For its third-generation ThinkPad P50-series Lenovo opted for a careful evolution instead of a revolutionary redesign.

This evolutionary step referred to as ThinkPad P52 turned out very well by and large as it incorporated many of its predecessor’s advantages, such as for example the very robust and sturdy case or the excellent and typical-for-a-ThinkPad input devices. The device’s port selection has been modernized quite extensively without sacrificing any of its versatility, and its security features have been improved with the brand-new ThinkShutter camera lens slider and the optional infrared camera for Windows Hello. The display has been improved significantly, and the entry-level display is now finally a proper and decent choice. The only issue we have had is that it does not cover sRGB completely. Further advantages include its default extended three-year on-site warranty (limited to certain countries and SKUs), the very fast PCIe NVMe SSD made by Samsung, its very low power consumption, and the overall very respectable battery life as determined by our real-world battery benchmarks.

The P52 can be individually configured and retroactively upgraded. Our review unit featured an empty WWAN slot, three free RAM slots, and two free storage slots/bays. Unfortunately, upgrading the P52 was unnecessarily complicated by the fact that the removal of the keyboard requires a special tool. While that tool can be ordered from Lenovo it is currently not yet available. The keyboard needs to be removed in order to access two of the four RAM slots as well as the WWAN slot. The cooling system remained out of reach and is thus unmaintainable. In return, the bottom cover was easier to remove as it lacks the dreaded plastic clips most other notebooks have.

The revised cooling system and the P52’s overall performance can best be described as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, CPU performance has been improved dramatically thanks to the above-average performing hexa-core Core i7-8750H CPU. The fans remained comparatively quiet even under load and were completely off when idle, and as a bonus Lenovo managed to reduce surface temperatures even so. On the other hand, the cooling system was already overtaxed with our Core i7-8750H and an Quadro P1000-equipped entry-level SKU. This is as much Lenovo’s fault as it is Intel’s - almost no hexa-core-equipped notebook is capable of fully utilizing Intel’s latest chips to their full potential. Accordingly, we have some serious doubts regarding the more powerful Core i7-8850H and Quadro P3200 SKUs.

Further cons include the P52’s poor speakers and the minor coil whine we detected. We would have also preferred a glass-covered touchpad instead of the plastic surface and were taken aback by the fact that there is no way to disable CPU performance throttling on battery.

Decent display, robust and sturdy case, pleasant and comfortable input devices, long battery life, excellent CPU performance, and quiet to boot - Lenovo’s ThinkPad P52 is almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, the cooling system was already overtaxed by our entry-level model.