At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Large display Spacious keyboard Solid productivity performance Cons Flimsy plastic build No support for Copilot+ features Poor battery life Our Verdict The bargain-priced Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 has enough oomph to knock out spreadsheets and video meetings, but it may not hold up to the rigors of travel. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Today’s most capable laptops have the powerful AI-accelerated chipsets, pixel-perfect OLED screens, and incredible graphics processors—the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 doesn’t have any of those things, but there’s one more thing it doesn’t have: a high price. It runs a last-gen Intel Core Ultra 5 125U and a 16-inch IPS display with up to 32GB of RAM. You even get some unexpected extras in this price range, like Thunderbolt 4 and an IR webcam for biometric logins. This business-oriented machine starts under $800, and while I don’t suggest the cheapest version of the ThinkBook 16, this laptop can be a great value. The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 definitely cut some corners to keep the price that low, but does it cut the right ones? Further reading: Best laptops 2024: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Specs and features Lenovo has released several different models of the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7, but you should ignore the base model. Priced under $800, this machine only has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. For about $100 more (when not on sale), you can get the version I’ve been testing, with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of space, and a Core Ultra 5 CPU. The two cheaper models run the Core Ultra 5 125U, but you can upgrade to the Core Ultra 7 155U for $200 more. The ThinkBook is also available in an AMD flavor. The laptop is available with up to 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM. Even fully decked out, the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 costs just over $1,000. CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 125U Memory: 16GB LPDDR5 Graphics: Intel Arc Display: 16-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD Webcam: 1080p IR Webcam Connectivity: 1x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, 40Gbps), 1x USB-C (10Gbps) 2x USB-A (5Gbps), 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, SD card reader Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Battery capacity: 45Whr Dimensions: 356 x 253.5 x 17.5 mm (14.01 x 9.98 x 0.69 inches) Weight: 1.7 kg (3.75 lbs) MSRP as tested: $829 Lenovo’s ThinkBook lineup isn’t supposed to blow you away with raw power—these machines target value, and the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 is the truest expression of that tradition. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Design and build quality IDG / Ryan Whitwam The ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 makes a good first impression with its sleek metal lid, featuring the trademark two-tone finish of most current ThinkBooks. This line sits below Lenovo’s ThinkPad computers. So, the rest of the materials aren’t as impressive. Most of the body is composed of plastic, but the lid does add some much needed rigidity when the machine is closed. You’ll find most of the ports on the left edge, including both USB-C ports, one of which supports Thunderbolt 4. There’s also a USB-A, HDMI, and the 3.5mm jack. Opposite, the ThinkBook has another USB-A, Ethernet, the SD card slot, and a Kensington lock. The bezel around the display is relatively narrow but not what you’d see on a high-end laptop. There’s plenty of room at the top for a webcam that doesn’t extend too far into the trademark Lenovo lid handle. The 1080p camera has solid video quality for meetings, and it supports IR for Windows Hello biometric login. I also appreciate the inclusion of a privacy shutter for the camera. At 16 inches, this is the largest footprint you’ll see for a ThinkBook. That means you get an expansive display and plenty of room for the keyboard. The hinge is a bit on the stiff side, which makes it hard to open the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 with one hand. However, the screen stays in place even if you move the machine around during use. The bottom half of the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 is plastic, and there’s not a lot of internal structure to support it. The case flexes noticeably when you push on the plastic chassis, and it sags when you pick it up by one side. That said, there are no creaks or cracks, and the body should hold up fine as long as you’re not wedging it into a cluttered bag all day. The construction seems about right for a computer that comes in significantly under $1,000. In spite of all that plastic, the ThinkBook is no lightweight. It clocks in at 3.75 pounds, which is around the same as more premium laptops in the same size range. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Display and speakers IDG / Ryan Whitwam Having a 16-inch screen on a laptop can be refreshing if you’re used to a smaller device. The ThinkBook 16’s touchscreen is expansive enough that you can split-screen apps without feeling too cramped. Those with visual impairments can also increase the text size and still have plenty of screen real estate. The display is only 1080p, which is on the low end for a 16-inch laptop. However, it won’t consume as much power as a higher resolution display, and the sharpness is acceptable at normal viewing distances. The brightness is similarly unimpressive, topping out at 300 nits. That’s bright enough for most indoor conditions, aided by the screen’s matte finish. Reflections won’t be a major issue, but bright ambient light in some offices or outdoors will make the screen hard to read. However, you will notice uneven dimming if looking at the LCD from an angle. The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 has speakers tucked under the left and right edge of the laptop, similar to most other 2024 notebooks. Some machines manage solid audio despite firing sound downward, but the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 is on one of them. It’s fine for the occasional YouTube video, but music gets muddy before you even hit 50 percent volume. It also causes the plastic enclosure to vibrate even at lower volumes. