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- Table of Contents
- Top
- Main Differences
- Design
- Display
- Interface
- Connectivity
- Configuration
- Performance
- Additional Features And Software
- Comments
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021) vs Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Side-by-Side Comparison
Products
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Tested using Methodology v0.8
Updated Sep 24, 2024 01:13 PM
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Size15.6"
Operating SystemWindows 11
Size14"
Operating SystemmacOS
Variants
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004RUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/W-11855M/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009VUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/W-11855M/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004MUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/W-11855M/RTX A4000/64GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0089US) (Black - 4K/IPS/W-11855M/RTX A4000/64GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009WUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/W-11855M/RTX A5000/128GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0034US) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11800H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0087US) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11800H/RTX A3000/64GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004GUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11800H/RTX A3000/64GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004NUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11800H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0086US) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11800H/T1200/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003JUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i7-11850H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004QUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A3000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0088US) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A3000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009TUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A4000/64GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009UUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A5000/128GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004TUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A5000/128GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003EUS) (Black - 4K/IPS/i9-11950H/RTX A5000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003KUS) (Black - 4K/OLED/i7-11850H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0045US ) (Black - 4K/OLED/i9-11950H/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004SUS) (Black - FHD/300 nits/i5-11500H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009QUS) (Black - FHD/300 nits/i5-11500H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0085US) (Black - FHD/300 nits/i7-11800H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009RUS) (Black - FHD/300 nits/i7-11800H/T1200/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0046US) (Black - FHD/500 nits/W-11855M/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0032US ) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/RTX A2000/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003WUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ001KGE ) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ001JGE) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/RTX A3000/32GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003YUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0031US) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0084US) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11800H/T1200/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003AUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11850H/RTX A2000/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0044US) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11850H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ0030US) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11850H/RTX A3000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003PUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11850H/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003PCA) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i7-11850H/RTX A4000/32GB/1TB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ009SUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i9-11950H/RTX A2000/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ004HUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i9-11950H/RTX A2000/16GB/512GB)
- ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (20YQ003FUS) (Black - FHD/500 nits/i9-11950H/RTX A2000/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 14 (MKGT3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 14 (MKGR3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro/8‑core CPU/14‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 14 (MKGQ3LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 14 (MKGP3LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/8‑core CPU/14‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
Our Verdict
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021) and the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021) are both mobile workstations designed for demanding production workloads. However, they're quite different. The Apple is a more premium and portable device that offers a better user experience than the Lenovo. The performance will depend largely on which configuration you get and which applications you use. The Lenovo's higher configurations may score better in some benchmarks than the Apple, but keep in mind that it's the dedicated media engines that do most of the heavy lifting on the Apple, so the benchmark scores aren't always indicative of performance. The Lenovo's advantage is that it's more versatile because you can also use it for gaming. You can game on the Apple, but there aren't many games optimized for its M1 SoC.
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Main Differences forSchool
School
Threshold
School
7.0
8.7
Portability
5.0
8.4
Battery
6.9
9.2
Touchpad
7.3
9.2
Build Quality
8.0
9.5
Webcam & Microphone
7.0
9.1
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
8.0
9.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.5
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
195°
135°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
5.0
8.4
Dimensions Photo
Size
15.6"
14"
Thickness
1.5" (3.9 cm)
0.6" (1.6 cm)
Width
14.8" (37.5 cm)
12.3" (31.3 cm)
Depth
9.9" (25.2 cm)
8.7" (22.1 cm)
Volume
224.9 in³ (3,685.5 cm³)
67.5 in³ (1,106.8 cm³)
Weight
6.3 lbs (2.8 kg)
3.5 lbs (1.6 kg)
Charger Size
14.8 in³ (242.6 cm³)
9.6 in³ (157.5 cm³)
Charger Weight
1.2 lbs (0.5 kg)
0.7 lbs (0.3 kg)
Serviceability
6.0
3.5
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
4.0
6.0
RAM Slots
4
0
Storage Slots
3
0
Replaceable Battery
No
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
No
No
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
1920 x 1080
3024 x 1964
Aspect Ratio
16:9
16:10
Pixel Density
141 PPI
255 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
No
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
75%
89%
Refresh Rate
5.9
8.7
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
60 Hz
120 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
No
Apple ProMotion
Contrast
7.0
10
