The ThinkBook 14 G9 IPL appears to be the first notebook Lenovo has ever made equipped with an SSD from Chinese manufacturer YMTC. Seeking to maintain a competitive price for the product, the world’s largest OEM in the PC sector turned to a brand that we rarely see in its devices, which usually come with drives from Samsung, Kioxia or WD.
The reason for this is no secret to anyone. The rush by companies to try to profit from AI has resulted in an exacerbated demand for DRAM and NAND memory components, causing an unusual price increase for these products. The crisis has often been colloquially called the RAMpocalypse or RAMaggeddon.
While RAM is most affected, NAND components used in SSDs have also been impacted, which explains the YMTC drive in the ThinkBook 14 G9 IPL. One of the first sites to notice this was NotebookCheck who reviewed Lenovo’s “affordable” notebook.
Lenovo sacrifices performance to control price
NotebookCheck tests show that the drive chosen by Lenovo for the ThinkBook 14 G9 IPL is slightly below the average of what is expected in performance in this notebook segment.
It’s not surprising, since the company turned to YMTC precisely to save money, so it’s likely that the best SSD the manufacturer had to offer was not chosen either.
According to the website, the SSD is a 512GB model in M.2 2242 NVMe format, on the PCIe 4.0 interface. In tests, it achieved an average read speed of 3,950MB/s and write speeds of around 2,514MB/s, which puts the product below what we normally see in office notebooks, but it is still sufficient for this usability.
- Lenovo warns that escalating memory prices have only just begun
- PC550: Chinese company YMTC launches its first PCIe 5.0 SSD
- PC sales plummet with rise in memory and SSDs; cheap notebooks are most affected
The result is one of the few new notebooks that can be found in 2026 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage coming in at $1,200 (R$6,197).
Source: www.adrenaline.com.br
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