I like the idea of power bridge a lot. I also appreciate they have finally dropped 1366x768 completely (unlike HP) but what the hell is wrong with Lenovo...
The battery life is not competitive and it's really thick. The HP zBook 14 is the same thickness and it has a discrete GPU while meeting all the same MIL STD 810G criteria. Then there's the Elitebook 1040 putting this thing (and the X1) to shame in overall capability and performance is a thin durable chassis.
I appreciate the review of a corporate notebook, keep'em coming, I'd like to see some Dell's and HP's!
Also it appears that times are a'changin'. The only way this keyboard feels good and you can say Lenovo "really nailed it" is if you haven't tried the old style keyboard in years. I have the X1 Carbon and it's ok but as soon as I fall back to my old X200 I get all these memories coming back, reminding me what a good keyboard is.
I understand that the old-style keyboard doesn't fit the ultrabook format but I still can't fully agree with the "really nailed input" remark.
The X1 has a particularly shallow keyboard due to its thickness. I've used the more recent t series keyboards quite a lot and I find them quite good for a laptop keyboard.
Everyone loves the good old days, but the X1 Carbon keyboard is not the same as this one so please don't use it as a reference for this model's keyboard. The T450s is one of the best notebook keyboards that I've used in recent times.
I too was **extremely** pessimistic when they changed the keyboard (X230 days) but I've been using the new keyboards for years now and they're really great.
Now don't get me started on the function keys changes and touchpad fiascos, they've finally come to their senses a bit.
Now Lenovo please make a T460P...I need a new computer.
Really? The only thing Lenovo nailed it is coffins to loyal Thinkpad users. Last time I checked, when Lenovo switched to the ill-conceived layouts from the Intel CBB[1] in ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X230, the users resorted to ripping the old Lenovo laptop keyboards to the new models[2], because it is so bloody awful![3][4]
Folio 1040 is the excellent. It blew everything else away in durability for size and weight when it launched last year. The G2 refresh is underwhelming though. It offers the same battery life as Haswell, which could have been better. I love my 1040 G1 though. Everyone needs to start using the forcepad now.
despite the details of the clients of different brands i believe the main specs of these business pcs are not the technical details anymore but the salesmodels behind it. this is described as a 1500 config but for a company buying a couple of thousands this might be a value of maybe 750. same as in the automobile business: buy a 50.000 car for business, use it for say three years (leasing) and after that times it reappears in the market with say about 35.000 miles on it. and ypou already might be able to pick it up at 30% of the price it was purchased. sure after 35.000 miles the cars nowhere new any more but many a miles away from end of usability. i am really waiting for a pc company calculating a price of such a unit including the after business life services like taking the unit back, refurbishing and selling it again. due to the crisis in pc sales they took a lot of privileges and profits backs from resellers. wouldnt wonder if they, just like the car industry, would try to the grip back on the used pc buisness as well.
Nah dude, cars and PC's are a totally different market. A 2015 PC is WAY better than a 2011 PC, but you can't say the same about a 2015 car vs a 2011 car.
The thin ultrabooks don't have 2.5" hard drive support, and if they do it's 7mm. This one takes a 9.5mm hard drive as well as an SSD. You can only get 1TB 7mm HDDs at present but you can get 2TB 9mm ones. Getting to 1TB+ or 2TB+ storage with only an SSD is expensive.
I've read that the external battery is interchangeable with the high capacity battery from the previous generation T440s, which you can find on line for ~$70. On the T440s, that gave me about 14 hours battery life and it is probably comparable here.
What is up with DELL's infinity display presented in XPS13? Is there something special that only Dell can use it? I'd love to see other vendors to use to. Once you see it, all other laptops look like they were designed 10 years ago :) Could at least Dell use it in all its laptop range?
To this laptop:it would be great laptop if sold for $700 max. $950 base model feels like a little too much to ask.
That display on the XPS13 really is revolutionary. I've never been more impressed with any laptop I've ever used than that one. It was so tiny and light and yet still had a huge screen given the minute size of the frame. Everything about the XPS13 is awesome... and it's insane no one else has found a way to use a similar screen yet.
I'm shocked Dell hasn't released XPS11 and 14/15 versions as well.
The fact that a year after release, the XPS13 is still the arguably the best Windows Ultrabook is rather impressive. The battery life and size are, AFAIK, unmatched.
I kinda wish it was available with Iris Pro. I don't expect an Ultrabook to really be good at gaming but being able to play the occasional game would be nice.
Seeing this display used in a higher performing laptop would be nice; but a 47W processor isn't going to be usable in a chassis designed for a 15W one.
i think he means the normal iris, like some macbook air are using, i think it's the Uxx50 line. those have double the EUs, but lack the EDRAM of iris pro.
Haswell/Broadwell didn't use non-pro Iris nomenclature for anything below 28W; which would again be too hot for the current XPS13 chassis. Skylake is adding something called Iris 540 which has 48 EU and 64MB eDRAM and is available at a 15W TDP. It's possible Dell will include this as an option for the skylake refresh; I can't find any detailed rumors about it. Iris 550 (again not pro) is the same hardware at 28W. No skylake chips with Iris Pro are out yet; but since it's 72 EU and 64/128mb eDram; I suspect it'll be only at the 47W tdp again.
