Are ThinkPads good for gaming? ThinkPad is good for simple games, but not high-end games. If you are looking for the best gaming laptop experience and considering Thinkpad laptops, then we recommend that you go for Lenovo Legion Series laptops, which have exceptional graphics capabilities and high performance. Thinkpad is undoubtedly one of the best laptops out there, but if you only buy it for gaming, it is better only for medium games and not good graphics games.
Also, read Top 10 Best Gaming Laptops That Look Normal.
ARE THINKPADS GOOD FOR GAMING?
Laptop brands have different series to target a specific market sphere. Based on this, they group different series. The Thinkpad series is designed for business professionals as it has the best security attribute and many features that you will surely need for business tasks. So if you plan to spend some of your money on ThinkPad for the sole reason of gaming.
I suggest you go for the legion series which has one of the top gaming laptops, for example, Legion 7, 5, 5i, and 7i, Legion Y520, Y540, and Slim 7, 740. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme is more geared towards a life in the professional world, and when it comes to business laptops, it’s nothing to be against.
It can be configured with similar 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs, is available with up to 64GB of DDR4-2666MHz RAM, and has room for up to a 1TB PCIe SSD.
It also has a considerably larger battery than the Y740 (80Wh compared to 57Wh), so if being able to put down your AC adapter is important, the X1 Extreme will do much better.
WHY IS THE THINKPAD SERIES NOT GOOD FOR GAMING?
Lenovo Thinkpad is undoubtedly one of the most powerful laptops and one of the most expensive laptops from Lenovo. The Thinkpads are made for heavy loads and built with a lightning-fast processor, and almost the low limit for RAM is held at 8Gb with storage ranging from 1TB to 4TB.
Friendly to say that if you need a laptop for power and competition, Lenovo Thinkpad leaves no stone unturned to force you to look for it. But, if you look from a gaming enthusiast’s eye, I think these specs are not enough to prove that thinkpads are good for gaming.
WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID THINKPADS IF YOU ARE A SERIOUS GAMER?
Thinkpad displays are 14 inches or smaller, which is not suitable for professional gamers. Thinkpad mainly has Intel graphics, while gaming laptops opt for Nvidia graphics, which are better than any other.. Thinkpad is much more expensive despite small screen and limited graphics performance and if you look at these reasons, it is not that you think that the pad is a bad laptop.
Each laptop is manufactured with a specific market sphere in mind, the same goes for Thinkpads as they are designed for professionals. business, students, and office workers. Therefore, the main focus of ThinkPad is security and privacy features.
WHAT DO YOU NEED IN A PROFESSIONAL GAMING LAPTOP?
Gamers are very enthusiastic and demanding people, especially when they want to buy a laptop to play games. Because certain specifications are needed to play at a higher level without which you may face lag. Learn how to open Lenovo Power Management Windows 10 so that you can save the maximum battery of your Lenovo laptop. Not only these specs, but they also want crisp great graphics.
Honestly speaking, a high-resolution widescreen laptop is what a gamer needs. A laptop with the best graphics will allow you to play graphics-intensive games to the fullest and you will enjoy gaming sessions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Although Thinkpads are Lenovo’s powerful series, they are also very expensive. There are several Thinkpads available on the market with some of the best for hauling heavy loads. They are known to be the best machines in technical terms and each product has an excellent processor.
Nobody has less than 8GB of RAM, in addition to excellent storage capacity. This is what you need in a highly competent laptop.
WHY THINKPADS ARE NOT GOOD FOR GAMING?
You will notice that all Thinkpad notebooks come with a 14-inch screen or are somewhat smaller than this. These screen sizes are not ideal for gamers. A range of Thinkpad laptops with simple Intel graphics technology, while gaming laptops prefer the high-end NVIDIA graphics card. That’s why Lenovo’s Thinkpads aren’t that great because they don’t provide the required visual graphics.
