs, a few Office docs, and whatever else a student or office worker throws at it.

The catch is the CPU and screen. The Core i5-1135G7 is a 4-core chip from Intel's 11th gen, and it lands in the 33rd percentile. That's below average by today's standards. The 15.5" 1080p display is even rougher, sitting at the 20th percentile. It's a 60Hz panel with no brightness or color data to brag about. This is a workhorse laptop, not a show pony.

If you care about screen quality, skip this. The display ranks at the 20th percentile, which means it's near the bottom of our database. Anyone doing photo editing, video work, or even just watching a lot of movies will be disappointed. Gamers should also look elsewhere, the 15.1 gaming score is one of the worst we've seen. And if you need a portable machine, the 42nd percentile compactness ranking means this 15.5-inch laptop is on the bulky side. This is a desk-bound work machine, not a travel companion.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 15 G2 ITL is a budget workhorse with a surprising amount of storage and RAM for $429 USD. The 1TB SSD and 24GB of RAM are the headline features, and the port selection is genuinely excellent. But the CPU is below average and the display is a letdown. If you're a student or office worker who needs a dependable machine for documents, web browsing, and video calls, this is a solid buy. If you need to edit video, run demanding software, or play games, the 15.1 gaming score and 33rd percentile CPU should steer you away.