Lenovo ThinkPad E14 & E15 Gen 2 (AMD) pages are up for Australia!

TL;DR

Lenovo ThinkPad E14 & E15 Gen 2 (AMD) pages are up for Australia! But prices will remain high for some time before it reduces to be more realistic…

Just found out Lenovo Australia finally has got its pages up for the ThinkPad E14 and E15 Gen 2 (AMD), easier to browse them than looking up all the different SKUs in separate files on PSREF. Using this a bit to lay out the specs and a bit of doing a template for possible future posts, and any discussions really. Happy for anyone to use too.

Full RRP are the usual non-sense, as they are just released, they are sitting at the full RRP atm, but should drop to similar level to its intel counterparts soon, if not cheaper.

ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (AMD) https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-edge/… (Australian model is of Type 20T6)
(Official hardware maintenance manual, same file for both E14g2 and E15g2: https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/e14_gen2_e15_…):

• AMD Ryzen™ 5 4500U (6 Cores 6 Threads, 2.3 GHz base frequency, 4.0 GHz boost, 3MB L2 Cache, 8MB L3 Cache) OR AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700U (8 Cores 8 Threads, 2.0 GHz base frequency, 4.1 GHz boost, 4MB L2 Cache, 8MB L3 Cache)
• Integrated AMD Radeon™ Graphics with updated Vega Graphics (4500U: 6 CUs, Max Freq 1500 MHz; 4700U: 7 CUs, Max Freq 1600 MHz)
• 14.0" FHD (1920x1080) IPS, Anti-glare, 250 nits, Contrast 700:1, Viewing Angle 170°, 72% NTSC gamut*
• 8GB Soldered DDR4-3200 + 1 free SO-DIMM slot, up to DDR4-3200, capable of dual channel
• Up to two NVMe storage drives: • M.2 2242 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 4; & • M.2 2280 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 4 (NO 2.5" SATA expansion slot)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 1 (power delivery / DiplayPort), 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (always-on), 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x HDMI 1.4b, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x Combo headphone/mic jack
• Supports up to 3 independent displays (1 native display + 2 external monitors); supports external monitors via HDMI (up to 3840x2160@30Hz) or USB Type-C (up to 3840x2160@60Hz)
• Integrated 3-cell 45Wh Li-Polymer battery; 65W 3-pin USB Type-C AC Power Adaptor, supports Rapid Charge (Battery life: Up to 13 hours in MobileMark® 2014; Up to 10.7 hours MobileMark 2018)
• Realtek RTL8822CE, Wi-Fi 2x2 802.11ac + Bluetooth 5.0, M.2 card (OR, Intel AX200! For only $10 extra as an upgrade! However with a brief test, the customisation option is only on certain config. Hopefully it'll be rolled out to more, if not all, as the listings get more polished.)
• Backlit keyboard, with hot keys for online meetings
• Dimensions (W x D x H) 12.76" x 8.66" x 0.70"; 324mm x 220mm x 17.9mm
• starting at 3.62 lb / 1.64 kg (display & bottom cover: Aluminium alloy)

ThinkPad E15 Gen 2 (AMD) https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-edge/… (Australian model is of Type 20T8)
(Official hardware maintenance manual, same file for both E14g2 and E15g2: https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/e14_gen2_e15_…):