I'm somewhat interested in the possibility of an Iris 540 version of the laptop too; assuming the bump in light gaming ability is reasonable for the increase in purchase price anyway. Progressively more bloated web pages are slowly pushing my oldschool atom powered laptop below the threshold of usability even for an occasional use machine; and a skylake XPS13 is currently the potential machine to beat for me.
The ASUS UX301LAA has been out for several years and has been unmatched. Iris graphics, hi-dpi screen, 2x256gb ssd m.2 drives, 5-6 hours typical battery but I've left the thing on (forgot about it) with the lid closed for up to 12 hours and it still had battery left.
As hard as it is for many to consider Dell as a relevant brand (after years of making utter shit, circa 2003-2008) it's hard to ignore them now. Just get over your memories (like the Deskstar 75GXP days) and try a XPS13 out.
The display isn't the only part of the machine that's in a class of its own, but the keyboard. They really "ripped-off" the old Thinkpad keyboard perfectly while still making a slim machine.
HP's keyboards are acceptable. At the end of the day, they're made by the same people who make Lenovo's keyboards (Chicony) while Dell's are made by Quanta/NSK Darfon, who for the mean time appears to be making the best Chiclet and floating-island style keyboard.
Dell did get an initial exclusivity period for the display. That period was supposed to run out last month, so hopefully we'll see similar designs from other vendors in the near future. Although hopefully those vendors will accept a slightly larger top bezel to avoid the neckbeard/nosehair camera problem on the XPS13.
Possibly... Buts its really not an issue with their enterprise sales. The T450s is still an amazing laptop for corporate use. They are tough, reliable and perform well. Perfect for their design and that is why ThinkPads are the # corp purchase year after year after year, going back long before Lenovo even bought the line from IBM. I found this on their site... {The T450 and T550 series] - Ultra-durable and tested to US military specifications that validate the ruggedness, durability, and quality of this laptop by testing against 11 parameters: High pressure, humidity, vibration, high temperature, temperature shock, low pressure (15,000 ft), low temperature, solar radiation, fungus, salt fog, and dust. In addition, innovative roll-cage technology and carbon-fiber reinforced casing adds extra strength and rigidity.
As I mentioned in the review, Lenovo sent this to me a while ago but it's been a busy time. But regardless, there are no Skylake devices out yet in this form factor.
When they are, we'll review them. If Lenovo does an upgrade to Skylake it will likely be a similar device with a new processor so this review would be useful even for that.
Gotcha... It would have been great if Lenovo sent a major site like Anandtech a unit in March when they started shipping in the US. It's a great laptop though, I see them daily and want one bad... But I got a new one last year, so I really dont "need" one yet. :(
Is the SSD replaceable on these? Is it soldered in place? Because you didn't mention it in the review and I don't see pictures of the back either. And also, Lenovo charges $300 for an upgrade from 256 to 512MB :D
I expect Skylake to show a whole different performance level from the iGPU (which I don't particularly care about) and probably put those batteries to better use (which I relay, really care about).
The ssd is replacable as its a 2.5 inch or m.2 card (don't know for sure the Lenovo provided one) but either would be replacable cause the only soldered that one might expect to replace is the first 4gb of ram. So there is a 2.5 bay, m.2 slot and a single ram slot all accessible via the bottom panel. You can even get the maintenance manual off lenovos site which explains how to replace all of these.
Yeah, I don't expect to see much changed. Lower TDP (7.5w?) and DDR4 SODIMMs. Mine runs slightly warm in most environments and I expect the upcoming generation to run cooler.
Interestingly, the docking stations usually comes with a larger power brick (mine has 95W). I wonder if this provides any improvement to battery charge times.
Since this is a business class laptop, do we know if Lenovo left the spyware and crapware out of the default install because they're counting on corporate IT to install it for them; or did they bake it in anyway because they know that while most businesses will use a clean image they don't want to miss out on snooping on any consumers who buy them.
ThinkPads didn't have the spyware. There is some crapware, but they never had the spyware. That was some misguided... "whatever" on some consumer products.
Yeah, it was a dick move by Lenovo for sure... Also, I should back off what I said. When I said it wasnt on Thinkpads, I should have said it wasnt on the main workhorses, the ThinkPad T series (or W). It may have been on some other lower models.
"Durability is something that business wants too, since these devices are going to be used as long as they can be before replacement."
Most businesses I've seen that get mobile workstations like this tend to operate on a 3 to 5 year cycle. Once the warranty expires, the machine is retired. It's generally home computers that limp along for as long as possible.
Or shifted to 2ndary duty anyway. If you need a 2nd computer with something other than the standard configuration where I work; odds are you're going to get an older laptop that was lifecycled back to IT by its original user.
First off, warranty can be extended to up to 5 years - sometimes in the base, sometimes as a warranty upgrade.
The PC is a small part of TCO (total cost of ownership); keep in mind all of the other pieces - licensing software (Office will cost you $250 per machine, etc), the customization you do when you get a new PC, transferring files over, etc. So for companies, if you keep your PC longer, you will save in the long run. The other thing you get with this is unsealed batteries - so if the battery conks out, you can replace it (not so sure about the built in battery). This is why I don't like sealed batteries - it makes the machines thinner, but you can't replace parts.
