The segment of Lenovo’s Thinkpad is sometimes difficult to see through. The reason for this is that ThinkPad is by no means the same as ThinkPad. For example, if you wanted high-quality screens and a Thunderbolt connection, you had to go at least for the T-series. With the E14 Gen 2 and the E15 Gen 2, however, things seem to change in this respect. Now also the cheap ThinkPads should be able to offer features like Thunderbolt and a color space coverage of 100% sRGB.
Old series suffered from bad screens
In the past, those who chose Lenovo’s ThinkPad in the E-series had to show great willingness to compromise. In the end, they benefited from a good price, but the screens were comparatively poor compared to the other members of the family. Not only did the E-series offer a low brightness of 250 cd/m² maximum, but it also achieved only 60% of the sRGB color space. Here at the latest, a ThinkPad of the E-series could be seen to be a comparatively cheap notebook.
All new thanks to modified hardware
But now it seems that buyers of the comparatively cheap ThinkPad can also benefit from a good screen. Both the small E-14 model with 14 inch and the large E-15 model with 15.6 inch now offer a much better screen performance. This is probably due to the new Intel Tiger-Lake, which Lenovo continues to rely on with its two cheap ThinkPads. And the improvements are really impressive. The screens now achieve brightness levels of up to 300 cd/m² and 100% sRGB color space coverage. While these features are probably standard on the larger E-series notebook, they will probably be at least optionally available on the E-14 Gen 2.
Finally Thunderbolt
But not only the screens should now be able to convince. In addition, the second generation of the E-series now offers Thunderbolt 4, which was also previously only available on expensive ThinkPads. The fact that now also the more favorable ThinkPads offer Thunderbolt, one can owe likewise Intel’s Tiger Lake platform. After all, Thunderbolt is directly integrated here.
The design
If you take a look at the new E-Series, you can’t tell the difference from the second generation models that rely on the AMD Ryzen 4000. However, there is a difference in the design concept between the new E-14 and E-15, with the larger of the two ThinkPads featuring a convenient pocket to hide your wireless in-ears.
Prices and availability
The two new E-series models will be launched in January next year. While the smaller E-14 model will be available for 799 Euro, the E-15 Gen 2 will be available from 789 Euro.