• AMD Ryzen™ 5 4500U (6 Cores 6 Threads, 2.3 GHz base frequency, 4.0 GHz boost, 3MB L2 Cache, 8MB L3 Cache) OR AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700U (8 Cores 8 Threads, 2.0 GHz base frequency, 4.1 GHz boost, 4MB L2 Cache, 8MB L3 Cache)
• Integrated AMD Radeon™ Graphics with updated Vega Graphics (4500U: 6 CUs, Max Freq 1500 MHz; 4700U: 7 CUs, Max Freq 1600 MHz)
• 15.6" FHD (1920x1080) IPS, Anti-glare, 250 nits, Contrast 700:1, Viewing Angle 170°, 72% NTSC gamut*
• 8GB Soldered DDR4-3200 + 1 free SO-DIMM slot, up to DDR4-3200, capable of dual channel
• Up to two NVMe storage drives: • M.2 2242 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 4; & • M.2 2280 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 4 (NO 2.5" SATA expansion slot)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 1 (power delivery / DiplayPort), 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (always-on), 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x HDMI 1.4b, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x Combo headphone/mic jack
• Supports up to 3 independent displays (1 native display + 2 external monitors); supports external monitors via HDMI (up to 3840x2160@30Hz) or USB Type-C (up to 3840x2160@60Hz)
• Integrated 3-cell 45Wh Li-Polymer battery; 65W 3-pin USB Type-C AC Power Adaptor, supports Rapid Charge (Battery life: Up to 12.7 hours in MobileMark® 2014; Up to 10.4 hours MobileMark 2018)
• Realtek RTL8822CE, Wi-Fi 2x2 802.11ac + Bluetooth 5.0, M.2 card (OR, Intel AX200! For only $10 extra as an upgrade! However with a brief test, the customisation option is currently only on E14g2. Hopefully it'll be rolled out to the E15g2 as well as the listings get more polished.)
• Backlit keyboard, with hot keys for online meetings
• Dimensions (W x D x H) 14.37" x 9.45" x 0.74"; 365mm x 240mm x 18.9mm
• Starting at 3.75 lb / 1.7 kg (Display cover: Aluminium; Bottom cover: PC/ABS plastic )

Notes/thoughts:

• Spec summary used product webpages, and the PSREF files of the base specs for AU models: E14g2, E15g2
• Display: *72% NTSC gamut - this info is not found on any public accessible sources, but obtained from Lenovo AU's online rep (via online chat function). At the moment, there are no "shareable references" according to the rep. The rep also said the intel based E14/E15 share the same panel as the E14g2/E15g2. Hopefully this is accurate enough and will be consistent for the actual units shipped. In the sense that they won't change to lower gamut panels to reduce cost or other supply chain matters, so it won't be a lottery.
• Processors/performance misc: It's a bit disappointing to see OEMs mainly just opting for the non-SMT parts to maximise their profits but heavily reduces multi-thread workload performance. I suppose that's one of the banes for the budget market (although non-SMT parts are also observed in higher end product lines sigh). Dishearteningly though, intel line up often have the higher end of the product tiers. The CPU performance of the 7nm AMD Renoir chips are quite extensively reviewed now and they offer the best performance in the same power (and price) category. The GPU just knocks intel's offerings, except for the highest GPU config i.e. -G7 designated chips, which should perform on par for the 6 and 7 CUs integrated updated Vega.
• Thermal solutions: good to see Lenovo's thermal solution contains at least 2 heatpipes (compared to the single heatpipe Acer Swift and Dell Inspiron). While more can still be desired, let's hope it'll do at least a better job than the Acer Swift and Dell Inspirons (and other single heatpipe solutions) and not throttle the chip too heavily.
• Storage options: Look like for the portable/<2kg machines of Lenovo's line up is now completely ruling out 2.5" drives? No more 2.5" SATA drive bays, but quite nice to have 2 NVMe slots. The default NVMe option that comes with the device seems to be of 2242 PCIe NVMe format. This seems good as more often it's easier to find 2280 format drives to purchase for own expansion. The location of the slots however, may be of interest for some attention. Looking at the schematics from the maintenance manual, the Left shorter 2242 slot is very close, if not next to, the thermal exhaust fan (not sure how close it really is, as the schematic is angled). Considering the recent testing done by Hardware Unboxed on the ASUS TUF A15, which had the NVMe SSD installed at the slot next to the fan and had very high running temperatures. It'll be good if the 2242 NVMe drive can be installed onto the more thermally vacant Right 2280 slot.
• Memory configuration: the situation of the soldered memory design will probably be okay for most people, but makes it tricky for people needing >16GB RAM. Adding a 8GB SODIMM memory stick of 3200MHz will get you best performance by enabling dual channel. It'll add a bit of extra cost (~$65 currently) but very worthwhile. For people needing >16GB, there's a max total RAM limit of 24GB, dual channel (if possible) will only be limited to the first 16GB, then single channel for the remainder. Also until actually tested, it's not sure if the dual channel mix mode will actually be functional.
• Battery life: battery capacity seems to be similar to last gens, considering the chips have improved efficiency, while the quoted spec battery life is quite unrealistic, but there's hope it'll reach 6-8 hrs with realistic use (depending on workload).
• WiFi: $10 upgrade to intel AX200 available. Enough said.
• Keyboard: backlit keyboard upgrade now available(just checked again it's the standard option) (although personally I was never bothered without it)