Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 (Intel) review

Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 2: the honest budget office deck

The ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 (2020, Intel) at $604 carries an Intel Core i3 1115G4 with 40GB of memory and no discrete card. It is the integrated sibling of the MX450-carrying ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 at the same price — same silicon generation, same memory ceiling, different graphics ambition.

Where it holds up

The CPU score of 70 stands 32.2% above the business median of 52.97 — top quartile, respectable for an i3. Mobility posts 71 against a 60 median, and portability at 71.3 (high) suits the 14-inch frame. The graphics entry resolves to 14.08, 3.7 times the class median of 3.84, and the minimum-bar checks pass for Overwatch, GTA V and Rainbow Six Siege with Visual Studio Code clearing its minimum — clearance-level green bars across the set.

Where it falls short

The verdict names no serious weak spots, which deserves its footnote: 3D modeling at 21 and photo design at 24 are the honest floor of the sheet — low bands from integrated silicon with no discrete rescue. Gaming at 64 is index-level clearance, not comfort. Office at 60.51 (mid) is average, and the i3's two cores show in every multi-tasking scenario the axes can't see.

Price and depreciation

At $604 the class rate reads 8.92% per year with no cohort anchor for a projection — among the gentlest curves in this batch, rate-only framing for the business segment. Budget business hardware on a slow drift is depreciation arithmetic at its friendliest.

Alternatives to consider

The ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 at the same $604 adds the MX450 discrete card, lifting photo design from 24 to 71 — the same-dollar graphics upgrade. The ThinkBook 14 Gen 3 AMD at $82 more resolves stronger integrated graphics (43.85) with the same memory and a better office band; the newer AMD platform is the data-preferred step.

Bottom line

Fairly priced for the class. The ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 is the plain office deck — above-median CPU and mobility, passing minimum bars, 40GB of memory — with creative floors at 21 and 24 that its MX450 sibling at the same price exists to fix.