My partner bought a P14s Gen 1 a few years back, but then got an X1 Carbon from work and stuck mostly with that. I’ll soon need to set up the P14s with a new OS to donate to my mom. Also it crashed a whole ton towards the end, but it looks like the extra memory that we added crapped out and removing it makes the system stable again.
P14s is a very generic term. It’s true that they don’t usually change a ton from one generation to the next, but the changes add up over time. One gen may be great, and the next one introduces, say, a new MIPI camera that won’t be supported for 1-2 more years. Or they switch from a best-in-class Intel wifi chip to something more mediocre from Qualcomm. Generally, even with ThinkPads, assume that the very latest hardware features take a while to be fully supported. As with every laptop purchase, try to find reviews as close as possible to the configuration and (ideally) OS that you’re looking to get.
In general our P14s Gen 1 (AMD) is a good device. Thermals have been excellent, fans reasonably quiet even under load. The touchpad is a step down from the X1 Carbons and the trackpoint weirdly seems to have a low polling rate, making the trackpoint less pleasant to use than other ThinkPads I’ve had over the years. Not sure if this is a hardware issue or something that needs to be fixed in libinput. I figure newer generations have updated to newer revisions of all input devices though, so if you’re looking at a newer gen you’ll probably be fine. Keyboards on newer gens have regressed to the lower keyboard travel that Lenovo has also started to use on their ultra-thin X1 and T14s series.
The extra weight is noticeable. I think of it as buying 200 to 300g of ham from the grocery store and putting that on the laptop in addition. It can be the difference between slouching in bed comfortably with the laptop on your hips (bad ergonomics btw), and only wanting to use it on your desk. It’s not as heavy as any of those beastly gaming laptops by far, but it makes a real difference.
Lenovo has had their share of BIOS issues with AMD models in particular. After 3-4 generations of P14s/T14 devices, they’ve probably improved their experience. For Gen 1 and Gen 2, there were reports of the AMD versions eating too much power in sleep mode, so it would run out of battery after barely a day or two when suspended. Ours didn’t have this issue though. It’s important to know that X1 Carbon is Lenovo’s premium offering, it’s a full-blown collaboration with Intel, whereas BIOS support for everything else is a little more “best effort”-based. You probably won’t have issues, but if you do, better hope that they’re not moving on to the next gen too soon. Even then, Lenovo is doing a better job at Linux support than basically any other vendor that isn’t specifically focused on Linux (like System76 or Tuxedo Computers).
In its Gen 1, the P14s/T14 (same machine for the most part) was just as good a choice as the T14s, X13, etc., with simply a different target group that prioritized thermals, performance and keyboard travel over thin & light. I feel like they’ve since adapted their product line such that X1 Carbon is the top tier, T14s is second tier, and T14 is the most budget of 14-inch T-series. With less of a focus on what makes the form factor great, and more of a focus on making it a little cheaper. This shows up in decisions about USB speeds, keyboard travel, expansibility, later adoption of excellent display innovations, etc.
All in all, very decent device in general, but has a very specific target audience that wants something in between maximum portability and high-end performance, and also not Lenovo’s first priority so at times it’s not the best it could be.
