ThinkPad T480s, ThinkPad T480 & ThinkPad T580: Quad Core CPUs and the GeForce MX150 are coming to the traditional T series

[Redaktion]

As it happens almost every year, Lenovo announced the new versions of the ThinkPad T series. T480 and T580 are simple updates of their predecessors, but the ThinkPad T480s is a complete redesign compared with the T470s.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/ThinkPad-T480s-ThinkPad-T480-ThinkPad-T580-Quad-Core-CPUs-and-the-GeForce-MX150-are-coming-to-the-traditional-T-series.273172.0.html

[Christopher Pecoraro]

Are the specifications shown for the T480s actually those of the T480?

[Benjamin Herzig]

Thanks for the heads-up, this mistake is now corrected.

[Ibrahim]

Is the mechanical docking port/thunderbolt port the second one on the left side image? What's the part on the right, is that to make the connection more stable? It almost looks like a USB-A port, which would mean that there are 3 USB-A ports, but I'm guessing we're not so lucky  :-\ I'd love to have 3 USB ports as well as the two USB C, since one of them is going to be dedicated to charging most of the time...

[Benjamin Herzig]

Correct, the new docking port is on the left side of the machine. The right part of the connector seems to be a proprietary port for Ethernet. USB C / Thunderbolt does not provide native Ethernet, which is an important feature in the Enterprise sector.

[Ibrahim]

Hm, but isn't the ethernet port further to the right of the thunderbolt/docking port? But I guess if you want one dock that handles everything you would want ethernet on that too. Bleh, I'd rather have an extra USB port but maybe this time I'll consider getting an actual dock, if I can get my work to pay for it.

[Piotr]

Why didn't they use new Intel WiFi Adapters (like Intel Wireless-AC 9260) with Bluetooth 5.0 and 1.73Gbps Max WiFi Speed (doubled compared to Intel 8260) ?

[Random User]

Hey!

Do you guys have any clue of when about you'll be able to get your hands on these machines for review? Itching like crazy to pull the trigger on one but can't quite make my mind up between T480 / T480s so far, and I'm pretty sure your in depth reviews of them will get most of my question marks handled. 

[Jonathan Heines]

I can't be the only one who noticed they all have one less USB-A 3.0 ports.

[.......]

So the T480 would be now charged by the the USB-C Port.

As it has only one USB-C Port you can not use the USB-C Port while charging or using the power supply over the cable.

Very good Lenovo. You're getting every year more ridiculus as you completly ignore the users demand regarding "functionality" and "the real Thinkpad Design philosophy".

I hope really bad that some other manufacturer like HP, Dell or Asus(Pro) will come up and kill your already butchered ThinkPad lines by implemeting things Thinkpad users used to like in old ThinkPad devices in their own devices.

Good luck thinking customers would still by your devices just because of the Logo "ThinkPad" on it..

[Benjamin Herzig]

The T480 has two USB C ports, as do all T/X/L ThinkPads.

[Tony]

Two HUGE disappointments after taking a look at the specs sheet.

System has one HDD slot or one M.2 2280 slot exclusively for storage
Why? Seriously, why? Why I cannot use it with dual drive setup. One fast but low capacity PCIe NVMe ssd on the M.2 slot and another high capacity hard drive on the regular 2.5" HDD bay. Why one or another but not both? Please somebody tell me that I am reading this wrong.

15.6" (396mm) FHD (1920x1080), anti-glare, LED backlight, IPS,
250 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio, 700:1 contrast ratio, 170° viewing angle
250 nits on a FHD display on a laptop that costs more than $1000? 250 nits is the bare minimum we are looking for on a mid class, mid-to-high class laptop. 250 nits??? Really??? I don't understand. Is this T580 on top of the low-end laptops or it's on the bottom of mid-class laptops. It's obviously not the T580 I expected it to be.

I am so upset, can't find the right words to express my big disappointment.

Same isssues with T480 as well...

[Benjamin Herzig]

T480/T580 retain the same basic design of the T470/T570, which means that they have a 2.5" slot for the main storage drive – in this slot, there is either a 2.5" HDD or a M.2 SSD in an adapter.

A dual drive configuration should be possible though, as the spec sheet for both also includes a second small M.2 2242 SSD, which can be put into the WWAN slot. Of course that means that you can't use WWAN.

Regarding the display, disappointing screens seems to be normal in many business laptops, but especially ThinkPads. For ThinkPads we almost always recommend the most high-end screen option for this reason.

[Tony]

@Benjamin
So it doesn't have a SSD dedicated M.2 slot on the motherboard, hence the word "exclusively". Whatever SSD you will use together with the adapter will use the SATA interface, not the PCI interface.

Using WWAN slot for the 2nd drive is a little cryptic. It says "as storage cache for HDD". Strange choice of words. Can I use it like a  regular drive, instead of a HDD "cache"? Can I use it like the primary booting drive?

Not to mention that the size of WWAN kills everything. How people are supposed to find a PCIe NVMe in M.2 2242 form factor? My Samsung 960 Evo is M.2 2280.

Still disappointing BIG time.

[Benjamin Herzig]

Are you referring to those specs? If so: No, the SSD in the adapter will use the PCIe interface, just like with the T570.

The second SSD in the WWAN slot can either be a Cache drive or a storage drive. The 2242 form-factor isn't nearly as prevalent as 2280 M.2 for sure, though I think I have recently read that some PCIe NVMe SSDs will be released in this smaller size.