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Ryan Whitwam Some 16-inch laptops leave wide swaths of potential keyboard space unused, but the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 doesn’t leave anything on the table. It sports a full keyboard layout, featuring bit arrows, page up/down keys, and a number pad. The number pad is squeezed in off to the right, with keys that are roughly half as wide as the rest of the keyboard. Still, it’s nice to have that on a laptop at all. The keyboard itself gets the job done, but the keys aren’t very tactile, and there’s a lot of mushiness at the bottom of each press. You can feel and see the laptop’s plastic deck flexing as you type, making for a mediocre typing experience despite the good layout. The trackpad is shifted to the left to be aligned with the keyboard’s spacebar. I prefer trackpads to be centered on the laptop’s frame, but that’s a minor quibble. The trackpad is plastic, offering average sensitivity and responsiveness. The click mechanism is rather loud, almost echoey, and the trackpad could stand to be larger, considering the ample real estate on a 16-inch notebook. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Performance IDG / Ryan Whitwam PCMark 10 is designed to test a machine across a variety of metrics like web browsing, video chat, and photo editing. The ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 brings up the rear in this test but not by much. Its general productivity performance is solid, even though machines with newer chips can manage much higher scores in this test. IDG / Ryan Whitwam Cinebench is a CPU-focused test that shows how a PC handles heavy but brief multi-core workloads. More CPU cores grant higher scores in Cinebench and cooling doesn’t matter very much. Cinebench shows another trailing score for the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7. This is a result that would have been in the middle of the pack just a year ago, but the latest Intel and AMD designs have emphasized multi-threaded performance. IDG / Ryan Whitwam The Handbrake test is similar to Cinebench in that it shows how a computer handles multithreaded tasks, but this is a longer-duration test where thermals matter more. Here, the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 picks up a little steam, besting several machines with similar specs. Lenovo’s cooling setup seems to work well, keeping the Core 5 Ultra chip running faster under load. IDG / Ryan Whitwam Our first gaming test is 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. This is not a gaming machine by any means, and this benchmark proves it. AMD processors, as well as newer Intel chips, have much more capable integrated GPUs. Intel’s latest CPUs are getting close to the performance of discrete GPUs from a few generations ago. The Core 5 Ultra, however, struggles even with simple games. The laptop is fast enough for the tasks you’re likely to ask of it in a work setting. However, it’s not great for creating and editing content or gaming. A faster machine will pay off if you plan for heavier workloads. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Battery life The ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 has two USB-C ports, and either one can be used to charge the laptop. The machine comes with a bulky 65W charger, but you don’t have to use that one. It also charges at full speed with any third-party USB-PD charger with a 65W or higher capacity. IDG / Ryan Whitwam With a 45Whr cell, this machine was never going to set any longevity records. Our battery rundown test consists of playing a 4K video on a loop at set brightness until the machine dies. The ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 managed almost nine hours (532 minutes) in this test, which is not an impressive showing. However, it makes a lot of sense given the meager 45Whr battery—that’s tiny by 2024 standards. Actually, this makes a bit more sense with the plastic build. This laptop is intended to remain plugged in stationary on a desk most of the time. Sure, you can take it to a meeting, but it won’t withstand as much abuse as a more sturdy and expensive laptop. Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Conclusion Lenovo’s ThinkBook lineup isn’t supposed to blow you away with raw power—these machines target value, and the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 is the truest expression of that tradition. It would be easy to dismiss Lenovo’s new ThinkBook on the basis of its middling performance and build quality, but the price makes this notebook worth thinking about. This is a solid productivity machine for well under a grand. You should keep its shortcomings in mind, though. It’s running a last-gen processor, and the base model doesn’t have enough RAM. The small battery and iffy build quality are also sticking points. Lenovo’s pricing is constantly changing, and its “estimated value” discounts are plainly misleading. However, the pricing is still aggressive, especially if you’re buying in bulk for enterprise. I don’t recommend the base model or the fully specced out version. With 8GB of RAM, the cheapest ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 isn’t powerful enough outside of basic office work. The version with 16GB of RAM is currently on sale for $749, which is a fantastic deal. Meanwhile, the upgraded version still has the same middling display and build quality—there are better options if you’re going to spend $1,000 on a laptop. The middle tier I’ve tested is the sweet spot. