Preface:

This article is the first part, more than 4300 words and 50 pictures, the Chinese version was first published in https://www.song1118.com, the English version will be released later in https://www.song1118.tech, and will also be issued on Weibo and WeChat public account "Fair Evaluation", This article is divided into the following sections:

• History: Flagship route

• Appearance: Storm Thunder

• Details: Thin red line

• Disassembly: Familiarize yourself with the taste

• What to expect: new performance

History: After the Spring Festival of 2022, the author has cultivated for some reason, and nine months have passed in the blink of an eye, and the laptop industry has been inspired by Intel Core 12th generation and AMD Ryzen 6 series processors, and new products of

various brands have long been flocked to present.
It is only more than a month before the arrival of 2023, so the new generation of mobile workstation models of major brands in 2022 has all been launched, and the author personally prefers to evaluate mobile workstation models, so now, it is a good time to start comparing and reviewing!
The first to start was the ThinkPad P1 Gen 5.
The second is the flagship of the ThinkPad P series: ThinkPad P16 Gen 1!


As mentioned above, the author personally prefers mobile workstation models, so since the first use of ThinkPad A31p in 2003, the main working models for many years are basically the flagship series of ThinkPad's mobile workstation models.
For more than 20 years, the development history of the flagship series of ThinkPad's mobile workstation models, the author is roughly sorted out as follows: (Part of the market year is not necessarily completely aligned with the model, some configurations are different, some models are not included, such as Z61p, etc., in short, for your reference, if there are errors, please correct it.

Over
the past 20 years, historical changes have brought many new technologies and new functions, and many old shortcomings have been abandoned, and there have been repeated returns, and there are also unreasonable regrets:


In any case, time is always moving forward, technology is always advancing, and the needs of users will be more and more and higher, so how does ThinkPad respond? And what about the effect?
Please follow the author's review of the ThinkPad P16 Gen 1, step by step to explore step by step to see if you can find the current answer!

Appearance: The ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 (also known as P16 2022 in China, hereinafter referred to as "P16G1") reviewed by Storm Thunder

this time comes from North American sales channels. There are wrong differences between packaging accessories and models sold in China, mainly because there is no China 3C certification label and no three-guarantee warranty for the product.


This P16G1 is equipped with a 230 watt power supply, the production date is May 2022, and the model number is ADL230SLC3A, which has been in use for several years.


The P16G1's screen cover is iron gray, officially known as Storm grey, and this color is not the first time the ThinkPad P series has been used, at least the ThinkPad P14s and P15s that I reviewed last year.
The main material of the upper cover is clad metal aluminum, namely AL5052, which contains 97.25% aluminum, 2.5% magnesium and 0.25% chromium.
Since the P16G1's multiple wireless antennas are arranged on the top of the upper cover, in order to prevent the wireless signal shielding effect caused by the fully shielded metal, the material of the long part on the top edge of the upper cover is not AL5052, but plastic.


Look at the P16G1 top cover from another angle, the ThinkPad and Lenovo logos, on each side of the top cover, you are you and I am me, I have you and you have me.


The bottom color of the P16G1 is black, officially called thunder black, the rear long rubber foot mat, one rubber foot pad on the left and right of the front,
and a square maintenance hatch on the center left. Then near the rear is a huge heat dissipation grille, and there is also a metal dust screen inside the grille.


"ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Aluminium + Magnesium" is marked near the bottom left foot pad, indicating that the body material is made of aluminum magnesium alloy.


There are two labels on the bottom right foot mat attachment, which are the pre-installed Windows 11 system logo, and the serial number of the machine, the detailed model (21D6-004YUS) and the place of manufacture (MIC), and the year of manufacture (2022/08).


The P16G1 does not have any ports on the front, only a clear gap between the metal and plastic parts of the edge of the upper cover.
The thickness of the comparison mobile phone placed on the left side of the figure below is about 7.9 mm, which is not the Samsung Note 9 that the author commonly uses to compare the thickness, and the specific model is known below.
The P1G5 measures 364 x 266 x 30.23 mm (14.3 x 10.5 x 1.2 inches) --- a thickness of 3 cm, which can be called brick thickness in the current world of thin and light notebooks.


At the rear of P16G1, the ports are, from left to right:

• External power connector;

• Two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C 4 ports (both support USB4 40Gbps data transfer, PD3.0 power supply and DP1.4 video output (USB4 40Gbps support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4);

• HDMI interface, independent display support 8K@60HZ output, integrated graphics card support 4K@60Hz output;

At this point, it can be seen that there is a thin red line embedded in the back edge of the P16G1---- which is the origin of the subtitle of this article.
At the same time, it can be seen that the edge of the mobile phone as a thickness contrast is also embedded with a thin red line---- readers, now know the model of this mobile phone---- this mobile phone is the famous Lao Luo in China's IT industry, the hammer nut R1 launched in 2018.
What is the meaning of the thin red lines of the two, it remains to be broken down by the author below.


