The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 Touchscreen Notebook is a Windows-based laptop that is designed for business use. It has a high-definition display, potent performance, and a vegan leather shell. The Black & Bronze with Black Vegan Leather is the main eye-catcher in terms of appearance, even though it is also available in the more conventional Arctic Grey & Black. ..

This small laptop has a lot of features, but some of them are not as powerful as what business users need. For example, it does not have any ports. This makes it difficult for business users to use this laptop.

Design

The Z13 is a more utilitarian laptop than the X1, which has a more stylish aesthetic. Its aluminium lid is made of brushed “Arctic Grey,” but Lenovo also offers soft-touch faux leather that it refers to as “vegan leather.” The sides of that model are bronze rather than silver, and it does look very fashionable. Additionally, the palm rest is made of a piece of tempered glass with a matte finish.

The Dell XPS 13 is a powerful and thin laptop that feels robust and like nothing will break even under severe abuse. It has a large display at 13.4 inches, but it is thinner at 14mm. The big lip on the top of the display, which makes opening it with one finger quite simple, is one of the ThinkPad design cues that has thankfully been preserved.

The ThinkPad Z13 has a few design issues that we found. The power button is adjacent to the Type-C connector on the right side of the body, which makes it difficult to reach, and the back can be easily removed if desired. Additionally, the placement of the power button was not ideal and we found it difficult to reach.

Keyboard and touchpad

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano’s illuminated keyboard is comparably comfortable, but it has a smaller key travel than the ThinkPad Z13’s. This makes it more comfortable to type, but it may not be as easy to find the right key when you need it.

The redesigned arrow keys and the absence of dedicated Page Up/Down keys on the Z13 are less welcome than on other laptops. The Ctrl key is now placed to the left of the Fn key, which is new for ThinkPads. Long-time ThinkPad users may need to get used to this change, but the BIOS offers the option of changing the key layout. ..

Lenovo has released a ThinkPad with dedicated TrackPoint buttons, but the ClickPad doesn’t move. This is an advantage over the X1 Carbon Gen 2, which only had trackpoint buttons on the left side. The ClickPad also has more surface area, which allows for more fingertip contact.

The glass touchpad on the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon is an improvement over the touchpads on other ThinkPads. The gliding characteristics are excellent, and pinch-to-zoom movements are easy to accomplish. Additionally, the larger surface makes it less likely that your finger will run out of room to move the pointer. Finally, the touchpad can now be used anywhere. ..

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 review: Display

The three different 16:10-themed Z13 models are available; two of them have 170dpi, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS displays (one of which supports touch, the other does not), and the third has a 250dpi, 2,880 x 1,800 OLED touch panel. The OLED variant has a gloss surface, while the IPS screens have a matte appearance.

The Galaxy S8 has an excellent colour reproduction, with a sRGB colour gamut volume of 98.6% and a Delta E colour variance of 1.92. This means that the display is capable of reproducing colours accurately and without variation, which is great news for people who care about accurate color reproduction. The wide viewing angles and Eyesafe certification also make the Galaxy S8 a safe choice for people who want to use their phone in brightly-lit environments or who have children who might be prone to touching screens without permission. ..

Audio

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13’s two strong downward-firing speakers produce unexpectedly excellent sounds. We were happy to hear De Niro, Pesci, and Liotta’s chat while watching Goodfellas as they were burying a body. The sound quality was comparable to that of a television once the driver shut the trunk and “Rags To Riches” began to play. The Z13’s speakers worked well with the included Dolby Atmos software when we played Spotify music. But without it, things didn’t seem as promising. ..

Graphic and gaming

Windows PCs with DirectX 12 can outperform those with DirectX 11 when it comes to the Night Raid and Time Spy gaming simulations, as well as the GFXBench 5 tests. However, when it comes to Car Chase, the DirectX 12-equipped Windows PCs fall behind those with DirectX 11. ..

