Lenovo ThinkPad T480: Full Review and Benchmarks (2023)

Whether you're writing a quarterly report to the board of directors or working on your thesis, you want a laptop that's not only fast, but faster. With 17+ hours of battery life, a fast keyboard, and plenty of ports, the Lenovo ThinkPad T480 helps you work fast and focus on your productivity rather than worrying about running out of power or finding a dongle. Starting at $1,049 ($1,636 based on testing), this 14-inch laptop offers the best balance of usability, portability, and price today.The best business laptops. Thanks to that he is one of theThe best ThinkPadsone.

Design

The ThinkPad T480 has a design aesthetic that's functional but not sexy, with the standard Lenovo jet black chassis adorned with a soft-touch lid. The looks haven't changed in the last two years, so you probably won't be able to tell the T480 from oneT470o einsT460.

At 13.25 x 9.15 x 0.78 inches and 3.58 pounds (3.98 pounds with the high-capacity battery), the T480 isn't the thinnest or lightest 14-inch business laptop on the market. But it's more than just portable, and its relative weight accommodates a hot-swappable battery - something you won't find in your cigarette lighter.ThinkPad T480s(3 pounds, 0.72 inches thick) or theThinkPad X1 Carbono(2.49 pounds, 0.62 inches thick). HeHP EliteBook 1040 G4(3.4 pounds, 0.6 inches thick) and theDell Latitude 7390 13 Zoll(2.9 pounds, 0.7 inches thick) are thinner and lighter.

ports

With the ThinkPad T480, your dongle budget is reduced to zero. This Lenovo laptop hasany portYou'll need, including two dual USB 3.0 ports, a full-size Ethernet port, an HDMI output, and an SD card reader.

The T480 uses aUSB-Typ cport for charging and offers a separate Thunderbolt 3 port for connecting high-speed peripherals such asexternal graphics cards. Type-C charging allows the laptop to take advantage of a full ecosystem of third-party chargers and docks.

durability and safety

This laptop can withstand the rigors of business travel without failing. Like all ThinkPads, the T480 passed MIL-SPEC tests that expose it to extreme temperatures, humidity, dust, and vibration. It has also been functionally tested by Lenovo.

If you're buying the T480 for a large enterprise, you'll appreciate that it's available with Intel vPro, a technology that simplifies remote management. The laptop also comes with dTPM encryption, an optional fingerprint reader, and an optional IR camera. The fingerprint sensor uses match-on-chip technology to reduce the chance of hacking.

How much does the ThinkPad T480 cost?

When you order the ThinkPad T480 from Lenovo.com, you can configure it to order and choose your own display, memory, storage, and CPU options. You can choose up toProcessor Core i7-8650U, 32GB fromRAMand a 1TB PCIe SSD. The screen can reach up to 1080p touch or 2560 x 1440 non-touch. There is also an optionalGPU diskret Nvidia MX150.

The $1,049 starting configuration comes with a fairly powerful Core i5-8250U CPU, but has a low-resolution 1366 x 768 display; only 4GB of RAM; and a 500GB hard drive. Our $1,636 test configuration has a Core i5-8350U CPU; Nvidia MX150 graphics; a 1920 x 1080 non-touch screen; 8GB RAM; and a 256GB SSD. Whatever you choose, we highly recommend getting the 72-watt-hour battery ($29 extra) and at least the 1080p display ($53 extra).

Show

Our ThinkPad T480's non-touchscreen, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, was great for productivity and delivered sharp images and solid viewing angles, but its colors and brightness were nothing special. When I saw a trailer for Pacific Rim Uprising, colors like the fiery orange coming off a Jaeger and the blue on John Boyega's suit were accurate but not gaudy. Fine details, like some medals on a military uniform, were easy to spot.

According to our colorimeter, the ThinkPad T480's display is capable of reproducing a smooth 77 percent of the sRGB color space, which is well below the 111 percent average for the premium laptop category. Its light brother, the ThinkPad T470s, scored a similar mark at 72 percent. However, both were impressed by the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (129 percent with 1080p display, 199 percent with 2K HDR display), Dell Latitude 7390 (132 percent), and HP EliteBook 1040 G2 (112 percent).

The screen's matte finish keeps glare at bay and helps overcome the screen's below-average brightness of 269 cd/m². The X1 Carbon (293 nits with 1080p display, 469 nits with 2K HDR display), EliteBook 1040 G4 (292 nits), and Latitude 7390 (286 nits) were noticeably brighter and matched the average for premium laptops (293 cd/m²). ). The T470s had the same score of 269 nits.

Audio

For a mainstream business laptop, the ThinkPad T480 actually sounds pretty good. When I played AC/DC's "Back in Black" the music was free of metallic noise and I could hear a little sonic separation between the left percussion and the right guitar. At maximum volume, the sound filled my dining room.

The integrated Dolby audio software, found in the Lenovo Vantage Settings app, has profiles for Speech, Movies, Music, and Gaming. By default, Dolby changes the sound profile depending on which app you're in, so you need to know which one you need. You can also optimize the microphones for single or multiple voices and have the system filter out keyboard noise if you're typing during a call.

Keyboard, touchpad and pointing stick

The keyboard of the ThinkPad T480 offers a really good typing experience with its tactile smile-shaped keys and strong feedback. The keys have a travel of 1.7 millimeters and require 72 grams of force, making them deeper and stronger than the keys on most commercial laptops. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I have a typing rate of 105 wpm with an error rate of 6 percent, which is faster but more error-prone than I normally am.

