Lenovo is one of the top three brands of laptops running around right now. It is a well-known company that creates products with robust hardware and elegant appearance. Lenovo is one of the few companies in the world that is spearheading the technological innovation for the computer industry.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad is its prized possession. It represents simplicity and stability. ThinkPads were also used by NASA on board the International Space Station.
About Lenovo
Lenovo was founded on the 1st of November in the year 1984 in Beijing under the name Legend. Lenovo first made it into the Chinese market during the late ’90s. It the largest PC vendor in the world and the third-largest smartphone company.
The Lenovo company, as we know it, came into the limelight after 2004 when they changed their name from Legend to Lenovo. From 2012 to 2017, Lenovo made multiple acquisitions of smaller companies and their subsection, contributing to their rapid rise in the computer industry.
ThinkPad Laptops
ThinkPads were first developed and launched by IBM during the ’90s. But it’s been over a decade since the last time IBM made a ThinkPad. Now, Lenovo is carrying the lantern. After Lenovo acquired IBM’s personal computer division in 2005, Lenovo got hold of the ThinkPad laptops and tablet lines.
Ever since their first production, the ThinkPad devices inspired security and stability. And they stood the test of time, even though they had minimal changes made to their appearance and design. Inspired by the Japanese Bento lunchbox design, the ThinkPad emphasized simplistic design but cutting-edge technology that emerges once the cover is opened. Almost like a surprise to the customers.
T480 vs T480s
Whether you are working on a monthly report for your managers or writing a journal for your thesis, you need a fast laptop and increases your productivity and helps you perform better.
Lenovo’s ThinkPads are well known for their build quality, simple aesthetic black appearance, hyper-accurate pointing sticks, and supreme keyboard in the industry.
Design
Both the T480 and T480s have similar design and look. Though the T480s are thinner and smaller than the T480, there is not much difference between T480 and T480s. They both have a black aesthetic appearance with minimalistic design upfront.
ThinkPads are renowned for their minimalistic design since the whole concept of their design was inspired by the Japanese bento lunchbox. They have a peculiar boxy design language. These laptops have a raven-black standard Lenovo chassis that may not seem to be sexy but highly functional. The T-series laptops share the same design pattern.
ThinkPad’s design has been a bold move on Lenovo’s part. But it paid off big time. Since it was initially launched in 1992, ThinkPad has made little changes in its design. In any industry, design consistency is not only undervalued but also frowned upon, especially in the tech industry. No one could have known that the ThinkPad’s design, technological innovation, aesthetics would have such staying power.
Weight and Dimensions
The stylish and elegant T480 showcases a slick dimension of 9.15 x 13.25 x 0.79 inches, whereas the T480s presents quite a similar size, 13.03 x 8.93 x 0.73. The difference in size, in fact, does not affect the commendable professional performance.
The weight of T480 is 1.6 kg without a charger, as the charger itself weighs about 100 grams. Comparatively better for traveling, for it is exceptionally lightweight.
T480s weighs 1.3 kilograms representing a more lightweight featurette. Though it needs a good size bag to carry, the thinned-out notepad will not feel like a burden to carry through, measuring 331 mm wide by 226.8 deep by 18.45 mm thick though it whittles down the front.
Display
Lenovo ThinkPad T480 is equipped with a 14-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 IPS display with an anti-glare coating that keeps all kinds of reflections at bay. The brightness at 215 cd/in^2 is average. It lacks vividness, which is a result of inadequate color coverage.
Since the T480 model was more focused on its functionality purely aimed at regular and business use and not on creative photo & video editing, it provides more in the sense of hardware superiority. Top-notch specifications were the main focus behind its creation and design. The screen bleeding of T480 is another factor behind its low image quality.
The 720p webcam with ThinkShutter is the primary camera with a microphone, which performs reasonably nice for conference calls.
Lenovo ThinkPad T480s comes with a beautiful 14-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 display. If you spend a little more money, you can get anti-glare coating with 250 nits and opt for a better display with 2560 by 1440 display with 300 nits, which is considerably better than most of the laptops in this price range. The screen flex is minimal.
There are also multiple variants of the display, including the option to choose Touch or Non-touch displays. All of the displays offer IPS technology. The image quality varies from HD to FHD to WQHD.
Keyboard
The ThinkPad T480 keyboard is imminent. The T480 provides quite good keyspace at 1.7 mm for a slimmed-down notebook. It has also got three levels of the backlight. The keyboard makes a satisfying click sound while typing as the ThinkPad has a membrane keyboard. But if someone bottoms out, the keyboard feels soft like other notepads.
The laptop also has a fingerprint reader. It uses match-on-chip technology for security by increasing the difficulty of hacking. Moreover, the precision touchpad is relatively large, allowing plenty of room for Windows 10 gestures.
The ThinkPad 840s showcases a pretty good keyboard. Even if you type continuously for an extended period of time, you will not experience fatigue or cramps. The mouse tracking pad is of considerable size, and it does a beautiful job in terms of tracking.
Battery Life
The ThinkPad T480 has an inbuilt three cell 24 Whr (2 units) Lithium-ion battery, providing a backup of 19+ hours. Among all the laptops that have been tested, the ThinkPad T480 takes the prize with its six-cell 72 Whr battery. It was a standard laptop mag battery test, which includes surfing the internet using Wi-Fi. Even though the T480s offers replaceable battery packs, the 72 Whr battery of the T480 is unbeatable in this aspect.