On the left side of P16G1, the ports are, from left to right:

• USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (supports shutdown power);

• USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (supports PD3.0 power supply and DP1.4 video output);

• 3.5mm headphone/microphone combination port;

• Nano-SIM card slot;

On the left side of P1G5, the ports are, from left to right:

• SC smart card slot;

• SD card reader (SD Express 7.0);

• USB-A 3.3 Gen 1；

• Safety keyhole (Kensington Nano security keyhole, 2.5 x 6 mm).

P1G5 opens the front of the screen cover to see the front, the front, left and right sides of the bottom of the fuselage adopt an indented rounded corner design, so that the base of the fuselage close to three centimeters does not look particularly thick, and the overall sense is serious and stable.


The screen ratio is 16:10, and the sides and upper borders of the screen frame are very narrow, and the upper part is wider, which greatly improves the screen-to-body ratio compared to the predecessors.



In the center of the upper border of the screen is the FHD camera, autofocus, plus the infrared camera. This supports Windows Hello face recognition, both of which are protected by hardware privacy switches (ThinkShutter). (IR & FHD 1080p hybrid, with privacy shutter, fixed focus)


The screen cover can be unfolded at a 180-degree angle, which is the tradition of ThinkPad. The P16G1 has even been deployed at an angle of more than 180 degrees.


The P16G1's keyboard is ThinkPad's recent 6-line layout, anti-splash keyboard, and supports 6-row, spill-resistant, multimedia Fn keys with Unified Communications controls), and with a numeric keypad.
In the dense, small-hole grille on the upper part of the keyboard, below it is where the speakers are.
The keyboard of the P16G1, the author has not used it for a long time, I will not go into depth here, just in terms of its layout and with a small keyboard, it is a plus.


In the upper right corner of the numeric keypad, the independent power button is in the shape of a thin strip with rounded corners, with an integrated fingerprint recognition function, and a small power status indicator on its left side.


The palm rest has three labels:
the white background label is Pantone color certified, indicating that the native screen has passed the X-rite PANTONE color calibration on UHD panels.
The blue label indicates that the Intel i9 processor is used for this unit;
There is also a black label stating that the native screen has passed the eye protection certification;
Near the Fn key, there is a Dolby Atmos SPEAKER SYSTEM, indicating that the native speaker system uses Dolby Atmos technology.


The P16G1's dual-mouse system is a three-button pointing stick and a glass-surfaced multi-touch trackpad."
The size of the touchpad, like the P1G5, is 67.6 x 115 mm, and the surface is also made of glass, even if I am not used to using the touchpad, it feels good to use.



Details: Thin red line

The author used both hands diagonally to twist the screen cover of P16G1, because most of the upper cover of P16G1 is made of composite aluminum metal material, only slight deformation can be found, which has no impact on the display effect of the screen.
Moreover, the body uses aluminum-magnesium alloy, part of which is PPS+50% GF composite material, plus full thickness, the same test is carried out, and no deformation and abnormal noise were found.
In this way, the strength of the P16G1 is very reliable and beyond reproach.

• The P16G1 measures 364 x 266 x 30.23 mm and has a minimum weight of 2.95 kg;

• The previous generation of the 15.6-inch P15 Gen 2 measures 375.4 x 252.3 x 25.25-32.2 mm and has a minimum weight of 2.87 kg;

• The previous generation 17.3-inch P17 Gen 2, its overall size is 415.44 x 280.81 x 24.31-32.45 mm, the minimum weight is 3.56 kg;

It can be seen that the weight of the 16-inch P16G1 is between the 15.6-inch P15G2 and the 17.3-inch P17G2, which is in line with general logic;
but P in three-dimensional, this is not the case, although P16G1 three-dimensional are lower than P17G2, but its vertical size (Y axis) ---- that is, the depth of the fuselage when lying flat is ---- greater than P15G2, which is caused by the different screen sizes and proportions of the two, 16-inch and 15.6-inch, The gap between 16:10 and 16:9 is noticeable.


However, the overall weight of the P16G1 compared with the P15G2 has only increased by 80 grams, and based on this difference alone, it is impossible to speculate how the performance of the P16G1 will be.
However, in addition to the ThinkPad P series flagship model for the first time to adopt the storm gray body color, the most obvious external performance of the P16G1 is ---- thin red line: as long as the user can see the rear of the P16G1, this thin red line always catches the eye:





What's the point?


From the author's knowledge and experience, of course, this does not have any strengthening effect on the mechanism, function and performance of the body, just a visual design scheme, but it is undeniable that it brings a very good eyeball attraction and recognition enhancement effect---- and after a while, It is estimated that the author will encounter someone shouting in the distance:
"Look, look fast!" There is a P16 there! It's the one with the thin red line! "


Disassembly: Familiarize yourself with the taste

of P16G1 "Storm Gray Thunder Black" and "Thin Red Line" appearance, The author disassembles it conventionally.
First loosen the only Phillips screw on the bottom square maintenance compartment cover of P16G1 to remove the maintenance compartment cover:


loosen and remove a screw, you can remove the brass heat sink, you can see the P16G1 second SSD M.2 2280 slot, Although the second SSD is not installed at the factory, the official reserved thermal grease pad.


