While Intel's Panther Lake launch focused heavily on premium Core Ultra X9 and X7 processors, Lenovo has quietly expanded the platform's reach with two budget-friendly business laptops. The ThinkBook 14 G9 IPL and ThinkBook 16 G9 IPL, announced through Lenovo's PSREF database, bring entry-level Panther Lake chips to the small and medium business market.
These laptops feature the more modest members of Intel's new lineup, ranging from the Core Ultra 5 325 to the Core Ultra 7 355. Both chips pack eight cores with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, 12 MB of cache, and turbo frequencies reaching 4.5 GHz and 4.7 GHz respectively. These processors share the same 25 W base power and 55 W maximum turbo power as their more expensive siblings. For Linux users, the underlying Panther Lake platform has solid kernel support in Linux 6.17 and later, with Linux 7.0 adding workload hint optimizations and NPU 5 support integrated into recent kernels.
Compared to their predecessors, the eighth generation ThinkBooks, the new models maintain an identical design but add several upgrades. Both laptops swap a standard USB-C port for Thunderbolt 4, while the 14-inch model gains a 2,560 x 1,600 IPS display option running at 120 Hz. The smaller laptop's battery grows from 60 Wh to 64 Wh, and both models offer an optional 5-megapixel webcam upgrade over the previous 1080p option.
The ThinkBook 14 G9 IPL and 16 G9 IPL are already appearing at German retailers with prices starting at 929 euros ($1,010), roughly 400 euros ($435) less than previous entry-level Panther Lake laptops. The combination of Intel's latest architecture at more accessible price points could make Panther Lake a more practical option for business buyers and budget-conscious consumers.
