The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 AMD is a 14-inch business laptop built around AMD's Ryzen 7 8840U. Notebookcheck rated it 86% and found it clearly faster than the Intel version of the same chassis, with an excellent keyboard, a bright matte 1920 x 1200 screen, an RJ45 Ethernet port and, for the first time since the Gen 2, fully upgradeable RAM in two SO-DIMM slots. The costs of that performance are a hot underside and a loud fan under full load, only average battery life and some coil whine.
Full review
Faster than the Intel version
Notebookcheck reviewed the T14 Gen 5 with a Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and found it clearly better than the Intel T14 Gen 5 in every performance measure, single-core included. With a 51 W power limit it took the top spot in Notebookcheck's office-laptop benchmarks, though that level cannot be sustained; under an hour of stress the chip held 23 W without throttling. The Radeon 780M graphics also beat Intel's Meteor Lake U chips and can run newer games only at much reduced settings and resolution.
Heat, noise and battery
The price of that performance is heat and noise. Notebookcheck measured more than 60 degrees Celsius (143 F) on the bottom during its stress test and 47 dB(A) of fan noise in the Best performance profile, louder than any laptop it compared and than the Intel model at 43 dB(A); the palmrest stayed cool and the fan is quiet in Balanced mode. Battery life disappointed: ten hours in Notebookcheck's Wi-Fi test from the 52.5 Wh battery, less than the Intel version manages, and the reviewer also detected coil whine.
Keyboard, screen and ports
Notebookcheck calls the input devices an area where ThinkPads shine: a 1.5 mm keyboard with a comfortable typing feel and two-stage backlight, a small plastic touchpad that works well and the TrackPoint. The matte AUO panel averaged 439 cd/m2, covers sRGB completely and stays readable outdoors. Ports match the Intel model, with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI and a rare RJ45 Ethernet connector, and Wi-Fi comes from a Qualcomm card that Notebookcheck found slightly slower than Intel's but dependable.
Built to be repaired
For the first time since the T14 Gen 2 AMD, the RAM is fully upgradeable through two SO-DIMM slots, and Notebookcheck notes the M.2 2280 SSD, WWAN modem and battery are user replaceable too, reached by loosening a few clips and seven screws; the keyboard can also be swapped. The chassis is mostly plastic over a magnesium frame, which Notebookcheck says feels below the T14s or X1 Carbon, and the black finish picks up dust and dirt.
Strengths
- +Clearly faster than the Intel T14 Gen 5 in Notebookcheck's benchmarks, including single-core performance
- +Two SO-DIMM slots make the RAM fully upgradeable, and the SSD, WWAN modem, battery and keyboard are replaceable, per Notebookcheck
- +RJ45 Ethernet, Thunderbolt 4 and optional LTE, as Notebookcheck notes
Watch-outs
- −Notebookcheck measured more than 60 C (143 F) on the bottom and 47 dB(A) of fan noise under maximum load
How it compares
The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 AMD is a business laptop with an RJ45 Ethernet port, an optional LTE modem and two SO-DIMM RAM slots, features aimed at office fleets rather than the thin consumer designs of the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M3, Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 14 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7. Notebookcheck measured it at 3.28 pounds.
Rating sources
“The ThinkPad T14 (AMD) model is a significant update over the last years' ThinkPad T495.”
Counts as 4.22/5 in our score — this publisher's 7 scores on the site average 4.30, so its scores are adjusted down to compare fairly with other publishers.
Our 4.2 score is the average of the 1 scored review above, each adjusted for how strictly its publisher scores; 7 more reviewed it without printing a score and are not in the average. More about methodology.
