The last thing I expect out of a business laptop is for it to be a multimedia beast. Business laptops need to prioritize two things: battery life and portability. However, the ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1 gives you that and much more.
In my review of the Lenovo ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1 Aura Edition, I complimented it for its stunning OLED display and bangin’ speakers. It makes for the perfect companion for some playtime after work. It’s also not too bad at gaming.
Let’s jump into all the goodies you get with the Lenovo ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1 Aura Edition.
A multimedia business beast
Alright, let’s get business out of the way first (pun intended).
The unique business-esque features you get include its MIL-STD-810H chassis, so it can withstand drops, vibrations, extreme temperatures, and more. Then there’s security via ThinkShield, which is a fancy term for Lenovo’s security solution. It features a dTPM security chip, an IR webcam with a kill switch (F9), Intel Threat Detection, and a fingerprint reader.
As far as its portability goes, the ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1 comes in at 3.06 pounds and 13.37 x 9.0 x 0.27~0.7 inches, so it can fit into any 15-inch laptop bag (you might even get away with putting it in a smaller bag, but check the measurements first).
Then the arguably more important feature: battery life. On the Laptop Mag battery test, which required the ThinkPad X9-15 to continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, it lasted 16 hours and 24 minutes. Who's up for a full work-and-play day?
Speaking of play, this is where the display comes in. The ThinkPad X9-15 is rocking a 15.3-inch, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz OLED touchscreen display. That means it’s sharp, smooth, and also supports premium display tech.
That OLED panel features high contrast and bold colors, covering 143% of the DCI-P3 and 202% of the sRGB color gamuts. It’s also bright as heck, hitting 458 nits of brightness (that’s nearly as bright as the MacBook Air 15-inch M4).
Complementing the display is the four-speaker system tuned with Dolby Atmos. It produces bright audio that highlights the mids and highs with some decent lows. The soundstage also makes it easy to distinguish each instrument from one another.
So once work is over, you can binge your favorite series (maybe The Last of Us?), and experience a level of immersion that your average TV or laptop couldn’t replicate. But what if your “play” is actually play? Well, I have good news for you.
While the ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1’s Intel Core Ultra 7 258V lacked in overall performance (for the price), its Intel Arc 140V 16GB iGPU is more than capable of some light gaming.
On the latest Sid Meier’s Civilization VII benchmark, we saw a strong 66 frames per second when set to Medium, 1080p settings. Even turning it up to High, it achieved 38 fps (above the 30-fps minimum playability threshold).
In Sid Meier's Civ VI: Gathering Storm, we got 65 fps on the Medium setting. Considering that the MacBook Air did worse on that test (45 fps), we imagine that the ThinkPad X9-15 is capable of handling the Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Ultra, 1080p) benchmark even better (where the MacBook scored 31 fps. Yes, they’re old games, but that’s at the highest settings. Turn it down to low, and you could get away with playing some modern AAA games.
However, the biggest issue with the ThinkPad X9-15 is that it offers a terrible price-to-performance ratio. That’s because laptops like this are meant to be bought in bulk by companies at a deep discount, as opposed to the average consumer.
But if you have the funds, or are at least willing to wait for a sale, the ThinkPad X9-15 Gen 1 will serve you well as an all-around multimedia device.
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