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Included stand supports landscape and portrait mode Easy wireless setup with modest input lag Decent bundled speakers Cons Moderate brightness Very limited color performance Battery life is limited at higher brightness levels Our Verdict The ViewSonic VG1656N offers a simple, reliable wireless connection, but disappointing color performance holds it back. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Portable monitors are a dime a dozen (almost literally, if you buy them on sale). But what if you want a portable monitor that’s also wireless? That’s exactly what the ViewSonic VG1656N offers at an affordable price. Unfortunately, ViewSonic sacrifices the monitor’s image quality to make it happen. ViewSonic VG1656N specs and features The ViewSonic VG1656N’s basic specifications are identical to dozens of competitors. It has a 16-inch IPS display panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, and a 60Hz refresh rate. None of these specifications are remarkable on their own, and the VG1656N’s nearly $300 MSRP would be hard to justify without its unique features. ? Display size: 16-inch 16:10 widescreen? Native resolution: 1920×1200? Panel type: IPS? Refresh rate: 60Hz? Adaptive sync: None? HDR: None? Ports: 2x USB-C 3.2 with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 60 watts Power Delivery-in? VESA mount: None? Speakers: 2x 2-watt speakers? Wireless display: Yes? Price: $299.99 MSRP Wireless connectivity is what sets the VG1656N apart. Though not uncommon, wireless portable monitors tend to be expensive, with many models sold above $300. That makes the VG1656N relatively affordable. Further reading: See our roundup of the best portable monitors to learn about competing products. ViewSonic VG1656N design Unboxing and setting up the ViewSonic VG1656N was a bit confusing, due to the fabric-covered magnetic stand that attaches to the portable monitor. I was able to set it up without consulting the manual, but it took me a few minutes to puzzle out the right orientation. It’s a good thing I didn’t need a manual, because my review unit didn’t have one in the box. The bundled stand is decent. It looks flimsy but proved remarkably stable—it takes significant force to knock it over. The stand can be folded to support several tilt angles and is stable once in place. The detachable stand also helps ViewSonic keep the VG1656N’s weight and bulk to a minimum: The display panel weighs 1.8 pounds and measures only 0.38 inches thick. The stand supports both landscape and portrait orientation. That’s a big perk, as portrait orientation is often a better use of a portable monitor’s real estate, and the VG1656N’s 16-inch display panel is the perfect size for portrait-mode placement next to a 27-inch monitor. Matthew Smith / Foundry The VG1656N is a wireless display with a built-in battery, so it can connect to a PC or Mac without any wires. This is made possible with a bundled Wi-Fi dongle. The monitor and dongle pair automatically, and I had no trouble with interference or mixed connections. The dongle connects to your PC over USB-C. It’s large—about twice the size of most USB flash drives—so it’ll be a tight squeeze if your computer’s USB-C ports are close together. You’ll also want to keep track of the dongle, since it’s required for a wireless connection. ViewSonic VG1656N connectivity The ViewSonic VG1656N’s wireless connectivity is clearly its headline feature. As mentioned, the monitor connects wirelessly to a USB-C dongle that you’ll need to plug into your PC. There’s no setup required; so long as the input mode is set to Wi-Fi, the VG1656N will automatically search for and connect to the bundled dongle (though a pairing mode is included if you need to pair with a different dongle). Matthew Smith / Foundry The monitor’s wireless connectivity is fine, but it’s no miracle. Wireless displays tend to suffer noticeable input lag, and the VG1656N is no exception, though it’s not too bad. Slow-motion recording at 240 frames per second showed input lag of around 100 to 200 milliseconds. I couldn’t visually notice a delay in real-time, but the monitor felt a little sluggish. Even so, most people looking for a wireless monitor will find the lag acceptable, and I suspect less critical owners won’t notice it. Wired connectivity is still available, through two USB-C ports. Both support DisplayPort Alternate Mode and USB Power Delivery, so either can be used for video input or to power the monitor. There’s one port on each flank, making the monitor easier to use with short USB-C cords. The VG1656N’s 16-inch display panel is the perfect size for portrait-mode placement next to a 27-inch monitor. ViewSonic VG1656N features There’s not much to talk about when it comes to the VG1656N’s menu system. Controlled by the power and volume rocker, it offers just a few image quality adjustments: brightness, contrast, and four preset image quality modes. Matthew Smith / Foundry The 2-watt speakers are decent, with good volume and clarity. However, there’s no bass, so games, movies, and music sound thin, though they’re acceptable in a pinch. The monitor’s built-in battery claims up to 3.5 hours of battery life. This varies widely with brightness settings—at full brightness, I saw it drain in about 1.5 hours. The battery can only power the monitor and can’t be used as an external battery for other devices. Viewsonic VG1656N SDR image quality The Viewsonic VG1656N isn’t a portable monitor that’s marketed on image quality. A look at the company’s official web page shows little information about image quality aside from resolution. Instead, the VG1656N is marketed mostly for its wireless connectivity and support for both landscape and portrait mode. A quick note: I tested the monitor’s image quality when it was connected to power and again on battery power. It appeared to operate identically in both situations. