In order to have fun and work fruitfully, you need a special laptop – with decent autonomy, a comfortable keyboard, a nice body and powerful hardware. This title is claimed by Lenovo ThinkPad T14s. But this is in theory, and what is in practice?
Lenovo ThinkPad Business design
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s can be classified as an ultrabook. Weighing just 1.27 kg, it features a magnesium casing that is tough and pleasant to the touch, yet non-marking. Austere, without quirks, the appearance seems to emphasize that we are facing a machine for solving important tasks, and not playing solitaire.
The backlight is used minimally: in the keyboard, the power button, to indicate charging and in the letter “i” on the lid to indicate the state of the laptop. As the name suggests, it has a 14-inch display. The bezels are not the thinnest, but it is more difficult to leave fingerprints on the screen when you close the lid. And the camera is on top – where it should be.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s
- Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
- Processor: Intel Core i7-10510U
- Memory: 16GB Soldered DDR4-2666
- Storage: 512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe
- Screen Size: 14 Inches FHD (1920×1080) IPS anti-glare Screen
Best Price at amazon : Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Price
Keyboard, touchpad and TrackPoint
Any ultrabook has two important qualities. The first is the operating time from a single battery charge. The second is usability anywhere. The keyboard and touchpad play an important role in solving the latter problem. Lenovo has gone further with a touchpad analog, the well-known TrackPoint.
It looks like a red dot in the middle of the keyboard. However, it can be used with gloves or wet hands. On the one hand, it’s good that there is a choice. On the other hand, force of habit may not allow you to abandon the touchpad. In Lenovo ThinkPad T14s, it is sensitive, small, squeezes, like on other Windows laptops, closer to the bottom, supports standard OS gestures. But in games, not all touches work out correctly, so without a mouse it will be difficult in them.
But the keyboard is great: six rows of buttons, adequately spaced arrows, decent travel by laptop standards, and the sound is not annoying. Unless the Fn key is located in the place of Ctrl, but they can be reassigned. There is no numpad, and where should I put it? The backlight does not hit the eyes in either of the two operating modes. It is very convenient to type. The feeling that you are using the keyboard, rather than tapping your fingers on the table. Of course, preferences are different, so before buying a laptop it is better to touch it yourself.
Screen, sound and communication
The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 has four screen versions. All of them are made using IPS technology and differ in brightness – there are options for 250, 300, 400 and 500 nits. The brightest version is equipped with a touch layer and PrivacyGuard. This is a technology that allows you to reduce viewing angles. But we got a 400 nit model, which is characterized by low power consumption.
The display is covered with frosted glass. Taking into account the relatively high brightness and contrast, everything is perfectly visible on it under any conditions. Viewing angles are standard for good IPS-matrices, and in addition, the screen can be opened 180 degrees with one hand – the “MacBook test” is passed. However, there are no technical miracles here, except that the Full HD resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate have a great effect on the autonomy.
The sound of the audio system is not impressive, although the Dolby Audio inscription flaunts on the body. The two speakers are directed downward, and the bass is purely formal. But we must understand that the speakers have a different goal – to clearly and clearly reproduce the voice, which they cope with with a bang. Long-range bidirectional microphones also work well.
Ports for all occasions are located at the ends and at the back. On the right is a smart card reader, USB 3.1, and a Kensington lock slot. On the left is a richer set: two USB-C, an Ethernet extension and a port for a docking station, USB 3.1, HDMI 2.0 and a combo microphone / headphone jack. And on the back there is a slot for SIM and microSD cards. For communication with the world, LTE, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth version 5.1 are responsible, for security – a fingerprint sensor located to the right of the touchpad.
Inner world
Since the ThinkPad T is a series of business notebooks, the security issue is well thought out here. The model is equipped with a Ryzen PRO 5 4650U hybrid processor, which supports data protection technologies at the hardware and software level. For example, on-the-fly RAM encryption and system boot protection. At the same time, the powerful 12-thread processor and fast disk drive office tasks like nuts. No freezes, no brooding.
The integrated Vega 6 core with 512 MB of memory is responsible for the video part. Despite the small thickness, the absence of a discrete video card and a very modest thermal package (only 15 W, according to official data), the laptop runs even modern video games at 30 fps. True, some are in HD resolution and at minimum settings – it depends not only on the power of the hardware, but also on the optimization of the games themselves.
It should be noted that the cooling system does its job perfectly. The laptop heats up well under high load, but the high keys allow you to ignore it. But the fan could be quieter.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s battery
Lasts a long time, charges quickly
The gadget is powered by a 57 Wh battery. Even if the value is not a record, the duration of the work when watching YouTube videos through Google Chrome at 70% display brightness, 50% volume and in energy saving mode was 9.5 hours. If you work in office programs and in a browser, you will not need an outlet throughout the day. However, hunting monsters in the third “Witcher”, you can plant a battery in a little more than an hour and a half.
If you need to get all the available power of the laptop, and not 90%, then it is better to work with a 65W charger connected via USB-C. With support for fast charging, you can recharge the battery from 0 to 80% in an hour. By the way, at 5% charge, the laptop goes to sleep without warning. This is done to save data, but in that case, a timer before shutdown would not hurt.
Final word
The main goal that they tried to achieve when developing this model was not technical records, but convenience and reliability. And Lenovo did it. Austere design, powerful processor, long battery life, ergonomic keyboard, multiple connectivity ports and built-in security mechanisms make it an almost ideal portable Windows machine.