Home > Laptop comparison > ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 or ThinkPad P1 Gen 5 – what's better?

Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 vs P1 Gen 5

49 out of 100
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 9
VS
39 out of 100
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 9
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5
Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display
CPU
GPU
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 and P1 Gen 5 important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
NanoReview Score
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
7.7
(Bad)
Value Index
9.1
(Bad)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 9
  • Can run popular games at about 77-105% higher FPS
  • Performs significantly better (up to 2x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 3 versus 2
  • Thinner bezels and 7% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Around 8% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Better webcam recording quality
  • Provides 67% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 300 nits
Advantages of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 64GB)

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs
Laptop:
ThinkPad P1 Gen 9
vs
ThinkPad P1 Gen 5

Case

Weight 1.8 kg (3.97 lbs) 1.81 kg (3.99 lbs)
Dimensions 354.4 x 241.2 x 15.8-20.6 mm
13.95 x 9.5 x 0.62-0.81 inches		 359.5 x 253.8 x 17.8 mm
14.15 x 9.99 x 0.7 inches
Area 855 cm2 (132.5 inches2) 912 cm2 (141.4 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~86.8% ~81.4%
Side bezels 4.9 mm 7.4 mm
Colors Black Black
Material Aluminum Top: Carbon fiber
Middle: Plastic
Bottom: Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle 180° 180°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Active
Vapor chamber No Optional
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 2 2

Display

Size 16 inches 16 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No -
PPI 142 ppi 142 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
Resolution 1920 x 1200 pixels 1920 x 1200 pixels
HDR support No No
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen No No
Coating Matte Matte
Ambient light sensor Yes No
Display tests
Contrast 1200:1 1200:1
sRGB color space 100% 100%
Max. brightness
ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 +67%
500 nits
ThinkPad P1 Gen 5
300 nits

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time - 1:30 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes, 140 W Yes
Charging port position Left, Right Left
Charge power 140 W 135 / 170 / 230 W

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 1.9 GHz 2.3 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7 GHz 4.7 GHz
Cores 16 (4P + 12E) 14 (6P + 8E)
Threads 16 20
L3 Cache 18 MB 24 MB
Integrated GPU Intel Xe3 Graphics (4-Core) Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU)
Fabrication process 2 nm 10 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
Submit your benchmark results

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP 75 W 35 W
Nvidia Optimus - MUX
Type Dedicated Dedicated
Fabrication process 5 nm 8 nm
FLOPS 10.3 TFLOPS 4.3 TFLOPS
Memory size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type GDDR7 GDDR6
Memory bus 128 bit 128 bit
Memory speed ~24 Gbps ~11 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 2560 2048
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 80 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance 10.3 TFLOPS 4.3 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Steel Nomad Lite Score
Blender GPU 2308 770
Solar Bay 34509 15270
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details
Add your GPU benchmark result

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x8 GB
Clock 8533 MHz 4800 MHz
Type LPDDR5X DDR5
Upgradable No Yes
Total slots - 2
Max. ram size - 64 GB

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 5.0 (4x) PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 1x512 GB
Upgradable Yes Yes
Total slots 2 2
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Audio chip Cirrus Logic CS42L43 Realtek ALC3306
Speakers 2.0 2.0
Power 2x2W 2x2W
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Microphones 2 2

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v7 v6E
Bluetooth v6.0 v5.3
Fingerprint Yes Yes
Infrared sensor Optional Optional
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 2560 x 1440 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A 1x USB 3.2 2x USB 3.2
USB Type-C 3x USB 4.0 2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 5 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI 1x HDMI 2.1 1x HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader Yes Yes
Proprietary charging port No Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.5 mm 1.5 mm
Touchpad
Size 13.5 x 8.5 cm 11.5 x 6.7 cm
Surface Glass Glass
Windows Precision Yes Yes
Further details
Notes on ThinkPad P1 Gen 9:
    - The first NVMe SSD slot supports PCIe Gen 5, the second Gen 4.
Notes on ThinkPad P1 Gen 5:
    - This laptop has an option with a top cover made of carbon fiber weave, but it's only available on models with WQUXGA displays.
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