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness. This is an area where portable monitors tend to post mediocre results, and the Viewsonic VG1656N is no exception. It achieved a maximum brightness of 251 nits, which is similar to most competitors. This level of brightness is fine for use in a room with a few shaded windows but can look a bit dim if sunlit windows are nearby. Matthew Smith / Foundry The VG1656N’s contrast also falls in line with the alternatives, such as the Asus ZenScreen MB16HG. A contrast ratio of 1260:1 is fine for a standard portable monitor. However, as the Viewsonic VX1655-4K-OLED makes plain, OLED portable monitors can provide a richer, more immersive image. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color performance is where the VG1656N runs into trouble. The monitor displayed only 64 percent of sRGB and 49 percent of DCI-P3. Most portable monitors can display a far wider range of colors covering up to 100 percent of sRGB and 74 to 81 percent of DCI-P3. The Viewsonic VX1655-4K-OLED once again takes things to another level, hitting 100 percent of both sRGB and DCI-P3. Put simply: The VG1656N’s range of colors is relatively narrow, which means colors can look dull and muted. It’s fine for office productivity and web browsing but not great for entertainment or content creation. Matthew Smith / Foundry The VG1656N’s color gamut disqualifies it for use by photographers, videographers, artists, and other content creators, so it’s no surprise to see that it also falls short in color accuracy. The monitor’s accuracy is still okay, but it’s nowhere near the best portable monitors on the market. The color was most obvious in cyan and green, and I felt each shifted slightly, but noticeably, towards yellow. While the VG1656N’s color accuracy wasn’t the best, it did well enough in gamma and color temperature tests. The monitor hit a gamma curve of 2.3, which is just a tad off our target of 2.2 and means the image looks very slightly darker than it should. The color temperature was spot-on our target of 6500K, so the image doesn’t look warmer or cooler than preferred. Sharpness is solid, too. 1920×1200 isn’t remarkable, but it works out to about 142 pixels per inch, which is much better than a 27-inch 1440p monitor’s pixel density of about 109 pixels per inch. Overall, the VG1656N’s image quality is a weakness. It’s fine for writing in Word, surfing the web, and sending emails, but otherwise won’t stand out. Content creators like photographers, videographers, and digital artists will need to give the VG1656N a pass. ViewSonic VG1656N HDR image quality The ViewSonic VG1656N doesn’t support HDR. That’s good, as any attempt to support HDR would fail. A wireless monitor with built-in battery has little hope of competent HDR. That’s because HDR requires high brightness, and higher brightness means higher power draw, something that doesn’t go well with a wireless display designed to function on battery power. ViewSonic VG1656N motion performance Much like HDR, motion performance isn’t a priority for the VG1656N. It sticks to a 60Hz refresh rate and quotes a high gray-to-gray pixel response time of 9.5 milliseconds. Motion blur is obvious when playing fast-paced games or even when scrolling a window across the monitor. Is the ViewSonic VG1656N worth it? The ViewSonic VG1656N is a reasonable choice for shoppers prioritizing wireless functionality over image quality. Its wireless setup is easy and reliable, and input lag is modest enough for productivity. Battery life is limited but usable. However, its subpar image quality and narrow color gamut hold it back. Still, if you just want a wireless portable monitor and aren’t too worried about image quality, the VG1656N makes sense. Read...

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We love a good monitor deal, and finding the 4K Samsung ViewFinity for $200 on Black Friday is a total bargain. Best Buy usually sells this one for $350, so it’s quite the discount at about 45% off. At 27 inches, this monitor provides enough real estate that you’ll have no issues splitting the screen between multiple apps whenever you need to multitask. The 4K UHD resolution means you’re going to get crystal clear images with sharp detail. HDR10 ensures the screen reproduces colors as close to lifelike as possible, and the contrast is deep with rich black and bright whites. This Samsung monitor is also TÜV-Certified, which means that it’s going to be easy on your eyes thanks to reduced screen flickering. Also, during the evenings, the Eye Saver Mode reduces blue light and adjusts brightness and color temperatures. It also doesn’t hurt that the monitor features a lot of useful ports, including HDMI and DP. This makes it easy to connect computers, laptops, or peripherals. Now’s your chance to own a 4K Samsung monitor for just $200, so take advantage of this Black Friday deal at Best Buy. The Samsung ViewFinity S7 is $150 offBuy now at Best Buy Read...

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