Lenovo ThinkPad T480s-20L8S02E00

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Reviews for the Lenovo ThinkPad T480s-20L8S02E00

ThinkPad T480s: a szürke eminenciás
Source: HWSW HU→EN Archive.org version
Positive: Attractive design; light weight; compact size; powerful hardware.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 05/17/2018

Recenze: Lenovo ThinkPad T480 - business notebook pro náročné, 2 baterie, s čtyřjádrem a IPS
Source: Notebook.cz CZ→EN Archive.org version
Positive: Comfortable keyboard; nice connectivity; beautiful design; good double batteries. Negative: Noisy under loads; poor display.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 05/31/2018

Comment

Model: The Lenovo ThinkPad T480s-20L8S02E00 is the perfect ThinkPad for the mobile user and working through daily work. It's light, thin and delivers decent performance thanks to Intel Core i7 processors. A user can turn the world into their office with a fingerprint scanner, Windows Hello with infrared camera and a mechanical camera cover (ThinkShutter) for maximum protection. This Lenovo ThinkPad T480s, too, is equipped with an IPS WQHD (2.560 x 1.440), the most expensive display option in the series. All displays used in T series notebooks are matte. However, the T480s has a slightly dull color and relatively low maximum brightness which can be problematic especially in bright environments. As for hardware specifications, it features an Intel Core i7-8550U 1.8 GHZ - 4.0 GHz (Turbo Boost), 16 GB PC4-19200 DDR4 2,400 MHz RAM, a 512 GB M.2 PCIe SSD and an Nvidia GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM. Even with the MX150, the office laptop T480s is not a gaming system. Yet it could be an interesting choice for many casual gamers nevertheless. Lenovo places the stereo speakers on the bottom, causing their performance to be heavily impacted by the surface. The quality of the speakers tends to be poor, being in line with typical laptop speakers: too quiet and no bass. In order to enjoy music, it is recommended to use the combo audio jack on the left side of the laptop.

The battery runtime results are mostly in line with the T480s without MX150 and the X1 Carbon 2018. This is unsurprising since all three of them are fitted with a 57 Wh battery. Lenovo advertises RapidCharge, a fast charging solution new to the T480s compared to the ThinkPad T470s. The battery actually charges faster. The charging time has decreased from about 190 to about 150 minutes. Lenovo has traditionally packed lots of ports on ThinkPad, and the company's designers felt that they could get plenty of new-generation and classic peripherals. Thus, the T480s have virtually any meaningful port that could be needed today. There is USB 3.0 on both sides, on the left side it is two USB-C, which can be used to connect one of the Lenovo docks. There is also full-size Ethernet, HDMI, an audio port and an SD card reader. Inspired by ThinkPad customers, this ThinkPad has a USB-C docking connector on the side rather than underneath, enabling the T480s to be just 18.45 mm / 0.73 inch thin and weigh only 1.31 kg / 2.9 lb. Thanks to its comfortable input devices, premium chassis, well-rounded port selection, good battery life and matte, bright and color accurate WQHD IPS display, most users can wholeheartedly do well with the T480s with MX150.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

Series:

The Lenovo ThinkPad T480s is the latest model in the high-quality T series of 14-inch ThinkPads. Usually, Lenovo Thinkpad laptops are not associated with gaming. Yet it is a tradition for models of the ThinkPad T series to be equipped with GeForce graphics chips. Every ThinkPad laptop undergoes stringent testing for reliability and durability, including the ability to survive in hazardous physical and environmental conditions. By default, the ThinkPad T480s has a match-on-chip fingerprint reader, anti-spoofing technology that authenticates log-in credentials and helps safeguard user data, and ThinkShutter, a webcam cover that users can open and close. This slim yet full-fledged 14" laptop also has an integrated global LTE-A feature that keeps the user connected. Furthermore, to help save time setting up and deploying each T480s, Microsoft AutoPilot is on board. This cloud-based solution lets users preconfigure every laptop, so that they are ready to use right out of the box. Even with the MX150, the office laptop T480s is not a gaming system. It could nevertheless be an interesting choice for many casual gamers, since the combination of “thin, light, ThinkPad design, MX150” has its charm, and it enables playing modern games, too. However, users should not expect to be able to play at maximum settings, and a reduction in resolution may be necessary for newer titles. The first “real” gaming GeForce for laptops is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, which is about twice as fast.

As for the processor, the device features an Intel Core i7-8550U, a modern quad-core processor based on the Kaby Lake Refresh generation. It has a turbo boost frequency of 4 GHz and a base frequency of 1.8 GHz. All T480s variants come with at least 8 GB of soldered-on RAM. Since the T480s has an additional SODIMM slot, a maximum of 24 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM is possible. The ThinkPad has a single M.2-2280 slot that is compatible with fast PCIe-NVMe SSDs as well as SATA III SSDs. The highest capacity Lenovo offers at this time is 1 TB. Inspired by ThinkPad customers, this latest T-Series ThinkPad has a USB-C docking connector on the side rather than underneath, enabling the T480s to be just 18.45 mm / 0.73 inches thin and weigh only 1.31 kg / 2.9 lb. It also has a range of convenient ports, including the lightning-quick Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3. In addition, if a user needs to work on the go or in low-light conditions, the renowned ThinkPad ergonomic keyboard has a convenient backlight. The T480s gives users up to 15.6 hours of battery life. When running low, the laptop's rapid charging feature delivers an 80% charge in just one hour. Over a lunch break or meeting, the battery can therefore be easily boosted to provide over 12 hours of power.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Pascal GP108 based laptop graphics card and mobile version of the desktop GeForce GT 1030. Offers 384 shader cores and usually 2 GB GDDR5 with a 64 Bit memory bus. Manufactured in 14nm.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

i5-8550U: Kaby-Lake-Refresh based low power quad-core processor. The four cores are clocked between 1.8 and 4 GHz (Turbo Boost) and support HyperThreading. The integrated GPU is clocked between 300 and 1,150 MHz. The SoC is manufactured in a 14nm+ FinFET process.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

14.00":

There are hardly any tablets in this display size range anymore. For subnotebooks, on the other hand, it is the standard format.

The advantage of subnotebooks is that the entire laptop can be small and therefore easily portable. The smaller display also has the advantage of requiring less power, which further improves battery life and thus mobility. The disadvantage is that reading texts is more strenuous on the eyes. High resolutions are more likely to be found in standard laptops.

Lenovo: Lenovo ("Le" from English legend, novo (Latin) for new) was founded in 1984 as a Chinese computer trading company. As of 2004, the company was the largest laptop manufacturer in China and, after acquiring IBM's PC division in 2005, the fourth largest in the world. In addition to desktops and notebooks, the company manufactures monitors, projectors, servers, etc, and specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, enterprise solutions and related services.

In 2016, the company ranked first in the world in computer sales. It still held it in 2023 with about 23% global market share. Important product lines are Thinkpad, Legion and Ideapad.

In 2011, it acquired a majority stake in Medion AG, a European computer hardware manufacturer. In 2014, Motorola Mobility was purchased, which gave Lenovo a boost in the smartphone market.

91%: There are not very many models that are rated better. Most of the assessments are in percentage ranges below that. The tested product is not considered perfect, but the sources give a clear purchase recommendation.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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