Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 Review: Refined Mobile Workstation

Tearing down the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 can be a tedious affair. We highly recommend consulting Lenovo's hardware maintenance manual [PDF] before embarking, as the process is a bit unique. We will summarize the process below, but gloss over many of the details. Always disable the internal battery, power off the notebook, and remove the AC power cable before opening the device and take appropriate anti-static measures to reduce the risk of electric shock or damage to components.

Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 Teardown

To start the process, remove the small access door on the bottom of the notebook. This hatch exposes two of the system’s SODIMM slots and two vacant M.2 expansion slots (2280). For our 32GB configuration, we found these two SODIMM slots were both occupied with 16GB RAM sticks.

Next, consult the manual for two more screws to remove on the bottom, then flip the machine and open the lid. The keyboard will now be able to slide up slightly and then pull out to reveal most of the relevant internal components.

Here we can spy the Wi-Fi module near the top, just right of center. This unit uses an Intel AX210NGW 2230 M.2 card. This is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6E module which offers 6GHz band support and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.

There is also a vacant 2242 M.2 slot along the left side of the notebook. This formfactor is less common, but users can find drives in this size to maximize the system’s capacity. We advise unclipping the two keyboard ribbon cables at this point if you have not done so already.

The silver plate in the center can be removed with three screws. Most screws in the system are captive, but these are not so take care to not misplace them. This reveals the remaining two SODIMM slots (both empty in our case), and the system’s primary NVMe drive, the 1TB KIOXIA XG7 PCIe Gen 4 SSD.

Up until this point, the teardown process has been fairly straightforward. Moving beyond here requires a bit of moxie. Close the lid, flip the machine over, and loosen the remaining screws. Return the machine right-side up and reopen the lid. Now start carefully removing the palmrest by detaching the plastic clips as you go. Some of these clips, particularly in the lower-left area of the keyboard, can be quite stubborn.

The palmrest has two cables connected to it - one for the power button and a ribbon cable for the fingerprint reader. Take care not to sever these cables, they can be unclipped as necessary. Users may also find small bits of adhesive on these cables or elsewhere as they are removing the palmrest.

With that out of the way, we have a full view of the system’s magnesium alloy frame. The circular holes serve to reduce weight without sacrificing too much rigidity. If we look through the frame, we can see extensive copper heatpipes and two blower fans to help keep the system cool.

Our teardown ends here, but Lenovo provides instructions on how to replace just about every component of the system in the aforementioned manual. While it is not the easiest system to get into for advance repairs, we appreciate the commitment to serviceability.

ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 Acoustics

Before we dive into the acoustics of the chassis itself, we like to assess the quality of the speakers. We queue up a few of our favorite tracks and listen carefully. Subjectively speaking, the ThinkPad P15's speakers are what we would call "fine". Bass is present without getting muddied and highs are appropriately clear. Unfortunately the ThinkPad P15 does not offer much spatial separation for the different instrumental voices. Notebooks like the Dell XPS 15 and Apple MacBooks do a better job of representing dimensionality. Using our sound level meter, we found volume levels to peak around 95 dB which is good enough to fill a small room.

Dolby Access is present and allows users to adjust equalizer settings. It also offers a Dynamic preset which attempts to optimize for whatever kind of audio is playing. While audibly impactful, none of the Dolby presets make up for the lack of spatial audio that better hardware speakers can provide. For a rich sound experience, users will still need to turn to traditional studio monitors when possible.

While the speaker experience is par for the course, the device's own acoustics are excellent. The fans Lenovo incorporated into the ThinkPad P15 are very quiet. Throughout most of our testing, we could not hear the fans above our room's approximately 30 dB noise floor. In the few prolonged workloads that could get the fans to ramp up, we measured noise levels around 43 dB. These levels quickly abated after the workload ended. Most comparable notebooks tend to land in the 50 dB range under these conditions.

The quality of the fan noise itself is very tolerable. We never detected any of the high-pitched whine which can plague other systems, the only character to the fans is a subtle whooshing of airflow. These observations held true even as we ramp up the pressure in our thermal torture test...

ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 Thermals

The ThinkPad P15 is well-equipped to crunch through the toughest workloads, but that only matters if the system can keep its cool. We turned to our worst-case scenario torture test to see how the system holds up to a no holds barred assault from Prime95 and Furmark. We run Prime95 using the Small FFTs preset and Furmark at 1440p until the system stabilizes, then take our readings.

First and foremost, this was the only condition under which the system reached 50dB from fan noise. The ThinkPad P15 has to move a lot of air through it and physics dictates that it will be audible. Secondly, skin temperatures peak at just about 52°C on the keyboard while most of the surface is closer to 40°C. This feels modestly warm, but is far from the threshold to burn skin (about 60°C) and is not likely to even be encountered in practical usage.


As for the internals, the GPU temperatures peaked at 84°C while the CPU pegged 100°C. Naturally this results in throttling and we see the CPU frequency drop to just 2.6GHz, about half of its rated maximum. Unfortunately, the throttling is not limited to our torture test either. Even a single run of Cinebench is enough to peg 100°C nearly instantly with core clocks falling to around 3.8GHz.

The Verdict And Key Take-Aways

The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 is a sturdy mobile compute platform for professionals to get work done. Its various configurations can span right up to near-desktop replacement levels of performance. Likewise, with four SODIMM slots and as many M.2 bays, the system is primed for expansion to meet needs down the road. The cherry on top is the ThinkPad P15's meticulous and generationally-hardened engineering, which should help keep this machine running for years to come no matter what the field can throw at it.


The only aspect of the ThinkPad P15 that feels lacking is the display. 4K OLED option aside, we would really like to see 120Hz refresh rate capability in a system like this. High refresh rate panels have utility even outside of gaming, particularly as they improve perceived system responsiveness and are much easier on the eyes over extended use. They do have a tradeoff in the form of increased power consumption which can impact battery life, though we feel this is generally of minor concern. Short of improving the refresh rate, we would also like to see adoption of a taller 16:10 or 3:2 aspect ratio. As taller aspect displays have started a resurgence in popularity, we have found them to be especially useful for all the applications one would buy a system like this for. A few more rows of code or cells on the page can make for a more open and productive feeling.

Another area of concern is its thermal solution. For a 6-pound machine, we have high expectations for thermal management. Lenovo appears to have tuned the machine for a more pleasant user experience at the cost of leaving sustained performance on the table. Some fan curve tweaks to improve airflow could allow for stronger sustained performance. Do not get us wrong, performance with this stout configuration is still very strong, we just know it could fare better.
Its asking price of $5,381.99 as configured (with many lower-cost options) is certainly high, but its cost is partially justified for what amounts to a professional workstation-class tool. Performance metrics will never tell the whole story of a workstation-class notebook as much of the cost is sunk into making the machine as dependable as possible with the appropriate ISV certifications as well. In all, we like what the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 has going for it and whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone shopping for a durable, dependable, and powerful machine in this category of mobile workstations.

	Robust Professional Notebook Timeless ThinkPad All-Business Design Xeon and Quadro Workstation Potential Built To Take A Beating Class-Leading Keyboard Experience Runs Virtually Silent In Most Scenarios Lots Of Storage And Memory Expansion All Components Appear To Be Serviceable Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, and SD Card Slot	Less Than Stellar Thermal Management FHD Display Quality Is Lacking Complicated Teardown With Excessive Clips Pricey