Above the second SSD M.2 are two tiered memory slots, which are slots A and B:

, of the four memory slots of the P16G1


Next, loosen the screws in these two positions at the bottom of the following icon, note that the screws are anti-loss design, do not need to be removed:


then open the upper cover, press the keyboard while pushing towards the back of the fuselage, the front of the keyboard can exit the palm rest shell covering, you can take out the keyboard, However, note: There are two connecting cables between the keyboard and the motherboard, and the keyboard cannot be directly removed from the P16G1.


After loosening the interface tabs of the two connecting cables of the keyboard on the motherboard, the keyboard can be safely separated from the P16G1.
The back corner of the keyboard is marked 22P16L1, which is roughly the P16 for 2022.


The C-side of the P16G1 with the keyboard removed, you can see the gray alloy roll cage exposed under the keyboard, as well as two silver-white metal shields.


The smaller metal shroud on the left is fixed by two screws, and below is the Wwan card M.2 slot, which is factory configured without a built-in WWAN card, so this M.2 slot is vacant, and there is no reserved WWAN antenna around.


The author tried to install an M.2 2230 SSD with the model number of Western Digital PC SN520:


The result is an error after booting, 1802: The network card is not recognized, please remove it after shutting it down.
It seems that ThinkPad still insists on the so-called security policy that the WWAN slot cannot use SSDs, which is really stingy!


The P16G1 keyboard has a large central metal shroud under the center, locked by three screws, and below is slots C and D of the P16G2's four memory slots, in a opposing layout, with the M.2 2280 main hard drive location to the right of the memory slot. On the right is the onboard wireless card for the dual-antenna connection.


At this time, the four memories and the main hard disk can be removed: all four memories are magnesium particles, and the main hard disk is also produced by magnesium light.
For the installation of four memory slots, the official note is as follows:

• When the memory is not higher than two, install it in slots C or/and D under the keyboard, but not A or/and B;

• When there are no less than three pieces of memory, fill the slots C and D under the keyboard first, and install the rest in the bottom slot.

Next, loosen all the remaining Phillips screws on the bottom cover (anti-loss design, no need to remove it) and carefully pry the buckles to remove the bottom cover:


the bottom cover is made of composite PPS + 50% GF, thicker and has a metal dust screen, which is very weighty to hold in the hand.


P16G1 bottom view after removing the bottom cover:



The large rear part at the bottom is occupied by a large area of dual fan cooling modules, the larger fan on the left corresponds to the GPU part, and the smaller fan on the right corresponds to the CPU part, a total of 4 flat and thick heat pipes, all blackened;



In front of the fuselage is a built-in battery. Loosen and remove the three screws to disconnect the battery from the motherboard and see the yellow motherboard button battery underneath.


The built-in battery of P16G1 is a 94Wh lithium polymer battery: so far,



The author's disassembly of the P16G1 is over.


In order not to affect the heat dissipation effect of the original factory, no further disassembly was continued, and only the operation of installing hard disks was carried out.
From the above entire disassembly and assembly, the author believes that the disassembly and installation of P16G1 is relatively easy and easy.
Its neat internal layout, clear zoning, solid materials, and safety and reliability are still familiar tastes of ThinkPad mobile workstation flagships in recent years.
But the only thing I am not happy about is: does the P16G1 really have no room for a third M.2 SSD slot?


Expectation: The new P16G1 detailed model (Type) that performs

this review Number) is 21D6-004YUS, and its detailed configuration is shown in the following chart:




P16G1 official promotional video is as follows:
https://www.zhihu.com/zvideo/1573678288412827648

video ends with "ALL NEW"---- meaning that the ThinkPad P16 is completely new design:



Above, we found the "new" P16G1 to be as follows:

• The ThinkPad mobile workstation flagship uses a 16-inch 16:10 screen for the first time---- resulting in the new P16 series;

• The fuselage shell uses a new "storm gray" and black contrast design, and for the first time there is a "thin red line" at the rear of the fuselage---- thus changing the new outfit of the flagship;

• As for the use of a new generation of CPU, GPU and DDR5 memory, this is a normal annual upgrade update;

• And the number of internal hard disks has dropped from 3 in the previous generation to 2, which belongs to the new idea that the author regrets greatly...

The above are all theoretical new on the surface of the P16G1, is there anything "new" in essence on the inside?
These are all subject to comprehensive measurement by the author.
At this point, the text has exceeded 4,000 pictures and 50 pictures, according to the author's practice, the first part is over.
In a comprehensive test later, I will see if the ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 has any new performance in addition to the new appearance.
Can it win the grand prize in the author's annual mobile workstation competition like the movie "The Thin Red Line"?


It is estimated that it will take about 10 days to complete the test, so stay tuned!