The Lenovo Z13’s graphics performance was fairly high thanks to AMD’s superior integrated graphics, which outperformed Intel-based rivals from Dell and HP. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, which competes with a discrete Nvidia GPU, outperformed the Apple MacBook Air in a few tests using the integrated GPU of the M2 processor, which is interesting. Despite this, the AMD-powered Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 outperformed the majority of its rivals in the majority of our graphics tests. Keep in mind, however, that these tests are more focused on general productivity than gaming.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 review: Performance

AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 6650U is the chip that powers the entry-level Z13. This 28W, 6-core, 12-thread component has a 4.5GHz maximum boost clock speed and AMD’s integrated Radeon 600M integrated graphics processor. Along with that, you also get 16GB of quad-channel RAM. When it comes to performance and endurance, that level of cooperation between the chip maker and OEM seems to have paid off. ..

The Z13 laptop achieved 208 points in the internal ITPro multi-media benchmark, which is a very respectable result for a laptop without a discrete GPU. To put that into perspective, the MSI Prestige 14, which has a 12th generation Core i5-1240P processor and an Nvidia RTX3050 GPU, scored 247 points while the new M2 MacBook Air scored 215 points. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which only scored 130 and is powered by a 10-core Core i7-1255U, is easily defeated by the Z13.

The 6650U is a powerful 6-core processor, and the Z13 will quickly complete any productivity task thrown its way. The Z13’s quietness is also striking. You need to place your ear fairly close to the action, even when you’re under pressure, in order to hear the fans. The Z13’s rear underside did get a little warm during hard acceleration, but not significantly. ..

Battery life

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 outlasts even the most battery-efficient rivals, such as the HP Spectre x360 13.5 and Apple MacBook Air (16:49). Additionally, the battery supports quick charging, allowing you to quickly recharge it when you do finally need to plug in. Surprisingly, the display has excellent overall brightness, outshining several of our comparison models. ..

The Lenovo Z13 is a great display option for a MacBook. It has a three-cell 51.5Wh battery that lasted 12 hours and 45 minutes on a full charge, which was a nice surprise. Additionally, the Z13 has more performance than any of the other options we’ve seen, making it an excellent choice for someone who wants to work hard on their MacBook but also needs some extra juice to keep it running smoothly.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 review: Heat

During our stress tests, the ThinkPad Z13 became a little warm. The keyboard ended up being the machine’s hot spot when we performed Cinebench R23. The temperature between the G and H keys was hot to the touch at 122.9 degrees Fahrenheit, but the touchpad was the coolest as usual at 95.9 degrees. At 118.22 degrees Fahrenheit, the bottom of the laptop, which is typically its hottest area, was only slightly warmer than the keyboard. ..

The AMD Ryzen 7 8-core processor maintains a respectable level of cooling while not in use. After 15 minutes of streaming a video, the bottom of the keyboard registered 95.5 degrees, the touchpad only reached 83 degrees, and the middle of the keyboard registered 91.5 degrees. There is a vapour chamber thermal solution inside that AMD co-developed to keep the device cool and maintain performance under demanding workloads, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement. It would be best to place the Z13 on a desk if you were working intensively on it. ..

Configuration options

Lenovo is constantly selling new ThinkPads, and the base model currently has a starting price of $1,355.40. You can buy different models with different prices, but the typical price is $2,259.

The Lenovo model we received for review has a 512GB SSD, Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U, and 16GB RAM, but it also has the same FHD+ display. Costco will charge you $2,099 for this one, though, to be fair, it is currently $1,754 on Lenovo.com. It helps to shop around for ThinkPads and any other business laptop for that matter.

Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 is a fantastic ultra-portable notebook that has an emphasis on reducing the footprint without compromising power. It has a nice screen, a reliable keyboard, and a battery life that outperforms that of an Intel-powered competitor. The main problem is that, while it does include the series’ iconic nipple mouse, it’s not really a “ThinkPad” more than for display purposes. Simply said, you can’t expect the more substantial-feeling touchpad and keyboard of an older ThinkPad model. ..