Lenovo’s ThinkPads have long been the go-to laptops for business professionals worldwide. And for good reason: their track record of reliability and performance, coupled with the always fantastic keyboard and the fan-favorite TrackPoint, add up to a solid business laptop with no surprises.

Just as ThinkPads have been synonymous with business laptops, Intel processors have been powering them for almost as long as they’ve been around. However, we have AMD chips in the latest mid-range ThinkPads this year. The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD, alongside the Snapdragon-powered Gen 6 T14s, offers business folks more options than ever in terms of what’s powering their daily business workflows.

In my time with the T14s Gen 6 AMD, I didn’t discover anything to make it stand out significantly from its Intel or Snapdragon counterparts, but there is plenty to like if you’re in need of an upgrade. The Ryzen AI 7 Pro chip is powerful and efficient, and the ThinkPad design is just as robust as ever. Just be ready to pay for the privilege of owning a ThinkPad.

Price, availability, and specs

Paying the ThinkPad Premium

The T series ThinkPad’s are aimed squarely toward the top of the business segment, which means they don’t necessarily need to offer too many customization options. These computers are for the modern, everyday office worker who needs a solid, reliable laptop to answer emails, browse the web, create documents, and build endless PowerPoint presentations.

The configuration I was sent includes one of AMD’s new AI-focused workhorse processors, the Ryzen AI 7 Pro, to be exact, and it’s bundled with 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of storage. AMD’s integrated Radeon 880M powers the graphics.

That configuration (with optional fingerprint reader) will run you just north of $1,700, which is a lot to ask for a laptop with these specs, to be honest. However, it’s a business laptop first and foremost, and you’re absolutely paying for the ThinkPad Premium, so let’s just hope your company’s paying for it.

That processor is the only AMD one offered with the 6th Gen T14s series, but you can upgrade to 64GB of RAM and choose between 256 or 512GB of storage if you don’t need the extra space.

The display is your typical 1920 x 1200 IPS screen with 400 nits of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. The only upgrade option is to add touch or not (mine did not include touch). You can also add a 5G modem if you want, plus a fingerprint scanner and a smart card reader if you need one.

You can grab it from Lenovo, Amazon, Newegg, and CDW.

Design and ports

A ThinkPad is a ThinkPad is a ThinkPad

These days, if you’ve seen one ThinkPad, you’ve seen them all. There haven’t been any significant changes to the design for years, but if Lenovo ever did try anything crazy, there’d likely be a revolt from the die-hard ThinkPad fans.

That being said, as dull as the design is, it’s hard to say it’s terrible. It’s exceptionally well-built, with no give or flex anywhere, and even though it’s almost entirely plastic, it still feels nice. The aluminum bottom case helps keep the weight down a bit and provides some thermal management as well. Although subtle, you can feel the improved quality of this T-series ThinkPad over the more budget-focused ThinkPad E14 Gen 6.

The port selection is useable, but for a “flagship business laptop”, they could probably give you a bit more. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side that support 100W charging, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port (up to 4K 60Hz), a headphone jack, and an optional Nano-SIM card slot.

On the right is a Kensington Nano slot and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, as well as the slot for the optional smart card reader.

Display, webcam, and audio

Ok, bad, and surprisingly good

I guess nerds like you and me are the only ones who aren’t happy with a basic 1920 x 1200 LCD display these days because OEMs just seem to keep putting them in their laptops. I guess it’s hard to argue with their logic, though, because the target market doesn’t care, and those basic displays are affordable and more than useful enough for the intended workflows.

It is nice to see the 16:10 aspect ratio has become standard as it’s much more efficient for productivity and allows for greater screen-to-body ratios. And the display here really isn’t bad. The colors are fine, it gets plenty bright for working indoors, and I appreciate the anti-glare coating much more than I thought I would.

Sadly, as is too often the case these days, even on business laptops, the webcam is just not good. It will get the job done, but that’s about it. It’s really easy to find a good, inexpensive webcam these days, so I’d just grab one of those and be done with it.

Luckily, the speakers on the T14s are pretty solid. When watching videos or even during some occasional gaming, the audio was nice. It won’t blow you away, but it’s not designed to either. The upward-firing speakers next to the keyboard provide plenty of volume, and while they don’t get blown out at higher volumes, there’s still no bass support, so it’s not very full audio. But it’s better than a lot of others.

Keyboard and touchpad

Exactly what you’d expect

ThinkPad keyboards have long been the gold standard for business laptop keyboards, which holds true for the T14. It’s responsive and very pleasant to type on for long periods of time. I especially appreciate how, instead of replacing the right Ctrl key with the Copilot key, they’ve simply squished them down a bit to make room for it. That way, I can still use my keyboard shortcuts seamlessly and continue ignoring the Copilot key — even if you can now finally customize it.

The trackpad, too, is pleasant to use. I was surprised by how nice it was, considering it’s Mylar instead of glass, but it’s exceptionally smooth and infinitely better than the one on the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i. It’s also an improvement over Lenovo’s budget ThinkPad, the E14.

And, of course, the iconic red TrackPoint is still very much alive and well. They’ve even added some customization options where a quick double-tap on it brings up a menu for some quick shortcuts, which can be useful.

Performance and battery life

AMD packs a punch

The T14s I received is the second batch of Gen 6 models, with the first being powered by Snapdragon processors. You’ll need to pick up a Gen 5 model to get an Intel version, but the AMD Ryzen AI 7 Pro performs better than Intel’s Core ultra chips in most tests, particularly single-core. Of course, benchmark scores never tell the whole story, but the results are telling.

Not only does the Ryzen 7 Pro deliver better results, it’s also a bit cheaper than the previous gen Intel models. It also outperformed the Snapdragon X Elite chip in the other model of the T14s Gen 6.

AMD delivers plenty of performance with its AI-focused chips and I never experienced any sort of lag or slowdowns at all. From browsing with dozens of tabs open, along with Slack, Outlook, Word, and others, I never had to wait for it to catch up.

Battery life was good. It’s certainly not mind-blowing, but it lasted under six hours in the PC Mark 10 battery test, simulating a typical office workday. While that’s not a full-day battery life, it’s more than enough for a few hours at the coffee shop or running to meetings without worrying about finding a plug.

The hard part is that the AMD model of the T14s doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You’ve got a Snapdragon option, which is a bit cheaper, and you’ve got the Gen 5 model powered by Intel chips, which are technically slower, but you won’t notice the difference in real-world usage.

With the design being virtually identical across the three models, the choice of which one to get can be a bit overwhelming. Having options is great for customers, but it just seems a bit odd to have such similar laptops all existing alongside each other.

Should you buy the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (AMD)?

You should buy the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (AMD) if:

• You want a ThinkPad with an AMD processor
• You want the quality and features of the ThinkPad brand
• You need a powerful, reliable business laptop

You should NOT buy the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (AMD) if:

• You need full-day battery life
• You want a 2-in-1 laptop
• You have a T14 Gen 5 Intel ThinkPad

As expected, the T14s Gen 6 is a very capable workhorse laptop. It’s the spiritual successor to the original ThinkPad line, which has been the go-to laptop for businesspeople for decades. Lenovo doesn’t need to change the formula too much because they’ve found one that works incredibly well.

The hard part is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum anymore. The requirements of business workers are changing, and many other manufacturers are making laptops that can meet or exceed the needs of most businesspeople. Plus, laptops like the Acer Swift 14 AI can easily get two days of battery life and offer comparable performance to the T14s.

Many of those laptops cost several hundred dollars less than the T14s Gen 6. However, if the ThinkPad's reliability and legacy are worth it for you, you won’t be disappointed with this AMD ThinkPad.