buy used T480 Using T480 2,11 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 from T440P maxed all to 64 GB RAM, 512 SSD-NVME and 256 M.2 SATA, WIFI 6E AX210, and it feels great, recommend it to all my Colleague in the office and they to use used thinkpad T480
Thank you Dave, excellent review. I personally don't like the T480 because it feels kinda plasticky compared to premium ThinkPads -- also the stock cooling system on the iGPU model is pretty weak. 8th gen CPUs are basically choked by that single heat pipe. The common mod is to swap it for the dual-pipe cooler from the dGPU model, but I'm too lazy for this. The TB3 port is only 2 lanes so it limits external GPUs quite a bit. The trackpad on both the T480 and the T480s is nice when it's new but it becomes shiny and kinda sticky when the plastic surface wears up. I replaced the trackpad in my T480s with the glass trackpad from the X1 Yoga and it was a massive improvement. Finally, the stock screens on these laptops are nice and sharp but they are rather dim and the color fidelity is also not the best. Still, it's one of the best slim and reliable laptops that one can get for less than €300.
The track pad for me is is legit factory new. Refurbished company are very good. Bought mine with all the good options except touch screen but idrc. I just need to change the base specs and the German keyboard then I'm good to go. Bought mine for 250 euros mint condition
Shoutout to an excellent review and brother Tas! I always hated these 6 cell downwards protruding external batteries they introduced on the ThinkPads. First memory of them was on a couple of T460p machines I set up for my colleagues. Looking at the 9 cell backwards protruding batteries on ALL of my W-series ThinkPads, they are so much more convenient!
Got an eBay T480S and it’s running Linux Mint great. Only issue is the fingerprint sensor is a bit finicky and the screen isn’t the brightest. I did set scaling to 120%. I’d also like a backlit keyboard (maybe I’ll do a swap). But it’s great for the price.
Just bought an i5 T480s 24 gig with train commuting in mind. Otherwise, I would have bought a T480 which as you have demonstrated is more adaptable. Great vid.
Hi, i have t480 too, in my opinion, this is the best laptop i have ever used! The problem is the battery, now is not taking charge and with the message this battery is not supported and will not charge on lenovo vantage app. Im wondering is there any way to revive the battery since it only have nearly 40 cycle and full capacity.
Tbh I'd recommend just buying a new battery, sorry I can't be of more help. My 3-cell is nigh on dead too, and I'm not really the right person for such complex fixes, apologies
From what I’ve read, there is a firmware update that needs to be done due to an overheating thunderbolt controller, I don’t own one but if it is done it prevents this
I love messy tinkering rooms, with littered half assembled laptops dangling about. I can't stand people who have clean "minimalist" gaming setups 😂@@TechDave
@@TechDave I just bought used T480 with one battery (removable one), can I add the internal one? they should work fine together right? thank you for your answer!
@wznzgq1354 if u only have an external battery, then u shud afaik be able to install an internal battery defo yes. Google t480 HMM (hardware maintenance manual) for more details
That's cool man but I'm waiting for the AMD ones. I'll buy a T480 if the prices come down to somewhat of x250 levels today. NVME drives make a great case for SWAP space as more RAM gets needed as time progresses, especially in linux.