Let’s put screen size and graphics performance aside. Almost all Lenovo Thinkpads are very expensive and cannot easily be afforded by gamers. The Thinkpad series is designed primarily for business-oriented users and continually introduces new and advanced security features to keep privacy at its top priority. They’re the best business-related specs for sure, but they’re not good for gaming.
In our opinion, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get these specs if they don’t meet your graphics needs. So we got to the point where gamers shouldn’t buy a Thinkpad to play games.
WHAT SPECS CAN MAKE A LAPTOP GOOD FOR GAMING?
For smoother performance, gaming laptops must have powerful RAM. A 16GB RAM with SSD, an HDD can turn a laptop into a beast.
1. A powerful Core i5 or i7 processor with a single thread and a maximum speed of 3GHz +.
2. For classy images, at least a 15-inch or larger screen will be great.
3. Perfectly sized keyboard for smooth and fluid typing and control.
4. Top-notch graphics and GPU l for better graphic processing. Worldwide recognized NVIDIA graphics cards will bring you an excellent gaming experience.
5. A laptop equipped with all the features mentioned above is now ready to be your companion while you play. But can you buy a laptop without money? Not, then check its affordability and invest some money to get it.
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WHICH THINKPAD IS BETTER TO PLAY GAMES?
Lenovo’s Legion laptop line is all about gaming performance and design. The Y740 15, which we reviewed quite favorably, is available with a 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H processor (CPU), 32GB of DDR4-2666MHz RAM, a 1TB PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) along with a 1TB SATA hard disk drive (HDD) and an NVIDIA RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics card (GPU) with 8GB of VRAM.
With the best specs, the Legion Y740 is a beast and will easily outperform the X1 Extreme. There is no 4K display option for the Y740, but you can choose between two 15.6-inch FHD models. The first and cheapest version has an IPS panel, 144Hz refresh rate, and 300 nit brightness.
To pair well with the NVIDIA GPU, it supports G-Sync, which offers smoother images. The other pricier display option has the same FHD resolution, the same 144Hz refresh rate, and is G-Sync-enabled, but is capable of 500-nit brightness and includes Dolby Vision HDR400.
The keyboard has customizable RGB backlighting, a column of macro keys on the left side that you can use for in-game shortcuts, and the generous collection of ports is primarily located on the back of the laptop for easy cable management.
While the battery certainly won’t last as long as that of the X1 Extreme, the Y740 remains cool and quiet under load and, in our tests, there were no signs of thermal throttling.
Price-wise, a benchmark Legion Y740 with a 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD along with a 256GB PCIe SSD, and an NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti GPU costs less than the X1 model.
Launch Extreme with Core i5 CPUs and NVIDIA GTX 1650 GPUs. As hardware sales increase, you generally get more performance for less money with the Y740.
ARE THINKPADS WORTH IT?
ThinkPad was among the most recognized notebooks in the industry, both aesthetically and in a design that promised superior performance, build quality, and business acumen. If you wanted to be sure that you were getting one of the best Windows laptops on the market, you could simply choose a ThinkPad and rest easy.
However, things have changed, and the answer to the question. Is it still worth buying a ThinkPad? It is not so clear anymore. Not that the ThinkPad has gotten worse than ever.
Far from it, in fact. The ThinkPad is (mostly) as rugged as ever, using the same kind of MIL-STD 810g certification process and, on some models, the advanced carbon fiber alloy material with that nifty soft touch feel.
We mentioned the latest ThinkPad X1 Carbon clamshell and X1 Yoga 2-in-1 convertible models and found them, as always, as good examples of premium Windows notebooks.
So, no, it’s not that the ThinkPad has gotten worse, it’s that the competition has improved a lot. Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 13, for example, costs “just” $ 260 more with the same CPU, RAM, and storage space.
Its impressive display may not be as colorful as the ThinkPad’s, and it doesn’t support HDR, but it has a higher resolution and is therefore considerably sharper, has a very friendly 3: 2 aspect ratio.
With productivity and enjoy significantly better contrast. And the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU in the Surface Book 2 makes it much faster in games and creative applications like video editing.