ThinkPad fans might notice that while the T480's keyboard is excellent overall, it's not as responsive as those on last year's T470 or this year's X1 Carbon (6th Gen), both of which have more travel, deeper (2 and 1, 8 mm) and stronger feedback.

Like other ThinkPads, the T480 has a TrackPoint pointing stick and a buttonless trackpad. While not everyone likes the feel of a pointer, I find it to be the most accurate and efficient method of navigation. When I was working on the ThinkPad, I was able to move around the desk and type quickly without lifting my hands from Home Row.

In my testing, the 3.9 x 2.6-inch buttonless touchpad offered precise desktop navigation without any sticking or jumping. The pad also responded instantly to multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipes.

Performance

With its Intel Core i5-8350U CPU, Nvidia MX150 GPU, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB PCIe SSD, our Lenovo ThinkPad T480 was more than fast enough to handle any task we threw at it. I used the laptop as my work computer for a day, and even with dozens of tabs open and the occasional video conference, I never experienced any lag.

The laptop scored a solid 12,047 on Geekbench 4, a synthetic test that measures overall performance. That's well above the premium laptop category average (9,724), but slightly behind the Dell Latitude 7390 with Core i7-8650U (13,990) and the X1 Carbon with Core i5-8250U (13,173). The ThinkPad T480s with the Core i5-8250U scored a nearly identical 12,044, while the HP EliteBook 1040 G4, which still has a seventh-gen Core i5-7200U CPU, scored just 8,360.

It took the T480 just 1 minute and 11 seconds to match 65,000 names to their addresses in Excel. That's about 30 seconds better than the category average (1:42) and within 10 seconds of the T480s (1:01), the Latitude 7390 (1:07), and the X1 Carbon (1:11). The EliteBook needed a whole 2 minutes and 7 seconds.

When we transcoded 4K video to 1080p with HandBrake, the T480 completed the task in 18 minutes and 9 seconds, much faster than the category average (21:46), the T480s (19:14), and the X1 Carbon (19:00) . The Latitude (5:00 p.m.) was slightly faster.

The T480's 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD took just 19 seconds to copy 4.97GB of mixed media files at a speed of 267MB/s. This corresponds to the category average (272.45 Mbit/s) and the T480s (282.7 Mbit/s). However, the X1 Carbon (565.4 MBps) and Latitude 7390 (318.1 MBps) were much faster.

Chart

With the optional Nvidia MX150 GPU in our test unit, we saw performance results good enough for any basic productivity, media viewing, or low-end gaming tasks.

When we launched a Dirt 3 game, the system managed a solid 117 frames per second at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is almost double the category average (60 fps) and results for the Lenovo ThinkPad T480s (57 fps). fps) , the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (64 fps), the Dell Latitude 7390 (56 fps) and the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 (63 fps).

In 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic graphics test, the T480 scored 132,991, which is much better than the T480 (73,764), X1 Carbon (80,588), and Latitude 7390 (80,426) scores. Average. (81,182).

battery life

Among all the current-gen laptops we've tested, the ThinkPad T480 is the queen of battery life. With its 72-watt-hour, six-cell battery plugged in, the T480 lasted an epic 17 hours and 19 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi. This time puts the average of the premium laptop category (8:52) and the still excellent endurance of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (11:01 with 1080p display, 10:28 with 2K HDR display), the ThinkPad T480s ( 11:29) and that overshadows the Dell Latitude 7390 (10:23).

However, if you buy the ThinkPad with its standard three-cell battery, the endurance drops to a below-average 8 hours and 7 minutes. So be sure to get the system with the 72-watt-hour battery (an additional $29 at Lenovo.com). Because the ThinkPad T480 uses Lenovo's hot-swappable Power Bridge battery system, you can even carry and swap out extra batteries without turning off the laptop.

Web-Camera

The ThinkPad T480's 720p lens captures images with solid color and brightness for an integrated webcam. When I snapped a few selfies, the detail on my face was clear and everything in the room appeared bright but a bit whitewashed. If you're not setting it up with the optional IR camera, the T480 features Lenovo's new ThinkShutter that slides over the sensor to protect your privacy.

software and warranty

Lenovo keeps it really simple with the ThinkPad T480's preloaded software. There's only one dedicated utility: Lenovo Vantage, which gives you precise control over every important setting, from the webcam to audio output and display. The Smart Settings screen lets you choose whether to optimize your system for performance or for a cool and quiet experience.

Though Lenovo doesn't pack bloatware on the laptop, the T480 still comes with the standard set of unnecessary apps that Microsoft installs on every Windows 10 computer, including Bubble Witch Saga 3, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Spotify, Disney Magic Kingdoms, and Autodesk SketchBook.

Lenovo backs the ThinkPad T480 with a standard one-year parts and labor warranty, where the company pays shipping both ways if you need service. You can pay more to extend your warranty to a total of five years, or add accidental damage protection or on-site service. See how Lenovo fared in oursTech-Support-Showdownjbrand ratings.

bottom line

With epic battery life, great performance, a fast keyboard, and a durable design, the Lenovo ThinkPad T480 is one of the best productivity laptops you can get. If you're not wowed by the T480's boring screen, you should feel energized when you can get a ton of work done for over 17 hours on a single charge.

If you have a lot more money to spend, think it overThinkPad X1 Carbono(starting at $1,519), which has a better keyboard and more colorful screen, and a body that weighs over a pound less. However, if you want the best battery life you can get, along with a solid typing experience and lots of pop, the ThinkPad T480 is your best bet.

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