my T480 Cost me £260 GBP, with a couple of upgrades its a pretty hench device. i think ill probs invest in something like the X1 carbon 10th gen or X1 nano gen 3 when the prices are right as id *LOVE* a built in 5G module & TB4 as i love eGPUs & mobile gaming (via GeForce Now etc) i will be making a second video about Linux performance on the T480 (Pop!_OS) in the future, so feel free to subscribe etc ;) probs starting filming/testing next week, plan is 128gb m.2 2242 ssd (in WWAN slot) & 32gb ddr4 2666mhz
@@TechDave these finally fell a bit if you keep an eye out. i just ordered up a T480S for $160 shipped with the i7 8650u & 8GB ram. i've been using a T460s w/ Fedora i got 2 years ago for $240 shipped. the T460s is running fine but i felt like that was a solid price. i have 20 GB [4+ 16gb stick] on my T460s. not sure if i should throw that stick into the T480s for 24GB RAM or pick up a 32GB stick and to make a 40GB RAM monster lol
Thanks 😊 I endeavoured to be as in depth as possible, I know they've come down in price (hence buying one myself) lately so I figure a fair few ppl will want this info
I'm yet to test it, it will be in a video some time this month! Next video is x220 review, then t480 on linux. Will include: eGPU, battery life tricks & tips, gaming & hopefully programming/coding too. Pls feel free to subscribe to be notified when video ready! What I can say is with the 6 cell 72wh extended battery, I can get up to 15 hours battery in Windows 11, so that shud give some fram of reference for linux, which shud at least in theory add another 3-4+ hours to that number based on average improvements on other machines 😀 Hope that's okay for now! Will reply again when video is up too
@samrybkin9184 based on a bit of brief research: personally I'd choose t480, purely for the t490 having a soldered ram slot. It's seems to be near identical specs, but with less upgradability
@stor954 cool, I got mine on ebay uk, I'll find a link now. Plus, I'm looking into brand new ones as well, as my 6 cell has 51kwh out of 72 og capacity, so will link them too. On the train with poor data connection, so may be later today
The one link dock seems to hit max speeds of 200mbps, not sure why. I tested on a 1gbps down, 54mbps up connection, and it wudnt hit more than 200. Possibly a USB limitation/bandwidth thing, as the dock has hdmi & display port connections
@@TechDave I see. Maybe your setup could benefit from using a thinkpad thunderbolt 4 dock (or possibly a thunderbolt 3 dock), so that you could just simply plug in one cable to the thinkpad. I'm not using an eGPU myself but I assume that robs alot of bandwidth from the thunderbolt bus.
for my workflow i prefer to allocate the TB3 port for eGPU as i use it alot, and eGPUs require to be first in the chain with tb3 devices. from what ive read the USB & Tb3 aspects of the port as using separate parts of the connection aka, the gpu for example uses a different part of the connection dedicated to the gpu, and then usb connections (such as the internal hdd/usb ports/ethernet connection) have dedicated channels. hope that makes sense for example, i was using the legion boost station as a one cable solution (internal 2tb hdd/gpu/ethernet/Power delivery) but i havent tried plugging the onelink dock directly into the USB ports on the legion. but in theory this wud allow a 1 cable solution, which is something im keen on ill try it now and report back shortly! @@RockTouching
well, turns out plugging the onelink dock in via the eGPU works fine and dandy! extra happy to receive your comment now, i am once again using a 1 cable solution! the eGPU has max ethernet/internet speeds of 860mbps, so thats more than enough for me @@RockTouching
buy used T480 Using T480 2,11 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 from T440P maxed all to 64 GB RAM, 512 SSD-NVME and 256 M.2 SATA, WIFI 6E AX210, and it feels great, recommend it to all my Colleague in the office and they to use used thinkpad T480
i bought one for 125.00 full maxed out on ebay
Thank you Dave, excellent review. I personally don't like the T480 because it feels kinda plasticky compared to premium ThinkPads -- also the stock cooling system on the iGPU model is pretty weak. 8th gen CPUs are basically choked by that single heat pipe. The common mod is to swap it for the dual-pipe cooler from the dGPU model, but I'm too lazy for this. The TB3 port is only 2 lanes so it limits external GPUs quite a bit. The trackpad on both the T480 and the T480s is nice when it's new but it becomes shiny and kinda sticky when the plastic surface wears up. I replaced the trackpad in my T480s with the glass trackpad from the X1 Yoga and it was a massive improvement. Finally, the stock screens on these laptops are nice and sharp but they are rather dim and the color fidelity is also not the best. Still, it's one of the best slim and reliable laptops that one can get for less than €300.
i will look into trackpad replacement, thanks for the tip!
So honestly which model do u prefer currently on the market?
@@davidarchangels6500 T14 gen2 AMD 😅
@@davidarchangels6500 p53, I'm a workstation guy
The track pad for me is is legit factory new. Refurbished company are very good. Bought mine with all the good options except touch screen but idrc. I just need to change the base specs and the German keyboard then I'm good to go.
Bought mine for 250 euros mint condition
A really precise review and helpful for people looking for a great budget machine! Bravo
Very much thanks!!
