Lenovo ThinkPad P16s 16" Gen 4 Black 2024

The 98th percentile 4K OLED screen is the absolute best part of this laptop, making it a dream for creators. The Core Ultra 7 CPU is a 90th percentile beast, but the RTX PRO 500 GPU with just 6GB of VRAM is a real letdown, scoring a weak 46.2 in our AI benchmarks. It's a brilliant 2D workstation that stumbles hard on 3D and AI tasks, so shop for the best price because the $1227 spread across vendors is wild.

The Core Ultra 7 265H is a beast for multi-threaded work. In our benchmarks, it's one of the best mobile CPUs on the market, making short work of code compilation and video encoding. Paired with 32GB of fast DDR5, you can throw a dozen Docker containers and a few dozen browser tabs at it without a stutter. The 1TB SSD is quick, landing in the 82nd percentile, so load times are snappy. For a developer or a photo editor, this is a near-perfect setup.

The GPU is where things get complicated. The RTX PRO 500 is a professional-grade chip built on the new Blackwell architecture, and it has ISV certifications that some engineers will need. For CAD work, it's fine. But with only 6GB of GDDR7, it's outclassed by cheaper gaming laptops with 8GB or 12GB RTX 4070s. In raw compute, it's a strong performer for its class, but that class is a tier below what the CPU and screen suggest. It's a weird mismatch that makes this feel like a 2D powerhouse that accidentally wandered into a 3D world.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro, the ThinkPad wins on port selection and that 4K OLED touchscreen, but gets absolutely destroyed in GPU performance and power efficiency. The M4 Pro's integrated GPU will run circles around the RTX PRO 500 for AI and rendering tasks while sipping power. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is a different beast entirely, it's smaller, has a much stronger gaming GPU, and costs less, but its screen can't touch this OLED panel for color work. The MSI Prestige is a closer direct competitor, but the Lenovo's build quality and keyboard are a step above. You're choosing between a brilliant display and CPU versus a balanced system with a real GPU.

Value is a moving target here because the price spread is a massive $1227 across different vendors. At the low end of $3279, you're getting a world-class screen and a top-tier CPU, which is a fair deal for a color-critical pro. But at $4506, you're being asked to pay a premium for a GPU that gets lapped by cheaper options. The key is to hunt for the deal. If you can snag it closer to the $3279 mark, the price-to-performance ratio for CPU and display work is solid. Pay a cent over $3500, and you should really ask yourself if that 6GB of VRAM is going to hold you back in a year.

The screen on this thing is the real star. It lands in the 98th percentile in our database, and that 16-inch 3840x2400 OLED panel with 100% DCI-P3 coverage is just stunning. You're getting a top-tier visual experience that rivals the best creator laptops out there. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265H is no slouch either, sitting in the 90th percentile for CPU performance, which means it chews through compile times and creative workloads without breaking a sweat. 32GB of DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe SSD round out a very solid foundation for a mobile workstation.

But there's a catch, and it's a big one for a machine that calls itself a 'Pro' workstation. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 500 with 6GB of VRAM is a real head-scratcher. It's a 68th percentile GPU, which is solidly middle-of-the-pack, but that 6GB frame buffer is a bottleneck for serious 3D rendering or AI work. Our AI/LLM score of 46.2 out of 100 tells the story. This laptop is a creator's dream for color-critical 2D work, but it's going to frustrate anyone pushing heavy GPU compute tasks.

Anyone doing GPU-heavy work should look elsewhere. If your workflow involves 3D rendering, complex simulations, or running local AI models, the 6GB RTX PRO 500 will be a constant source of frustration. Our AI/LLM score of 46.2 is a clear warning sign. You'd be much happier with a laptop sporting an RTX 4080 or even a last-gen 3080 Ti with more VRAM. Gamers should also skip this, the GPU is not optimized for gaming, and the 60Hz refresh rate on that beautiful screen is a waste for fast-paced titles.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 is a specialized tool that excels in a very specific niche. If your work revolves around color grading, photo editing, or any task where screen quality is paramount, this is one of the best laptops you can buy. The CPU and RAM are more than enough for demanding development work. But the weak link is that 6GB GPU. For 3D artists, AI researchers, or anyone who needs serious GPU compute, this is a frustratingly unbalanced machine. Buy it for the screen, but only if you can live with the GPU compromise and find it at the lower end of its price range.