To the first page of the article, the T20 (first T-series, followon to the ThinkPad 600) came out in July of 2000. The first lettered ThinkPad was the A20, and it came out in April 2000.
Hi George. Unlikely only because we get our samples out of the USA. I wasn't even aware they had a dGPU version of this but it looks like it has the docking connector removed to fit the 940M. Next time I get a chance to talk to Lenovo I'll try and find out why that's not available in NA as an option. It certainly would be interesting.
Could you comment on the subjective quality of the display compared to XPS FHD, in terms of graininess and fuzziness as a result of matte effect. I may be nitpicking, but XPS, despite its brilliant brightness and contrast, has a grainy quality on white background and web pages. Also, is there a difference in this regard compared to the non-touch version of T450s? (is the non-touch more grainy compared to touch version?)
I look at the microscopic images of the two reviews on your web site, and the XPS looks considerably more fuzzy on those scales, was wondering how they look in real use.
What you're referring to is almost certainly a result of an anti-glare coating. It's an unavoidable side-effect of those coatings. If you're going to be using it outdoors (or near a window during the day), it's worth the trade-off, though.
A matte screen will always have more graininess than a Glossy display but is the only option if use a laptop daily outdoors, buy based on where you will use the laptop.
Yep....better late than never with the review.....anyways, I do like the T450 alot more than the T440. The T440 touchpad or 'clickpad' was horrible. So glad they changed it back.
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I have one of these (1080p non-touch, 5300U, 500GB hard drive + 16 GB cache SSD, Win 8.1), and I absolutely love it. Keyboard is excellent, the 1080p screen with Win8.1/Win10's display scaling gives you about the same "workspace" as 1440x900 but with nice crisp text when stuff is zoomed out for coding. It's also nice and light but still substantial enough that I don't feel like I'm going to break it in half all the time, like with most ultrabooks.
I have a t450s and don't recommend using the M.2 slot for the boot drive. I set it up that way, fresh Windows install and after about 10 to 30 minutes of use it would lock up and only a hard restart would fix it. I'm pretty sure it was due to the M.2 being the boot drive and it's probably why Lenovo says NOT to use this drive for the boot drive. On the other hand the 2.5" Crucial BX100 500GB SSD I'm using for the boot drive works perfectly. And I cloned the M.2 to the BX100 so I don't know what else could have been the cause of the freezing I was experiencing? But as always most of the people around here are smarter than me so it could have been something else;)
Brett: Did you test the audio jack? I recently bought a Thinkpad Yoga 14 and the amount of background hiss out of the 3.5mm jack is just terrible. It's practically unusable, even with my least sensitive headphones. I'm hoping that it's just this model that sucks, but given a lack of testing in reviews I'm assuming they just don't even bother to get decent audio any more.
I have used (now old) TPY 12 and was positively surprised at the audio quality. It was very clean with zero white noise, and I can say it was on par with macbooks and surface 3 pro.
great all around powerhouse of a notebook. Sure it doesnt get as much battery life as the Dell XPS 13" but then again, this thinkpad has 3x the connectors, and i/o. no doubt the difference in battery efficiency.
I love the true pro features such as integrated LTE, Ethernet, Display Port, Dual Battery for swap without power down, and fingerprint sensor.
this is a true business class notebook that hardly anyone can match. Now i just wish they would have waited a month for skylake, but no doubt they will refresh the line once those mobile chips are out.
I really wish Lenovo would make the trackpoint optional.. I personally hate them, and a trackpad is just fine for me. The track point is really in the way when I'm typing and it gives an annoying bounce when I hit it by mistake. I usually remove the rubber cap to minimize this but it would be much better for me not to have it at all.
I realize you guys are primarily interested in the hardware. Nevertheless, I feel this review is incomplete, as it doesn't address the software side of things. With scandals such as Superfish and the Lenovo Service Engine (which is implemented at the BIOS level and survives even clean installs), I'm very hesitant to buy Lenovo at this point.
Those were never part of ThinkPads. I'm not going to claim Lenovo is innocent because clearly they made some bad decisions but it never affected this device.
I don't think it matters what device the scandal involved, because it fundamentally breaks the trust between the consumer and the company. There simply isn't anything Lenovo can do to regain that trust, except maybe open source all the software and firmware they provide.
I like that they pause charging of the rear battery at 80%. This means that the battery can be disconnected during this period and safely stored for extended period, without the risk of degradation.
One really bad point though: these T440s / T450s are awfully hard to maintain. Separating the bottom part of the casing from the rest is almost impossible, using a screwdriver will dent the plastic, using one's nails does not work, I spent 15mn trying and was not successful. Compare this to HP for instance (one latch to open, direct access to all the components in 2 seconds)
The fact that you neglect to use the correct tools completely invalidates your arguments. With the correct tool you can have the bottom case off in less than a minute. If removing the bottom without damaging it is outside of your skillset, you have no business opening the laptop in the first place.
Late to this, but we have been buying the T4x0s models as our standard configuration for years. The T450s is the best one by far. Still, despite the power bridge tech, your battery charts really illustrate the tradeoff that we get by Lenovo's insistence on sticking with traditional removable batteries. 46wHR for a laptop of this size is TINY today, and the run times prove it (the 12" retina MacBook has 40wHR in a 2lb device!) I'm sure there are a *few* users who actually require the ability to continuously trade out batteries, but the reality is that the *vast* majority of users would be far better served by putting in a built-in battery with ~60-70wHR capacity, giving 10+ hours of run time. Only a tiny niche of users can possibly require more battery life than this. It's too bad the rest of us are being held hostage by that vocal minority.
