Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen 2 review

ThinkPad E15 Gen 2 — modern Ryzen office value without a graphics story

The E15 Gen 2 (2020) is Lenovo's mainstream business 15-incher, here with a six-core Ryzen 5 4500U and 32GB of RAM at $319 — slightly above the $297 business-class median. Its profile is the classic office-book shape: strong everyday compute, no graphics dimension at all. The 4500U's Vega iGPU registers as zero in this class because the business median itself is iGPU-dominated, and the performance index of 28.9 versus 41.5 reflects an older-but-competent CPU against a class that includes newer silicon.

What it does well

The Ryzen 5 4500U remains a genuinely capable office CPU: six cores, efficient 7nm silicon, comfortable through a full workday of browser, office, and calls. 32GB of RAM is more than the 40GB-class median workloads demand — heavy tab counts, local dev servers, and VMs all fit. As a typing-and-meetings machine it is close to the practical optimum at this price.

The trade-offs, stated plainly

Graphics is the named weak axis — no discrete GPU and an iGPU that clears no gaming bar worth claiming. The E-series chassis is also the value tier of the ThinkPad line: acceptable build, but not the T-series hinge and keyboard standard. Weight and battery are mid-pack for a 15-inch office machine.

Price trajectory

From a $1,300 launch configuration it has settled at $319, declining at about 8.9% per year, with a projected $264 in two years — a 17% further drop. That is a normal business-laptop curve: steeper than the vintage classics, gentler than premium consumer lines.

Against its neighbors

The band includes a Dell Latitude 3310 at $361 and a Latitude 5591 at $357 above, and an HP EliteBook 845 G7 at $291 and an EliteBook 735 G6 at $293 below. The 845 G7 at $291 is the direct rival — newer-tier Ryzen silicon in a premium chassis for $28 less; the E15's counterargument is the 32GB of RAM and a larger screen.

Bottom line

A fairly priced, well-balanced office machine with modern-enough Ryzen compute and abundant memory, and zero gaming or GPU ambitions. For a work laptop at ~$300 the E15 Gen 2 makes a defensible case; buyers wanting any graphics headroom should spend the same money on a machine with a discrete card instead.