I Recommend This Low-cost Thinkpad To Most Professionals - And It's On Sale For 19% Off

3 days ago

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 usually retails for $799.
It's a reliable fund business laptop pinch a bully artillery and tons of customizations.
The show and webcam mightiness not beryllium bully capable for astir users, and opting for higher-end hardware pumps up nan price.

At Amazon, nan sixth-generation Lenovo ThinkPad E14 is connected waste for $781.

On nan surface, Lenovo's sixth-generation ThinkPad E14 doesn't look overmuch different from nan erstwhile model; it's a quintessential ThinkPad pinch nan acquainted reddish TrackPoint fastener and left/right rodent buttons supra nan trackpad successful a compact, matte achromatic chassis.

The E14 is simply a fund productivity laptop pinch a focused usage case: nan office. It brings galore of nan ThinkPad's unsocial features but keeps nan hardware connected nan humble end, making it a coagulated workhorse for astir workflows and a reliable laptop for teams that don't request high-powered, specialized devices.

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That said, nan hardware connected committee is respectable. It's equipped pinch an Intel Core Ultra 5 aliases 7 processor to powerfulness multitasking and moving successful nan unreality while besides enabling nan device's bladed and ray shape factor. IT teams will admit nan device's generous group of ports, Kensington fastener slot, and self-healing BIOS to widen its lifecycle.

The E14 is champion compared to its much premium siblings, peculiarly Lenovo's X1 Carbon series. Where nan X1 Carbon features an OLED show and sleeker, much robust shape factor, nan E14 offers much humble visuals and a somewhat plasticky build (but retains galore of nan features that make ThinkPads what they are).

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For example, nan keyboard is comfortable and well-optimized pinch Lenovo's scissor-lift system for satisfying cardinal travel. Additionally, nan usability keys are useful and well-telegraphed for their purposes.

My only constituent of contention is nan truth that nan Fn and Ctrl keys are swapped, resulting successful galore mendacious inputs connected my end. This is each individual preference, of course.

The show connected nan E14 Gen 6 doesn't stray overmuch from its intended usage case: It's a WUXGA (1920x1200 resolution) surface that maxes retired astatine 300 nits of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. Under nan hood, it's likewise modest, pinch an Intel Graphics paper (not: Arc) designed to grip video playback and outer monitors. However, it is slower astatine tasks for illustration video editing aliases graphics rendering, thing a laptop could do but isn't optimized for.

The webcam is modular fare for laptop videoconferencing, pinch a 720p HD and a 1080p FHD configuration. The 720p webcam surely isn't going to triumph immoderate awards for clarity, and I wouldn't urge this lower-end camera for personification who spends a batch of clip connected calls, but nan 1080p camera is an acceptable upgrade for labor who don't request an ultra-polished video suite but still want to look good.

The E14 Gen 6 is disposable successful a fewer different configurations, pinch nan 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, pinch nan Intel Core 7 processor going for $989. Bumping up to 32GB of representation shoots nan value up to $1,879 -- almost double nan value -- lifting nan laptop retired of nan "budget" value constituent successful nan process.

For that reason, I'd urge this laptop only if you're sticking pinch nan sub-$1,000 configuration. You whitethorn arsenic good opt for a much premium ThinkPad if you're looking for higher-end hardware.

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Speaking of, nan 47Wh artillery connected nan E14 is astir what you'd expect, pinch capable powerfulness to get you done nan workday, but not overmuch much beyond that. It does support accelerated charging, however, getting up to astir 60% successful 30 minutes and supra 80% successful an hour. This makes it awesome for moving astir nan agency pinch short stints distant from nan outlet, but not needfully arsenic an extended off-the-grid workstation.

ZDNET's buying advice

The ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 is simply a coagulated fund productivity laptop from 1 of nan astir trusted lines of business-oriented laptops connected nan market. It's not nan sleekest laptop connected nan block, but it's a reliable workhorse pinch respectable hardware and a creation accuracy spanning aggregate decades.

I urge nan E14 Gen 6 if you're looking for a reliable productivity instrumentality nether $1,000. If you want a laptop pinch 32GB of RAM and 1TB aliases much of storage, I would propose springing for 1 of nan much premium business machines for illustration the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which has an OLED display, a amended webcam, and a much robust shape factor.

This article was primitively published connected January 28, 2025, and was updated connected July 14, 2025.