Will an eGPU work with my Lenovo Thinkpad T16 Gen 2 laptop?

[Arc8]

I recently bought a Lenovo Thinkpad T16 Gen 2, and the gaming performance has been a big step back from my previous gaming laptop, which I wanted to replace because of bad battery life and constant BSODs and crashes (I've been trying to fix it for the past 2 years and it's been on and off, it's a Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 7 4800H, 16GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM and a mobile RTX 2060). I got the T16 G2 with a Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U and 32GB LPDDR5X-6400MHz RAM. 

 

I was wondering if it would support an eGPU, given that it doesn't have any dedicated Thunderbolt ports, but does have USB-C 4, which I think supports Thunderbolt 3? And also if the laptop simply allows for it.

 

I was thinking about getting me a second hand Razer Core X and an RTX 2060 (or slightly better).

 

Any help, tips or insight is appreciated!

[SpookyCitrus]

Well of course it's going to be a big step back in gaming, you're going from a laptop with a dedicated 2060 in it to a laptop with no dedicated GPU at all. 

 

As for the eGPU as long as the laptops USB-C is for sure Thunderbolt 3 compatible it should be able to use it.

 

Honestly, I would have just purchased a laptop with a dedicated GPU from the beginning. I picked up a Gigabyte gaming laptop with a 13th gen i7, 16GB DDR5, 1TB Nvme, and an RTX 4060 for $850 on Amazon two weeks ago. If you're still in the return period for the laptop you may be able to just return it and get something that has what you need for less or the same price, without having to try to find an eGPU with an outdated 20 series card.

[Arc8]

44 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Well of course it's going to be a big step back in gaming, you're going from a laptop with a dedicated 2060 in it to a laptop with no dedicated GPU at all. 

 

As for the eGPU as long as the laptops USB-C is for sure Thunderbolt 3 compatible it should be able to use it.

 

Honestly, I would have just purchased a laptop with a dedicated GPU from the beginning. I picked up a Gigabyte gaming laptop with a 13th gen i7, 16GB DDR5, 1TB Nvme, and an RTX 4060 for $850 on Amazon two weeks ago. If you're still in the return period for the laptop you may be able to just return it and get something that has what you need for less or the same price, without having to try to find an eGPU with an outdated 20 series card.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

I am currently debating both options very hard indeed, I am still able to return the laptop, but I also work with Linux pretty much all the time, so Lenovo (especially ThinkPad) is a huge plus for me in terms of driver support etc.

 

I don't find too much time to game these days, however I do like to enjoy a few games from time to time. My thought process for the eGPU was to invest once and always be able to just upgrade the GPU itself, no need for a desktop, and just have a laptop with me at all times that can take care of the rest.

 

I'd be buying the GPU and eGPU case separately, so that's not a concern at least, and I'm able to find the Razer Core X around €200 second hand (I live in the EU), and the RTX 2060 for about the same, but could look for a newer card with better performance for a similar/slightly higher price. (Update: currently finding 3060Ti 2nd hand for about €280-320, would consider getting these as well if choosing the eGPU route)

 

Do you think this can be a worthwhile investment if I get a better GPU? Or do you think there are other decently affordable laptops that have good battery life and linux support, while also being able to run a game like F1 2023 on high settings?