Why Doesn't My Lenovo Legion 5 with an Intel CPU Come with a Thunderbolt Port?

The Lenovo Legion 5 series laptops, especially those with Intel CPUs, may not come with a Thunderbolt port for several reasons. This blog explores these reasons and discusses how to find the right model for your needs.

Target Market

The Legion 5 is primarily aimed at gamers and general users. Many in this segment may not require the capabilities of Thunderbolt, such as high-speed data transfer or daisy-chaining multiple devices. Manufacturers carefully balance features and price to appeal to a broader audience, and Thunderbolt can be omitted to keep the laptop more affordable.

Cost Considerations

Including a Thunderbolt port increases production costs. Manufacturers aim to offer a product that is both feature-rich and of a competitive price. By skipping Thunderbolt, they can keep the laptop more affordable for a larger market.

Chipset Limitations

Not all Intel CPUs support Thunderbolt natively. Even though many Intel processors do support Thunderbolt, it is dependent on the specific chipset used in the laptop. If the Legion 5 is built around a chipset that does not support Thunderbolt, the port won't be included in the device.

Design Choices

Manufacturers make design choices based on the intended use case. The Legion 5 may prioritize features like cooling, battery life, or GPU performance over Thunderbolt connectivity. These choices are made to enhance the overall user experience and performance for the target audience.

What to Consider When You Need Thunderbolt

If you need Thunderbolt for specific peripherals or high-speed data transfer, you might want to consider other models in Lenovo's lineup or different brands that include this feature. It is important to check the full spec sheet of the laptop before making a purchase.

Intel's Laptops and Thunderbolt Support

You did not mention which exact laptop you have. However, it's worth noting that prior to the 10th gen Ice Lake laptops, Intel chips lacked an on-die Thunderbolt controller. This resulted in vendors needing to source an external chip, which increased the bill of materials. Consequently, only high-end laptops or some business-grade laptops had Thunderbolt support.

With the Ice Lake chips onwards, models with 'G' in their names (e.g., Core i5-1035G1) have Thunderbolt support available by default, provided vendors choose to support it.

Note that Intel had two very different laptop chip series advertised as 10th generation:

Comet Lake - a re-spin of the outdated Skylake microarchitecture from 2015 but with more cores. These models lack TB support. Ice Lake - a brand new design with TB support.

The Intel variant of the Legion 5 uses Comet Lake chips, which are sold as an entry-level to mid-range gaming laptop. Hence, it doesn't have the extra chip for TB support.

It is always advisable to double-check the full spec sheet before purchasing a laptop to ensure it meets your specific needs.