And even if you’re a business looking for a high-security laptop, there are more options than in the past. HP has its EliteBook line, for example, which has equally strong security and offers the same MIL-STD 810g ruggedness.
While the ThinkPad can physically lock your webcam to enhance privacy, the EliteBook offers a privacy screen that makes your screen unreadable to the left and right.
We haven’t even mentioned that you can spend half the money on a variety of laptops and get versions that are almost as solid, the even better performance, and the battery life that puts the X1 line to shame.
Consider HP’s Specter, Dell’s XPS, and Asus’ ZenBook lines as examples of premium notebooks that challenge the best ThinkPads in the ways that matter most and cost far less money.
ThinkPads are still great options for those who have been fans for years. They’re as iconic as ever, just as well built, and still innovative.
But they’re just not all that drool-worthy for everyone else, no matter how much money someone has in their budget.
ARE THINKPADS GOOD FOR PROGRAMMING?
Yes, the ThinkPad is a great laptop choice for programmers because it is powerful enough to run all the software you need. And it has a large trackpad and high-quality keyboard to help you type faster and more efficiently.
Without a doubt, a ThinkPad is an excellent tool for anyone who works with code. If you are a programmer, think about the keyboard first. You will spend most of your time using the keyboard to type.
If the keyboard is uncomfortable, the laptop will be too. We have some good options in this category, but if you want something comfortable, consider a model with a palm rest.
ThinkPad models with a palm rest are generally better equipped than those without. The screen is also important. But don’t get hung up on the number of pixels; it is not always important.
If you use your laptop for long periods, the brightness of the screen can make a difference to your eyes. Also, read Top 10 Best Budget Laptop for Programming Our Top Pick Lists.
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT A THINKPAD?
ThinkPad is one of the most popular and recognized brands in the laptop market. It could be described as the Apple of the Windows world. They are used exclusively by all types of professionals. ThinkPad is known for its rugged design and how it can take more shocks than an average laptop.
That’s not to say they’re completely rugged like these military-grade laptops you see on YouTube. This is great in the era where everything should be slim and stylish. Let’s take a closer look at that.
Many ThinkPad laptops have a protective case and a metal interior that protects your laptop. ThinkPad is known for its excellent keyboards, they are quite different for typing compared to other laptops.
Protecting your data. Some people may also appreciate some of these characteristics. ThinkPad is known for its excellent Linux support. They often run Linux out of the box.
That alone is a great reason to be used by Linux enthusiasts and computer science students. This is not a coincidence, when the ThinkPad was owned by IBM, they made sure Linux was supported from the start.
ARE THE THINKPADS UPGRADEABLE?
ThinkPads are very easy to repair. Unlike many laptops today, where many parts are glued or soldered to the motherboard, the ThinkPad can still be updated and repaired. If you want to change a certain part such as upgrade HDD and replace it with SSD, you can. Is the lid case broken? You can buy another one and install it yourself.
WHAT ARE THE BEST THINKPADS?
In the world of laptops, the Thinkpad X1 Carbon is a masterpiece. With a lightweight yet durable chassis, the X1 Carbon is an excellent choice for business users who are frequently on the go. But the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is not just a business laptop: we have no hesitation in recommending this machine to everyday consumers, who will also appreciate the 14-inch laptop’s bright and vivid screen, long battery life, fast performance, and immaculate build quality.
CONCLUSION
Are ThinkPads good for gaming? No not a good choice for gaming most common reason is its smaller screen size. Another reason is that most ThinkPads come with Intel Integrated GPUs, which is not a good choice for gaming. Meanwhile, you will also find some ThinkPad laptops that offer a dedicated NVIDIA GPU, gradually improving your gaming graphics and visuals, along with the FPS count.
In general, when it comes to gaming, the Lenovo Legion series is better than the Lenovo ThinkPad in terms of gaming. But for professional tasks like photo editing, video editing, and rendering that require high-end software, Lenovo ThinkPad is still the first choice. I hope this article is useful for you.
Also, read Top 8 Best Laptop for Video Editing Under $300 Our Experts Recommendation.