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Comments

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Monica September 8, 2026 at 07:24 AM
My time spy score 9290. There isn't a score for it on your comparison tool but the 115W 3070 Ti gets 9836 which is only 6% higher (interestingly enough, the 115W 3070 Ti gets 10115 in steel nomad lite which is 5% higher than my 9585) You can't talk your way out of this one. I can drop proof for all of my 6 claims from an actual laptop in front of me, not 1 claim from a spec sheet that has underspecced it's series for at least one of its generations (there's reports of more) The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5 has a 100W 3070 Ti.
0 Reply
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Monica September 8, 2026 at 07:09 AM
Steel Nomad Lite shows as 7436 for the 80W laptop 3070 Ti in your comparison tool. My 100W laptop 3070 Ti inside my Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5 scores 9585. 29% higher.
0 Reply
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Monica September 8, 2026 at 06:56 AM
Here's more proof: I compared the 80W laptop 3070 Ti in your graphics cards comparison tool and it showed 33fps for hogwarts legacy at 2560x1440p in ultra. I have played hogwarts legacy on my Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen 5 at ultra at 2560x1600p and got somewhere between 41-58fps (raytracing etc) which is in the neighborhood of 50% more. Impossible for a 80W laptop 3070 Ti. But it gets so much better. It shows the Geekbench 6 OpenCL as being 75245... My OpenCL score is 114465... Again around 50% above the 80W laptop 3070 Ti it is supposed to be equal to. It shows Shadow of the Tomb Raider being 87fps at 1920x1080p at ultra and 58fps at 2560x1440p. I got 103-117fps at 1920x1200p and 1920x1080p and 77-83fps at 2560x1440p and 2560x1600p at ultra (multiple runs, some in-game and some benchmark), which again is entirely impossible or to be counted as being within acceptable +- margins of error. So in the only high end game I have it performs like it's a 100W+ laptop 3070 Ti, and in OpenCL it performs like it's... A 100W+ laptop 3070 Ti. And of course, I can prove all of my claims with pictures and links.
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DoMoreResearchNano August 11, 2026 at 12:46 PM
As always you're getting a billion things wrong. The TGP of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 5 is 100W (the TDP is 80W). There are more inconsistencies but that is the most aggregious one.
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Serhii August 12, 2026 at 07:04 AM
The TGP is 80 Watt of any RTX graphics in Thinkpad P1 Gen 5.
0 Reply
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Monica September 7, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Serhii, Actually that's not true. I have one and it actually is a 100 watt. I could send you a screen shot or photo?
0 Reply
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Serhii September 7, 2026 at 07:36 AM
Monica , Hey, Monica. It is official info from https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_P1_Gen_5?tab=spec#:~:text=Graphics-,Graphics,-Graphics
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Monica September 7, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Serhii, And I Actually have a P1 Gen 5 in my lap right now and am looking at the info right in front of me on the screen. And this would not be the first time that Lenovo undersells their TGP, they have done this before. Btw Even if the TGP was 80 (it's not) the tflops would be 12.19 not 11.7. But since the TGP is a 100 it's somewhere between 14 and 15 I don't want to do the math atm.
0 Reply
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Monica September 7, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Serhii, Also this statement is untrue in its entirety. The RTX a1000 and a2000 are below 80 watt TDP, prsef suggests 35 watt I think, who knows what they actually are. But definitely not 80.
0 Reply
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Monica September 8, 2026 at 06:34 AM
Serhii, Here's more proof: I compared the 80W laptop 3070 Ti in your graphics cards comparison tool and it showed 33fps for hogwarts legacy at 2560x1440p in ultra. I have played hogwarts legacy on my Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen 5 at ultra at 2560x1600p and got somewhere between 41-58fps (raytracing etc) which is in the neighborhood of 50% more. Impossible for a 80W laptop 3070 Ti. But it gets so much better. It shows the Geekbench 6 OpenCL as being 75245... My OpenCL score is 114465... Again around 50% above the 80W laptop 3070 Ti it is supposed to be equal to. So in the only high end game I have it performs like it's a 100W+ laptop 3070 Ti, and in OpenCL it performs like it's... A 100W+ laptop 3070 Ti. How much worse do you want to get owned buddy? (Probably not at all as you're likely too scared to publish my posts and lose face as I will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I am a 100 percent correct 🙄) And of course, I can prove all of my claims with pictures and links.
0 Reply
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Serhii September 8, 2026 at 08:11 AM
Monica, Thank you for such a detailed comment. I updated the TGP thanks to you, because it will show the laptop's performance more accurately.
0 Reply
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