Shoutout to an excellent review and brother Tas! I always hated these 6 cell downwards protruding external batteries they introduced on the ThinkPads. First memory of them was on a couple of T460p machines I set up for my colleagues. Looking at the 9 cell backwards protruding batteries on ALL of my W-series ThinkPads, they are so much more convenient!
Who is Tas?
Edit: I figured it out lol
Each to their own I suppose, but, it defo helps with cpu cooling. Aesthetics matter tho, thanks for the comment x
Great review! It is very nice to see a review of equipment which is really used. Very nice and smart setup :)
Much thanks!
Got an eBay T480S and it’s running Linux Mint great. Only issue is the fingerprint sensor is a bit finicky and the screen isn’t the brightest. I did set scaling to 120%.
I’d also like a backlit keyboard (maybe I’ll do a swap). But it’s great for the price.
And shoutout to Tas who has amazing
knowledge - I ping him as well as brother Atli if I need support as well as Laptop Retrospective - great guys!
Just bought an i5 T480s 24 gig with train commuting in mind. Otherwise, I would have bought a T480 which as you have demonstrated is more adaptable. Great vid.
Loving my Thinkpad E470 got it for 106usd taxes included.
Great informative video.Thank you bro
Sincere thanks! So happy it's enjoyed/useful
fantastic review!
Love your stuff, dude! I'll fcking purchase a T480 soon!
Go for it! They're lush devices
Thank You
Hi, i have t480 too, in my opinion, this is the best laptop i have ever used! The problem is the battery, now is not taking charge and with the message this battery is not supported and will not charge on lenovo vantage app. Im wondering is there any way to revive the battery since it only have nearly 40 cycle and full capacity.
Tbh I'd recommend just buying a new battery, sorry I can't be of more help. My 3-cell is nigh on dead too, and I'm not really the right person for such complex fixes, apologies
From what I’ve read, there is a firmware update that needs to be done due to an overheating thunderbolt controller, I don’t own one but if it is done it prevents this
Do you think it would viable in the next 4 years?
i should imagine so, at the very least it will survive windows 10 EOS
Your setup looks very cosy.
it most certainly is! thanks x
I love messy tinkering rooms, with littered half assembled laptops dangling about. I can't stand people who have clean "minimalist" gaming setups 😂@@TechDave
hahaha here here! my studio is in a constant state of productive anarchy!
@@happygofishing
Do a t480S version
I can't afford to rn sadly
@@TechDave it ok
I Should have known, but didn't. Thinking my 4 ext. battery from a T450S would fit on a T480.
They do not, now I know 🤔
Can you run Elite Dangerous with the Intel UHD iGPU? How many FPS you can get from that?
unlikely, but i didnt actually try it: i may install alter and give it a go, will report back if i have success
I got the dGPU version and even with that you only get 16-20 FPS.
hey do all T480 have two batteries? or there are T480 models with one?
Afaik all t480 have dual batteries, but there's a t480s but I don't know about its battery configuration
@@TechDave I just bought used T480 with one battery (removable one), can I add the internal one? they should work fine together right? thank you for your answer!
@wznzgq1354 if u only have an external battery, then u shud afaik be able to install an internal battery defo yes. Google t480 HMM (hardware maintenance manual) for more details
Has a good beard ✅️
Talks about lenovo ✅️
Talks about Linux ✅️
Even if this man had no subs, that's good enough reason to trust his words 😂❤
hahaha!
*fondles beard in joy*
much thanks!
That's cool man but I'm waiting for the AMD ones.
I'll buy a T480 if the prices come down to somewhat of x250 levels today.
NVME drives make a great case for SWAP space as more RAM gets needed as time progresses, especially in linux.
my T480 Cost me £260 GBP, with a couple of upgrades its a pretty hench device. i think ill probs invest in something like the X1 carbon 10th gen or X1 nano gen 3 when the prices are right as id *LOVE* a built in 5G module & TB4 as i love eGPUs & mobile gaming (via GeForce Now etc)
i will be making a second video about Linux performance on the T480 (Pop!_OS) in the future, so feel free to subscribe etc ;) probs starting filming/testing next week, plan is 128gb m.2 2242 ssd (in WWAN slot) & 32gb ddr4 2666mhz
@@TechDave these finally fell a bit if you keep an eye out.
i just ordered up a T480S for $160 shipped with the i7 8650u & 8GB ram. i've been using a T460s w/ Fedora i got 2 years ago for $240 shipped.
the T460s is running fine but i felt like that was a solid price. i have 20 GB [4+ 16gb stick] on my T460s.
not sure if i should throw that stick into the T480s for 24GB RAM or pick up a 32GB stick and to make a 40GB RAM monster lol
Hi, could i ask where you bought the t480s from and if they have t480 aswell@@itssimplyjeff1
Now this is a review, wow man.