Still not HDMI output but still a VGA output? How stupid is that? Is this a business computer or what? All the big monitors are HDTVs and many monitors have HDMI inputs!
Hang on, it states in Intel's ARK platform the the 5300U can support only up to 16GB of RAM. Where does this strange 20GB number come from? Though I would recommend adding another module regardless to gian the benefit of dual channel memory, I don't much thing 20GB of RAM in this machine is addressable.
When I saw only "Optional 1920x1080 IPS" as the better option for the screen, I stopped reading. I am typing this on a 10year old T43p with 1600x1200 UXGA (133DPI) and would expect a high-DPI matte "Retina" screen for the better an option, best in 4:3 form factor.
I notice you say the maximum memory is 20Gb, I guess 4Gb on board plus a 16Gb in the second slot. However on their website Lenovo state the maximum memory as 12Gb. I'm confused, are they correct or you, did you try it?
Just purchase a T450 with 8GB. It has a 4GB stick soldered in the first slot and a 4GB in the second slot beside it, why not just have on 8Gb soldered in and forget about dualism. I have to now wait a few years for the 16GB stick which is approximately $200; to fall. If you buy the 8GB stick for around $50; you only get 4 extra GBs. Lenovo is not doing me any favorites with their idiotic practice in matching RAM size!
My ThinkPad T450 is not clocking the 17 to 21 hours of battery life. I recently reinstall everything and my dual batteries both can make upto 5 hrs of fully charged. What do I need to do so as to get my batteries efficient to its powerhouse of 21 hours.
Help please, if you know the twikings of the drivers or what ....
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Samus - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I like the idea of power bridge a lot. I also appreciate they have finally dropped 1366x768 completely (unlike HP) but what the hell is wrong with Lenovo...The battery life is not competitive and it's really thick. The HP zBook 14 is the same thickness and it has a discrete GPU while meeting all the same MIL STD 810G criteria. Then there's the Elitebook 1040 putting this thing (and the X1) to shame in overall capability and performance is a thin durable chassis.
I appreciate the review of a corporate notebook, keep'em coming, I'd like to see some Dell's and HP's!
close - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Also it appears that times are a'changin'. The only way this keyboard feels good and you can say Lenovo "really nailed it" is if you haven't tried the old style keyboard in years. I have the X1 Carbon and it's ok but as soon as I fall back to my old X200 I get all these memories coming back, reminding me what a good keyboard is.I understand that the old-style keyboard doesn't fit the ultrabook format but I still can't fully agree with the "really nailed input" remark.
Flunk - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
The X1 has a particularly shallow keyboard due to its thickness. I've used the more recent t series keyboards quite a lot and I find them quite good for a laptop keyboard.jimpreis - Sunday, September 20, 2015 - link
X1 *Carbon. The X1 was a completely different product.LoganPowell - Friday, November 27, 2015 - link
the Lenovo Thinkpad is one of the best laptops on the market in my opinion, but there are still a couple that are higher ranked (see http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-laptops/ for example...)Brett Howse - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Everyone loves the good old days, but the X1 Carbon keyboard is not the same as this one so please don't use it as a reference for this model's keyboard. The T450s is one of the best notebook keyboards that I've used in recent times.noeldillabough - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I too was **extremely** pessimistic when they changed the keyboard (X230 days) but I've been using the new keyboards for years now and they're really great.Now don't get me started on the function keys changes and touchpad fiascos, they've finally come to their senses a bit.
Now Lenovo please make a T460P...I need a new computer.
michaelhouston12 - Saturday, November 14, 2015 - link
If you're looking for a laptop that can give you best features but affordable, I strongly recommend Acer C720 Chromebook. Found here: http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-laptops/chris9000 - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
Yep. I own the T450s and I have to say that I actually like the keyboard. The IPS screen is also quite nice.quanta - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link
Really? The only thing Lenovo nailed it is coffins to loyal Thinkpad users. Last time I checked, when Lenovo switched to the ill-conceived layouts from the Intel CBB[1] in ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X230, the users resorted to ripping the old Lenovo laptop keyboards to the new models[2], because it is so bloody awful![3][4][1] https://web.archive.org/web/20071109025732/http://...
[2] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Lap...
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb7p3VkQCOo
[4] http://arstechnica.com/staff/2014/01/stop-trying-t...