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,131 : 1
50,850 : 1
Brightness
6.5
8.6
Maximum Brightness
255 cd/m²
476 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
3 cd/m²
4 cd/m²
Reflections
7.8
8.8
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Matte
Glossy
Total Reflections
4.07%
1.92%
Indirect Reflections
2.53%
0.18%
Calculated Direct Reflections
1.55%
1.74%
Black Uniformity
5.6
10
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
2.287%
0.350%
Horizontal Viewing Angle
6.5
6.9
Horizontal Viewing Angle Video
Horizontal Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Left
24°
26°
Color Washout From Right
26°
29°
Horizontal Hue Picture
Color Shift From Left
34°
38°
Color Shift From Right
42°
44°
Horizontal Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Left
26°
29°
Brightness Loss From Right
29°
32°
Black Level Raise From Left
60°
60°
Black Level Raise From Right
60°
60°
Gamma Shift From Left
23°
33°
Gamma Shift From Right
27°
37°
Vertical Viewing Angle
6.8
6.6
Vertical Viewing Angle Video
Vertical Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Below
28°
27°
Color Washout From Above
29°
31°
Vertical Hue Picture
Color Shift From Below
36°
37°
Color Shift From Above
43°
42°
Vertical Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Below
29°
31°
Brightness Loss From Above
31°
34°
Black Level Raise From Below
45°
45°
Black Level Raise From Above
45°
40°
Gamma Shift From Below
29°
31°
Gamma Shift From Above
34°
33°
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
9.1
9.8
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
2.23
1.63
Avg. Gamma
2.14
2.22
Avg. Color dE
1.79
1.05
Avg. Color Temperature
6,985 K
6,675.1 K
Color Gamut
8.4
9.4
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.2%
99.97%
sRGB uv
99.15%
99.88%
Adobe RGB xy
74.3%
88.88%
Adobe RGB uv
85.37%
94%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
74.4%
99.82%
DCI P3 uv
80.83%
99.43%
Rec. 2020 xy
53.43%
72.75%
Rec. 2020 uv
59.17%
73.82%
Flicker
10
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
No
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
> 1000Hz
Flicker Active Below
0%
0%
Interface
Keyboard
8.2
8.0
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.0
8.0
Numpad
Yes
No
Backlighting
Adjustable
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
62 gf
66 gf
Actuation Force
31 gf
41 gf
Pre-Travel
1.10 mm
0.75 mm
Total Travel
1.67 mm
0.86 mm
Touchpad
7.3
9.2
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
7.5
9.5
Size
10.9 in² (70.0 cm²)
16.1 in² (104.0 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
3
No
Speakers
7.4
8.0
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
76 dB SPL
74 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
5.6 dB
3.9 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
-2.7
0.6
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
570 Hz
102 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
10 kHz
20 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
0.3 dB
3.3 dB
Webcam & Microphone
7.0
9.1
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
6.5
9.5
Resolution
720p
1080p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
Yes
No
Face Unlock
No
No
Connectivity
Ports
9.0
8.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
2
0
USB-C Ports
3
3
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
Thunderbolt 4
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
2.0
2.0
DisplayPort
No
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
SD UHS 2
SD UHS 2
Ethernet
Yes
No
Proprietary Port
Lenovo Power Connector
Apple MagSafe 3
Security Lock
Yes
No
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.3
5.0
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Intel
Apple
Model
Core i7-11800H
M1 Pro
Core Count
8
8
Thread Count
16
8
GPU
Brand
NVIDIA
Apple
Model
Quadro T1200
M1 Pro
Dedicated/Integrated
Dedicated
Integrated
VRAM Size
4 GB
N/A
RAM
Capacity
16 GB
16 GB
Modules
2
Unknown
Type
DDR4
LP-DDR5
Speed
3,200 MHz
6,400 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
512 GB
512 GB
Usable Capacity
441 GB
463 GB
Drive 1
Micron MTFDKBA512TFH
Apple SSD AP512R
Drive 1 Type
SSD
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Performance
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
9.1
9.4
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
1,521 points
1,766 points
CPU Multi-Thread
7,472 points
10,004 points
GPU Compute
46,317 points
38,523 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
9.6
9.5
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
1,514 points
1,532 points
Multi-Thread
11,619 points
9,576 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
8.8
7.2
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
4.0 min
5.5 min
GPU Render Time
1.1 min
N/A
GPU Render Time (Optix)
65 s
N/A
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
7.7
8.3
Basemark Image
Overall Score
50,280
62,548
Storage Drive Performance
9.4
9.5
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
1,710.8 MB/s
4,513.3 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
3,557.7 MB/s
4,831.8 MB/s
Random Write Speed
85.4 MB/s
54.2 MB/s
Random Read Speed
54.9 MB/s
57.5 MB/s
Battery
6.9
9.2
Capacity
94 Wh
70 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
8.2 hrs
12.5 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
7.8 hrs
9.6 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.3 hrs
1.8 hrs
Charge Time
2.0 hrs
2.2 hrs
Borderlands 3
5.4
4.4
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
38 fps
32 fps
1% Low
25 fps
18 fps
0.1% Low
17 fps
9 fps
1% Low Delta
14 ms
25 ms
0.1% Low Delta
32 ms
78 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
96 fps
53 fps
Civilization VI
7.4
5.8
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
75 fps
44 fps
1% Low
48 fps
29 fps
0.1% Low
47 fps
21 fps
1% Low Delta
8 ms
12 ms
0.1% Low Delta
8 ms
25 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
246 fps
59 fps
Avg. Turn Time
8.25 s
10.7 s
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
8.9
8.8
CS:GO graph
Avg. FPS
248 fps
107 fps
1% Low
110 fps
N/A
0.1% Low
49 fps
N/A
1% Low Delta
5 ms
N/A
0.1% Low Delta
16 ms
N/A
Avg. FPS On Low
433 fps
144 fps
Counter-Strike 2
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
1% Low
0.1% Low
1% Low Delta
0.1% Low Delta
Avg. FPS On Low
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
6.3
6.6
Avg. FPS
60 fps
50 fps
1% Low
36 fps
36 fps
0.1% Low
20 fps
27 fps
1% Low Delta
11 ms
8 ms
0.1% Low Delta
34 ms
18 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
110 fps
69 fps
Thermals And Noise
7.1
7.5
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
35 °C (95 °F)
26 °C (78 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
48 °C (119 °F)
48 °C (118 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
42.5 dBA
42.1 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
No
No
Performance Over Time
8.7
9.3
Performance Over Time Graph
Performance Over Time Image
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
100 °C
93 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
8% loss
4% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
77 °C
88 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
0% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 11
macOS
Additional Software
Yes
None
Extra Features
RGB Illumination
No
No
Touch Pen
No
No
Secondary Display
No
No
Biometrics
Fingerprint Sensor
Fingerprint Sensor
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Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Comments
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (2021) vs Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021): Main Discussion
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