MWC 2023 | Lenovo ThinkPad L14 and L15 Gen 4 upgrade to Raptor Lake or Ryzen 7000 platforms

The ThinkPad L14 Gen 4. (Source: Lenovo)

Lenovo's fourth-gen range of larger ThinkPad L-series laptops have made their MWC debut with up-to-date processors in both Intel and AMD flavors. Either option comes in relatively lightweight, cost-effective packages - although the new L14 and L15 have made some potential compromises to attain their attractive starting prices.

Deirdre O'Donnell, Published 02/27/2023 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 ...

Lenovo has debuted some high-end ThinkPads as MWC goes on thus far; however, the slightly less premium L series might find that it has had discerning business customer attention reserved for its new 14- and 15-inch variants this year.

These 2023 L-series machines will ship with up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, up to 2TB SSDs, up to 63Whr batteries and up to FHD/IR webcams regardless of size; similarly, both the L15 and L14 Gen 4 will retain an audio jack and dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 type-A ports as well as support for HDMI 2.0b, Ethernet and microSD cards.

However, the port selection is also where the line's SKUs start to diverge: while 1 of the type-C ports on the L14 and L15 Gen 4 (Intel) models will be Thunderbolt 4 thanks to their new 13th-gen processors, their AMD counterparts get no similar USB4 love out of the box, even with updated Ryzen 7xxxn silicon.

Therefore, both type-Cs on the L14 and L15 Gen 4 (AMD) will be USB 3.2 Gen 2 instead, with just 1 of those for the Intel versions. Then again, all these new ThinkPads get Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 and 4G/LTE-capable options.

They also both get entry-level HD TN as a screen quality option, presumably to keep costs down. Furthermore, these panels have a 200-nit max brightness rating, although this rises to 300 nits in the L14 or L15 Gen 4's alternative IPS FHD touch-enabled option.

There is a final up-to-400-nit FHD low-power option, although it is exclusive to the L14 Gen 4, as is a 16:10 aspect ratio. This, then, is probably why it is also the more expensive option, starting at €775 (~US$817) whereas the new L15 does so at €755 (~US$796). The ThinkPad L Gen 4 series will be available to the EMEA market from May 2023.

Buy an L14 Gen 3 on Amazon