Both of the ThinkPads have extraordinary battery power. However, the T480 battery is swappable. That makes it extremely useful for extreme cases where you can take multiple fully charged extra batteries and travel to places without ever needing to look for a power cord.
The T480 can give you a total of 13.9 hours with its standard battery pack of 24 Whr for the primary and 24 Whr for the external battery. If you choose the 72 Whr, you don’t have to worry about charging your laptop for the next 30.3 hours straight.
Processor/CPU
Both T480 and T480s have Intel processors in them. But ThinkPad T480 and T480s have Core i7 8th Generation processors with vPro. These are more than enough for your regular tasks. These processors give the laptop enough juice to get your work done while maintaining lightweight and stability.
The T480 supports extra RAM up to a total of 32 GB of DDR4 RAM.
For graphics, you can choose between Intel UHD 620 or Nvidia GeForce MX150 with optional 2 GB GDDR5 memory. The overall performance is immensely satisfying. The T480 can keep quiet and work under pressure for a prolonged time. The T480s, however, is not preferred for gaming or highly intensive tasks. If you a businessman, the T480s will suit you best.
Ports & Connectivity
The T480 reduces your dongle budget to zero because everything you need, every kind of port, the T480 is equipped with. That includes an SD card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI output, and a full-sized Ethernet port. This laptop uses a USB Type-C charger for its power input.
They also have a separate Thunderbolt 3 port for connecting devices that require high-speed communication with this laptop.
There is a docking port on the left side of the T480, which is a convenient tool for your productivity. It is especially helpful if your tasks need the benefits of remote and desk tasks. The docking port gives you a massive boost to your working proficiency.
Since the T480s is focused on thinner laptops, the ports had fit into the narrow base. The RJ45 ethernet cables on these laptops come with a pop-up section so that they can support a full-size ethernet cable while being extremely thin at the same time.
On the right side of both T480 and T480s, there are all kinds of ports, including a 4-in-1 SD card reader, USB ports, and HDMI out port. There is also a Kensington Locking system connected to the chassis. This protects your laptop from being stolen in any public or private place. Since more and more of us are working on remote jobs, the security features provide you with a sense of safety.
The RJ45 port supports a full-size ethernet cable, which facilitates companies to connect laptops directly using cables. This makes them faster and safer to work with.
The SD card reader supports SD, MMC, SDHC, and SDXC. There is no extruding section when you plug in the card. The card fits inside so that it is more convenient for the user without any risk of damaging the card or port.
The ThinkPads T480 and T480s also feature an Intel Dual Band Wireless – AC (2×2). Alongside that also have Bluetooth 4.1 on T480s and Bluetooth 4.2 on T480.
Speakers
Both T480 and T480s have two stereo speakers mounted on either side of the lower part of the laptop. The T480 speakers are far better than the ones in the T480s. There are many complaints about the speakers on T480s. The built-in software for Lenovo, also called Dolby, is a convenient tool for filtering the audio output. The speakers on T480 have a high-quality sound delivery.
Customers are quite satisfied with this. However, the speakers on T480s have been facing quite a few criticisms. The sound quality is low and harsh. They struggle to create anything more than average volume levels. They also have a complete lack of bass and crunchy audio that only satisfies the customer’s needs for essential voice conferences and similar activities. For any other playback, i.e., movies or music, External speakers and headphones are recommended.
Upgradability
There are many options to upgrade a standard laptop. ThinkPad goes above and beyond to ensure upgradability. They offer so many options for customers to choose from. They even provide a choice between M.2 SSD storage or HDD storage, both of which can fit within the same space. Though M.2 uses an extra circuit to connect, it is quite convenient.
There are variants of upgrades. Choices differ from each other by price range and specifications. It is relatively simple to upgrade these laptops too. Just open up the cover, and everything is laid out in front of you.
Although both T480 and T480s offer upgrades, the options to choose from are more for T480 than T480s. Since the T480s is the thinner of the Lenovo T-series, it mainly focuses on being sturdy and light while offering similar security and robustness. T480s is for someone who is looking for a thin and light laptop and doesn’t care much about the expandability of the ThinkPad.
Pros & Cons
T480 Pros:
- Massive Battery (You may opt for the 72Wh)
- 2 RAM slots (You can opt for 32GB RAM)
- Bigger chassis means better heat dissipation
T480 Cons:
- Slower SSD performance because of a lesser number of PCIe lanes allocated to it.
- Single heat pipe on the Non-Nvidia models
- Comparatively inferior components used for building
T480s Pros:
- Dual heat pipe for heat exhaust
- Faster SSD performance
- Supports fast charging
- Comparatively superior build quality
T480s Cons:
- Comparatively smaller capacity battery and non-swappable
- Only one unsoldered RAM slot
- Heat exhaust is on the right (This opinion may vary from person to person)
Both have their strengths and weaknesses. But one is not better than the other. It all depends on customer specifications, what they use if for, and how they use it.
Verdict & Conclusion
The ThinkPads feature premium input devices, excellent graphics and display, robust security features, long-lasting battery, and supreme performance. If you are looking for a dependable laptop for your modern endeavors, T480 is the one laptop you need. It gives you excellent security features to go with it.
T480s is the thinner, lighter version of T480 with a bit of tweaking. It lasts longer on a single full charge, outstanding performance overall, and excellent graphics. The onboard keyboard might not be expected on a ThinkPad, but it won’t let you down on performance.