Intel's Lunar Lake platform may have launched back in September 2024, but Lenovo clearly sees continued value in the efficient Core Ultra 200V processors. The company has quietly announced that its ThinkPad T16 Gen 4 and ThinkPad E16 Gen 3 will now be available with Lunar Lake configurations, expanding options for users who prioritize battery life and thermal efficiency over raw performance.
Lunar Lake never aimed to break performance records. Instead, the platform delivered meaningful improvements in power efficiency, resulting in longer battery life, reduced heat output, and quieter fan operation compared to earlier Intel silicon. These characteristics make it particularly well suited for business laptops where all-day usability matters more than benchmark scores. The timing is notable given that Intel's newer Panther Lake platform has already arrived on the market.
What makes this release particularly straightforward for Lenovo is that both 16-inch models share motherboards with their smaller siblings, the ThinkPad T14 Gen 6 and ThinkPad E14 Gen 7, which already offered Lunar Lake configurations. The ThinkPad T16 Gen 4 could prove especially compelling, as its 86 Wh battery paired with Lunar Lake's efficiency should deliver impressive endurance figures. Both models are already listed in Lenovo's PSREF database, suggesting availability is imminent.
For Linux users, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 4 comes with solid open-source credentials. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225U variant is Ubuntu certified, joining other Lunar Lake ThinkPads like the X1 Carbon Gen 13 that have already earned certification. Intel's open-source graphics driver work means Lunar Lake's Xe2 integrated GPU functions out of the box on recent kernels (6.11 or newer), while the 48 TOPS NPU is supported through Intel's linux-npu-driver for local AI inference workloads. Phoronix testing of Lunar Lake ThinkPads on Linux showed Ubuntu 25.04 and Fedora Workstation 42 running smoothly, though users may need to tweak ACPI settings for optimal CPU frequency behavior.
