This $400 Workstation ThinkPad cost OVER $4000 in 2022.. is it too good to be true?

Summary

The video reviews a used Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 bought for about £400 from Cash Converters. The reviewer says this configuration would have cost several thousand pounds when new, making its current price unusually low.

Configuration and condition

• Processor: Intel Xeon W-11855M, with six cores and 12 threads
• Memory: 64 GB ECC DDR4, with four SODIMM slots and support for up to 128 GB
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX A3000 laptop GPU with 6 GB of VRAM
• Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD; the reviewer later adds another 1 TB SSD
• Display: 4K, 60 Hz panel rated at 600 nits and 99% sRGB coverage
• Battery and power adapter: 94 Wh battery and a 300 W adapter

The laptop had minor cosmetic scuffs and appeared to be functional. Its BIOS had no password, but Windows setup revealed that it was still enrolled in Windows Autopilot for Aston Martin. The reviewer contacted the company but had received no response after two weeks. They used a workaround to get into Windows, though the enrollment remained an annoyance.

Disassembly and upgradeability

A substantial part of the video covers a hands-on teardown and upgrade demonstration. The reviewer finds:

• Two easily accessed NVMe slots beneath the bottom cover, plus another SSD slot beneath the keyboard
• Two additional RAM slots beneath the keyboard, for four slots in total
• A user-replaceable GPU module
• A large dual-fan heatsink

The reviewer removes dust, replaces the CPU and GPU thermal paste, and installs an additional SSD. They describe the teardown as comparatively straightforward, although removing the keyboard and lower cover took time.

Performance tests

• Cinebench R23: 9,225 in one run and 8,720 in a separate 4K run. The reviewer considers the CPU capable.
• Unigine Valley: Average of 51.2 FPS at 4K and 165.5 FPS at 1080p.
• Minecraft: Smooth at high frame rates without shaders. With shaders, performance varies by shader and resolution: a more demanding option reached roughly 70–80 FPS at 1080p, while a lighter shader exceeded 200 FPS in some scenes.
• Fortnite: Around 100–120 FPS during tested gameplay at 1440p with preselected medium/high settings and DLSS. Performance mode at 1080p produced higher frame rates, though results varied.

The reviewer repeatedly notes that CPU temperatures reached roughly 94–100°C during gaming, while the GPU generally remained in the high 60s to high 70s. They observed no obvious stuttering or thermal throttling during the tests, but considered the CPU temperatures a concern.

Display, battery, and productivity

The reviewer praises the 4K panel’s sharpness, brightness, and color reproduction. They also test the speakers and give them a generally positive subjective assessment.

Premiere Pro editing was reported as smooth, including timeline work, effects, and color grading. Exporting a 1080p/60 video took about 20 minutes. The laptop was usable for editing on a flight, but battery life was poor, and the plane’s outlet supplied less power than the included adapter.

Overall verdict

Despite the Autopilot enrollment and high CPU temperatures, the reviewer considers the P15 Gen 2 an excellent-value, powerful desktop replacement. They particularly praise its workstation performance, screen, memory capacity, and upgrade options, and say they plan to keep it.

Guide and tutorial content

The video includes:

• BIOS and Windows setup checks, including identifying the Autopilot enrollment issue
• Laptop disassembly, cleaning, and thermal-paste replacement
• RAM and NVMe SSD upgrade options

Main speaker and source: The video’s presenter and reviewer from the YouTube channel cephacore.