kspirit - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Folio 1040 is the excellent. It blew everything else away in durability for size and weight when it launched last year. The G2 refresh is underwhelming though. It offers the same battery life as Haswell, which could have been better. I love my 1040 G1 though. Everyone needs to start using the forcepad now.stefstef - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
despite the details of the clients of different brands i believe the main specs of these business pcs are not the technical details anymore but the salesmodels behind it. this is described as a 1500 config but for a company buying a couple of thousands this might be a value of maybe 750. same as in the automobile business: buy a 50.000 car for business, use it for say three years (leasing) and after that times it reappears in the market with say about 35.000 miles on it. and ypou already might be able to pick it up at 30% of the price it was purchased. sure after 35.000 miles the cars nowhere new any more but many a miles away from end of usability. i am really waiting for a pc company calculating a price of such a unit including the after business life services like taking the unit back, refurbishing and selling it again. due to the crisis in pc sales they took a lot of privileges and profits backs from resellers. wouldnt wonder if they, just like the car industry, would try to the grip back on the used pc buisness as well.extide - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
Nah dude, cars and PC's are a totally different market. A 2015 PC is WAY better than a 2011 PC, but you can't say the same about a 2015 car vs a 2011 car.Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Not to mention you might get free malware! Yay LenopevoCSMR - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
The thin ultrabooks don't have 2.5" hard drive support, and if they do it's 7mm. This one takes a 9.5mm hard drive as well as an SSD. You can only get 1TB 7mm HDDs at present but you can get 2TB 9mm ones. Getting to 1TB+ or 2TB+ storage with only an SSD is expensive.extide - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
Yeah, expensive, but doable, Samsung has a 4TB SSD in 7mm now. (850 EVO)pjcamp - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
I've read that the external battery is interchangeable with the high capacity battery from the previous generation T440s, which you can find on line for ~$70. On the T440s, that gave me about 14 hours battery life and it is probably comparable here.milkod2001 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
What is up with DELL's infinity display presented in XPS13? Is there something special that only Dell can use it? I'd love to see other vendors to use to. Once you see it, all other laptops look like they were designed 10 years ago :) Could at least Dell use it in all its laptop range?To this laptop:it would be great laptop if sold for $700 max. $950 base model feels like a little too much to ask.
shadarlo - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
That display on the XPS13 really is revolutionary. I've never been more impressed with any laptop I've ever used than that one. It was so tiny and light and yet still had a huge screen given the minute size of the frame. Everything about the XPS13 is awesome... and it's insane no one else has found a way to use a similar screen yet.I'm shocked Dell hasn't released XPS11 and 14/15 versions as well.
Zertzable - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
The fact that a year after release, the XPS13 is still the arguably the best Windows Ultrabook is rather impressive. The battery life and size are, AFAIK, unmatched.Flunk - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I kinda wish it was available with Iris Pro. I don't expect an Ultrabook to really be good at gaming but being able to play the occasional game would be nice.DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Seeing this display used in a higher performing laptop would be nice; but a 47W processor isn't going to be usable in a chassis designed for a 15W one.fokka - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
i think he means the normal iris, like some macbook air are using, i think it's the Uxx50 line. those have double the EUs, but lack the EDRAM of iris pro.DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Haswell/Broadwell didn't use non-pro Iris nomenclature for anything below 28W; which would again be too hot for the current XPS13 chassis. Skylake is adding something called Iris 540 which has 48 EU and 64MB eDRAM and is available at a 15W TDP. It's possible Dell will include this as an option for the skylake refresh; I can't find any detailed rumors about it. Iris 550 (again not pro) is the same hardware at 28W. No skylake chips with Iris Pro are out yet; but since it's 72 EU and 64/128mb eDram; I suspect it'll be only at the 47W tdp again.I'm somewhat interested in the possibility of an Iris 540 version of the laptop too; assuming the bump in light gaming ability is reasonable for the increase in purchase price anyway. Progressively more bloated web pages are slowly pushing my oldschool atom powered laptop below the threshold of usability even for an occasional use machine; and a skylake XPS13 is currently the potential machine to beat for me.
extide - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
You can get Iris Pro in 28W, and with Skylake there is "baby" Iris Pro (64MB) in 15Wretrospooty - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
XPS are great... until they die. ... DEEELLLL!!!!mooninite - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
The ASUS UX301LAA has been out for several years and has been unmatched. Iris graphics, hi-dpi screen, 2x256gb ssd m.2 drives, 5-6 hours typical battery but I've left the thing on (forgot about it) with the lid closed for up to 12 hours and it still had battery left.nerd1 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I found HP spectre x360 to be better built, has more value, converts into tablet and only very slightly heavier (It's almost as light as macbook air)michael2k - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Doesn't the 12" MacBook use a similar display?Samus - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
As hard as it is for many to consider Dell as a relevant brand (after years of making utter shit, circa 2003-2008) it's hard to ignore them now. Just get over your memories (like the Deskstar 75GXP days) and try a XPS13 out.The display isn't the only part of the machine that's in a class of its own, but the keyboard. They really "ripped-off" the old Thinkpad keyboard perfectly while still making a slim machine.
HP's keyboards are acceptable. At the end of the day, they're made by the same people who make Lenovo's keyboards (Chicony) while Dell's are made by Quanta/NSK Darfon, who for the mean time appears to be making the best Chiclet and floating-island style keyboard.
DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Dell did get an initial exclusivity period for the display. That period was supposed to run out last month, so hopefully we'll see similar designs from other vendors in the near future. Although hopefully those vendors will accept a slightly larger top bezel to avoid the neckbeard/nosehair camera problem on the XPS13.http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/hands-on-de...
nerd1 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
This is business laptop with MIL STD certification... and still way cheaper than consumer apple laptops.bug77 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
No Skylake? Why bother with the review?retrospooty - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Yeah, we have been ordering T450S's since February. Seems alot late on the review with Skylake models (T460?) to be released soon.bug77 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Or maybe that's the catch and Skylake will be as rare as Broadwell was last year. Thus new models may still be a long way off.retrospooty - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Possibly... Buts its really not an issue with their enterprise sales. The T450s is still an amazing laptop for corporate use. They are tough, reliable and perform well. Perfect for their design and that is why ThinkPads are the # corp purchase year after year after year, going back long before Lenovo even bought the line from IBM. I found this on their site... {The T450 and T550 series] - Ultra-durable and tested to US military specifications that validate the ruggedness, durability, and quality of this laptop by testing against 11 parameters: High pressure, humidity, vibration, high temperature, temperature shock, low pressure (15,000 ft), low temperature, solar radiation, fungus, salt fog, and dust. In addition, innovative roll-cage technology and carbon-fiber reinforced casing adds extra strength and rigidity.Brett Howse - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
As I mentioned in the review, Lenovo sent this to me a while ago but it's been a busy time. But regardless, there are no Skylake devices out yet in this form factor.When they are, we'll review them. If Lenovo does an upgrade to Skylake it will likely be a similar device with a new processor so this review would be useful even for that.
retrospooty - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Gotcha... It would have been great if Lenovo sent a major site like Anandtech a unit in March when they started shipping in the US. It's a great laptop though, I see them daily and want one bad... But I got a new one last year, so I really dont "need" one yet. :(bug77 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Is the SSD replaceable on these? Is it soldered in place? Because you didn't mention it in the review and I don't see pictures of the back either. And also, Lenovo charges $300 for an upgrade from 256 to 512MB :DI expect Skylake to show a whole different performance level from the iGPU (which I don't particularly care about) and probably put those batteries to better use (which I relay, really care about).
AlphaCluster - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
The ssd is replacable as its a 2.5 inch or m.2 card (don't know for sure the Lenovo provided one) but either would be replacable cause the only soldered that one might expect to replace is the first 4gb of ram. So there is a 2.5 bay, m.2 slot and a single ram slot all accessible via the bottom panel. You can even get the maintenance manual off lenovos site which explains how to replace all of these.bug77 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Neat. Hopefully they upgrade their lineup to Skylake by November, which is when I have an opportunity to replace my old laptop.chris9000 - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
Yeah, I don't expect to see much changed. Lower TDP (7.5w?) and DDR4 SODIMMs. Mine runs slightly warm in most environments and I expect the upcoming generation to run cooler.Fiernaq - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Does it still connect to the dock with the 72Wh battery installed?fb1996 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Yes, it's (of course) still possible to use the docking station when you have the 72Wh 6-cell battery installed.kepstin - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Interestingly, the docking stations usually comes with a larger power brick (mine has 95W). I wonder if this provides any improvement to battery charge times.DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Since this is a business class laptop, do we know if Lenovo left the spyware and crapware out of the default install because they're counting on corporate IT to install it for them; or did they bake it in anyway because they know that while most businesses will use a clean image they don't want to miss out on snooping on any consumers who buy them.retrospooty - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
ThinkPads didn't have the spyware. There is some crapware, but they never had the spyware. That was some misguided... "whatever" on some consumer products.jasperjones - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Fool me once, fool me twice..The problem is Lenovo kept quiet about Superfish and the Lenovo Service Engine and third parties had to uncover the crap they were doing.
Besides, there are some nasty bits on the Thinkpads, too. I'm talking Coreboot for instance.
retrospooty - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
Yeah, it was a dick move by Lenovo for sure... Also, I should back off what I said. When I said it wasnt on Thinkpads, I should have said it wasnt on the main workhorses, the ThinkPad T series (or W). It may have been on some other lower models.extide - Saturday, October 3, 2015 - link
Wait, you consider Coreboot a nasty thing..?lilmoe - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review.Would be nice if you'd include the battery capacity of each device in the comparison chart.
lilmoe - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
*All the devices* that is, not just the one being reviewed.Gigaplex - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
"Durability is something that business wants too, since these devices are going to be used as long as they can be before replacement."Most businesses I've seen that get mobile workstations like this tend to operate on a 3 to 5 year cycle. Once the warranty expires, the machine is retired. It's generally home computers that limp along for as long as possible.
DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Or shifted to 2ndary duty anyway. If you need a 2nd computer with something other than the standard configuration where I work; odds are you're going to get an older laptop that was lifecycled back to IT by its original user.jbwhite99 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
First off, warranty can be extended to up to 5 years - sometimes in the base, sometimes as a warranty upgrade.The PC is a small part of TCO (total cost of ownership); keep in mind all of the other pieces - licensing software (Office will cost you $250 per machine, etc), the customization you do when you get a new PC, transferring files over, etc. So for companies, if you keep your PC longer, you will save in the long run. The other thing you get with this is unsealed batteries - so if the battery conks out, you can replace it (not so sure about the built in battery). This is why I don't like sealed batteries - it makes the machines thinner, but you can't replace parts.
