Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 2 review

A premium price wrapped around an entry professional card

The ThinkPad P16s Gen 2 (2023) at $1,126 pairs a Core i5-1340P with the RTX A500 Mobile — a real professional card, but the smallest of its era — alongside 64GB of RAM. The workstation shelf prices it as a professional tool; the matched graphics score of 15.83, 62.5 percent below the class median of 42.23, disagrees.

Where it holds up

The daily-driver axes hold their own: office at 91.91 is top-band, mobility at 44 beats the class median of 36, and the 64GB memory bank matches the professional standard. Gaming at 64 (mid) is carried by the card's entry-level but genuine throughput — Grand Theft Auto V clears its minimum bar and Overwatch its minimum, with Visual Studio Code passing as well.

Where it falls short

The card is the flagged weakness, and the low band agrees with it: 3D modeling at 30, engineering CAD at 33, and value at 18.7 — the last one the sharpest critique in the sheet. Overall performance at 46.36 sits 23.6 percent below the class median. In plain terms: this is a thin-and-light office platform priced on the workstation shelf, and the graphics tax buys an A500, not the capability the badge implies.

Price and depreciation

No launch anchor is recorded; the class-derived rate computes to 16.27 percent per year — steep, workstation-shelf territory. At $1,126 with value at 18.7, the buyer is paying a premium over stronger siblings while carrying one of the steeper curves in this batch.

Alternatives to consider

The ThinkPad P15v Gen 3 (listing 1881) at $225 less scores a matched 64.37 on its T600 with a gaming index of 84 — the direct refutation of this listing's pricing. The ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 AMD (listing 1915) at the same $1,126 goes the other way: no discrete card at all, but stronger value logic for pure office mobility. And the P16s Gen 3 (listing 1883) at $1,408 upgrades to 96GB and a 90.71 performance index for $282 more.

Bottom line

Fairly priced for the class only in the narrowest sense. The A500's 15.83 against a 42.23 median, low-band modeling (30) and CAD (33), and a value reading of 18.7 all say the same thing: capable office machine, mispriced workstation. The 91.91 office score is real; the professional credentials are aspirational.