Thanks 😊
I endeavoured to be as in depth as possible, I know they've come down in price (hence buying one myself) lately so I figure a fair few ppl will want this info
Can I put an 11th gen i5 in it, I'd like the Iris Xe for some light gaming
I believe the cpu is soldered, so 🤷, I certainly wudnt know how
Hi how Pop os working on this laptop? How long battery life in pop os?
I'm yet to test it, it will be in a video some time this month! Next video is x220 review, then t480 on linux. Will include: eGPU, battery life tricks & tips, gaming & hopefully programming/coding too. Pls feel free to subscribe to be notified when video ready!
What I can say is with the 6 cell 72wh extended battery, I can get up to 15 hours battery in Windows 11, so that shud give some fram of reference for linux, which shud at least in theory add another 3-4+ hours to that number based on average improvements on other machines 😀
Hope that's okay for now! Will reply again when video is up too
@@TechDave Hi again can you recomend what is better to choose t490 or t480?
@samrybkin9184 depends on what u need it to do, gaming atm. Let me get back to u once I've looked at the t490, so I can give a more useful answer
@samrybkin9184 based on a bit of brief research: personally I'd choose t480, purely for the t490 having a soldered ram slot. It's seems to be near identical specs, but with less upgradability
@@TechDave Thanks a lot!
can U paste link to the batteries?
Uk/eu/USA?
@@TechDave UK :)
@stor954 cool, I got mine on ebay uk, I'll find a link now. Plus, I'm looking into brand new ones as well, as my 6 cell has 51kwh out of 72 og capacity, so will link them too. On the train with poor data connection, so may be later today
Why do you say the dock is limited to 200 Mbps?
The one link dock seems to hit max speeds of 200mbps, not sure why. I tested on a 1gbps down, 54mbps up connection, and it wudnt hit more than 200. Possibly a USB limitation/bandwidth thing, as the dock has hdmi & display port connections
@@TechDave I see. Maybe your setup could benefit from using a thinkpad thunderbolt 4 dock (or possibly a thunderbolt 3 dock), so that you could just simply plug in one cable to the thinkpad. I'm not using an eGPU myself but I assume that robs alot of bandwidth from the thunderbolt bus.
for my workflow i prefer to allocate the TB3 port for eGPU as i use it alot, and eGPUs require to be first in the chain with tb3 devices. from what ive read the USB & Tb3 aspects of the port as using separate parts of the connection aka, the gpu for example uses a different part of the connection dedicated to the gpu, and then usb connections (such as the internal hdd/usb ports/ethernet connection) have dedicated channels. hope that makes sense
for example, i was using the legion boost station as a one cable solution (internal 2tb hdd/gpu/ethernet/Power delivery) but i havent tried plugging the onelink dock directly into the USB ports on the legion. but in theory this wud allow a 1 cable solution, which is something im keen on
ill try it now and report back shortly!
@@RockTouching
well, turns out plugging the onelink dock in via the eGPU works fine and dandy!
extra happy to receive your comment now, i am once again using a 1 cable solution!
the eGPU has max ethernet/internet speeds of 860mbps, so thats more than enough for me
@@RockTouching
What about t470, i need t480 but the available is t470
I've heard they're pretty nice devices, I've just never had my hands on one myself
They are good devices but only dual core compared to (most) T480 being quad core. So probably a little old now.
ThinkPad t480
Ok
thanks for sharing. informative video
no probs! Glad it was helpful/interesting!
I guess it must be much more expensive because no one that makes videos about this thing have the dGPU.
That wud make sense, I didn't see any on sale for a decent price when buying mine. Apparently them have some heat issues too with dgpu
The likes were 480 just now
@@nikolasvahrusev8407 sick!
Just got one :)
good on you!!
what specs u rocking?
EDIT: ooh, and how much for? curious
t440p
"Promo sm"