To the first page of the article, the T20 (first T-series, followon to the ThinkPad 600) came out in July of 2000. The first lettered ThinkPad was the A20, and it came out in April 2000.
nico_mach - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
All the pictures have this curvature that I find distracting. Was that taken with a smartphone?Brett Howse - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
All pictures were with a Canon DSLR.flashbacck - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
How does the clickpad compare to the one in the t440?Brett Howse - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I've never used the T440 sorry.GeorgeH - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Any chance of sourcing the T450s with a dGPU for review? Curious what the American market is missing.Brett Howse - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Hi George. Unlikely only because we get our samples out of the USA. I wasn't even aware they had a dGPU version of this but it looks like it has the docking connector removed to fit the 940M. Next time I get a chance to talk to Lenovo I'll try and find out why that's not available in NA as an option. It certainly would be interesting.DanNeely - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
A pity it's either/or. Dell's managed to cram dGPUs and docking connectors into many of their Latitude's for years.wicasapa - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Hi Brett. Thanks for the comprehensive review.Could you comment on the subjective quality of the display compared to XPS FHD, in terms of graininess and fuzziness as a result of matte effect. I may be nitpicking, but XPS, despite its brilliant brightness and contrast, has a grainy quality on white background and web pages.
Also, is there a difference in this regard compared to the non-touch version of T450s? (is the non-touch more grainy compared to touch version?)
I look at the microscopic images of the two reviews on your web site, and the XPS looks considerably more fuzzy on those scales, was wondering how they look in real use.
kyuu - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
What you're referring to is almost certainly a result of an anti-glare coating. It's an unavoidable side-effect of those coatings. If you're going to be using it outdoors (or near a window during the day), it's worth the trade-off, though.BMNify - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
A matte screen will always have more graininess than a Glossy display but is the only option if use a laptop daily outdoors, buy based on where you will use the laptop.dsraa - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Yep....better late than never with the review.....anyways, I do like the T450 alot more than the T440. The T440 touchpad or 'clickpad' was horrible. So glad they changed it back.kgardas - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Now, please Lenovo T460 + Xeon + ECC RAM. I really don't need all the feature of P50 and I really like symmetrical keyboard design.iniudan - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
What your asking is a P series Thinkpad.iniudan - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Will teach me to read while tired, somehow missed that you mentioned P series in your own comment.nerd1 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I still prefer think pad yoga which has 1080p IPS touchscreen and 940m.fackamato - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
Would you actually use the touch screen?nerd1 - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
They are very useful when you use the laptop in bed...Human Bass - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Wait, there is no hdmi output? That is dumb. I love to connect my notebook to my tv to watch a movie or a stream.evilspoons - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
It has a MiniDP output, which you can adapt to HDMI passively.gamesclub201 - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Doraemon Games: Play the best Doraemon Games online free for everyone! We update Nobita games, Doraemon Dress Up games, Doraemon Fisshing games, all Doraemon games online.evilspoons - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
I have one of these (1080p non-touch, 5300U, 500GB hard drive + 16 GB cache SSD, Win 8.1), and I absolutely love it. Keyboard is excellent, the 1080p screen with Win8.1/Win10's display scaling gives you about the same "workspace" as 1440x900 but with nice crisp text when stuff is zoomed out for coding. It's also nice and light but still substantial enough that I don't feel like I'm going to break it in half all the time, like with most ultrabooks.nerd1 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
You can put a 42mm m2 SSD for boot drive, and I do recommend that.evilspoons - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Yeah, I got the model without a smart card reader or fingerprint reader so it has like 3 m.2 slots. I just can't find any 42mm m.2 drives locally :(Hulk - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I have a t450s and don't recommend using the M.2 slot for the boot drive. I set it up that way, fresh Windows install and after about 10 to 30 minutes of use it would lock up and only a hard restart would fix it. I'm pretty sure it was due to the M.2 being the boot drive and it's probably why Lenovo says NOT to use this drive for the boot drive. On the other hand the 2.5" Crucial BX100 500GB SSD I'm using for the boot drive works perfectly. And I cloned the M.2 to the BX100 so I don't know what else could have been the cause of the freezing I was experiencing? But as always most of the people around here are smarter than me so it could have been something else;)nerd1 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I put mydigitalSSD 42mm drive on my thinkpad yoga 12" and it worked flawlessly. You may double check the BIOS settings?deontologist - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
"spll-resistant keyboard"¯\_(ツ)_/¯
overzealot - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Brett: Did you test the audio jack?I recently bought a Thinkpad Yoga 14 and the amount of background hiss out of the 3.5mm jack is just terrible. It's practically unusable, even with my least sensitive headphones.
I'm hoping that it's just this model that sucks, but given a lack of testing in reviews I'm assuming they just don't even bother to get decent audio any more.
nerd1 - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I have used (now old) TPY 12 and was positively surprised at the audio quality. It was very clean with zero white noise, and I can say it was on par with macbooks and surface 3 pro.Brett Howse - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I definitely used the headphone jack and didn't notice any issues. I'll try and make a note to point this out in reviews going forward.overzealot - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
Thanks, I appreciate the responses.And I'm glad that it isn't a problem in all modern laptops.
Morawka - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
great all around powerhouse of a notebook. Sure it doesnt get as much battery life as the Dell XPS 13" but then again, this thinkpad has 3x the connectors, and i/o. no doubt the difference in battery efficiency.I love the true pro features such as integrated LTE, Ethernet, Display Port, Dual Battery for swap without power down, and fingerprint sensor.
this is a true business class notebook that hardly anyone can match. Now i just wish they would have waited a month for skylake, but no doubt they will refresh the line once those mobile chips are out.
Clap Clap for LTE and IPS display
GekkePrutser - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I really wish Lenovo would make the trackpoint optional.. I personally hate them, and a trackpad is just fine for me. The track point is really in the way when I'm typing and it gives an annoying bounce when I hit it by mistake. I usually remove the rubber cap to minimize this but it would be much better for me not to have it at all.mscommerce - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Ok, you don't get the point.[Sorry, nothing personal. I just couldn't pass up on the obvious pun :p ]
jasperjones - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
I realize you guys are primarily interested in the hardware. Nevertheless, I feel this review is incomplete, as it doesn't address the software side of things. With scandals such as Superfish and the Lenovo Service Engine (which is implemented at the BIOS level and survives even clean installs), I'm very hesitant to buy Lenovo at this point.Brett Howse - Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - link
Those were never part of ThinkPads. I'm not going to claim Lenovo is innocent because clearly they made some bad decisions but it never affected this device.Soulwager - Saturday, September 19, 2015 - link
I don't think it matters what device the scandal involved, because it fundamentally breaks the trust between the consumer and the company. There simply isn't anything Lenovo can do to regain that trust, except maybe open source all the software and firmware they provide.Bronek - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
I like that they pause charging of the rear battery at 80%. This means that the battery can be disconnected during this period and safely stored for extended period, without the risk of degradation.BobCollins - Thursday, September 17, 2015 - link
Can you explain your conclusion that "the i5-5300U is a reasonable upgrade over the base offering?"Every discussion I have read suggested that mid-level processor upgrade was so marginal as to be not worth it.
thisch - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
One really bad point though: these T440s / T450s are awfully hard to maintain. Separating the bottom part of the casing from the rest is almost impossible, using a screwdriver will dent the plastic, using one's nails does not work, I spent 15mn trying and was not successful. Compare this to HP for instance (one latch to open, direct access to all the components in 2 seconds)zhenya00 - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
The fact that you neglect to use the correct tools completely invalidates your arguments. With the correct tool you can have the bottom case off in less than a minute. If removing the bottom without damaging it is outside of your skillset, you have no business opening the laptop in the first place.Top10Ultrabooks - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
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topultrabooks - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
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zhenya00 - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
Late to this, but we have been buying the T4x0s models as our standard configuration for years. The T450s is the best one by far. Still, despite the power bridge tech, your battery charts really illustrate the tradeoff that we get by Lenovo's insistence on sticking with traditional removable batteries. 46wHR for a laptop of this size is TINY today, and the run times prove it (the 12" retina MacBook has 40wHR in a 2lb device!) I'm sure there are a *few* users who actually require the ability to continuously trade out batteries, but the reality is that the *vast* majority of users would be far better served by putting in a built-in battery with ~60-70wHR capacity, giving 10+ hours of run time. Only a tiny niche of users can possibly require more battery life than this. It's too bad the rest of us are being held hostage by that vocal minority.nerd1 - Sunday, September 20, 2015 - link
That's why you have option to put larger sized batteries I think..Harry_Wild - Saturday, September 19, 2015 - link
Still not HDMI output but still a VGA output? How stupid is that? Is this a business computer or what? All the big monitors are HDTVs and many monitors have HDMI inputs!justmiff - Sunday, September 20, 2015 - link
Hang on, it states in Intel's ARK platform the the 5300U can support only up to 16GB of RAM. Where does this strange 20GB number come from? Though I would recommend adding another module regardless to gian the benefit of dual channel memory, I don't much thing 20GB of RAM in this machine is addressable.Harry_Wild - Saturday, September 26, 2015 - link
It impossible to achieve 16GB RAM; if the first slot is filled with soldered 4GB stick! There is no 12GB stick! You an upgrade to 12GB or 20GB!lophiomys - Sunday, September 20, 2015 - link
When I saw only "Optional 1920x1080 IPS" as the better option for the screen, I stopped reading.I am typing this on a 10year old T43p with 1600x1200 UXGA (133DPI) and would expect a high-DPI matte "Retina" screen for the better an option, best in 4:3 form factor.
Actuallykeith - Friday, September 25, 2015 - link
I notice you say the maximum memory is 20Gb, I guess 4Gb on board plus a 16Gb in the second slot. However on their website Lenovo state the maximum memory as 12Gb. I'm confused, are they correct or you, did you try it?Actuallykeith - Friday, September 25, 2015 - link
Hi, looked more closely at their US site and although the spec says 12Gb max, the config allows 20Gb, so I've answered my own question. CheersHarry_Wild - Saturday, September 26, 2015 - link
Just purchase a T450 with 8GB. It has a 4GB stick soldered in the first slot and a 4GB in the second slot beside it, why not just have on 8Gb soldered in and forget about dualism. I have to now wait a few years for the 16GB stick which is approximately $200; to fall. If you buy the 8GB stick for around $50; you only get 4 extra GBs. Lenovo is not doing me any favorites with their idiotic practice in matching RAM size!FYoung - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review, which is very informative.I have a question. Can the docking port on the bottom still mate with the docking station when an upgraded taller battery is installed?
Lad - Thursday, August 19, 2021 - link
My ThinkPad T450 is not clocking the 17 to 21 hours of battery life. I recently reinstall everything and my dual batteries both can make upto 5 hrs of fully charged. What do I need to do so as to get my batteries efficient to its powerhouse of 21 hours.Help please, if you know the twikings of the drivers or what ....