Thoughts about the ThinkPad T480

It has been around a month or so since I started using this T480, so I decided to write my thoughts about it.

Why getting one?

My use case for the computer is pretty regular, most of the time I read PDF files, program shitty code, watch YouTube videos, run one or two VMs from time to time and occasionally play “light” video games.

The previous laptops I owned were a T420 and a X220, this means I am get used to horrible TN panels and low levels of battery life, but I know how a good laptop keyboard feels like and what having a dongle-free life means. I am by no means an “all life” ThinkPad user, I have been using these two laptops for around 3 years.

In short, I thought getting a T480 will solve my main complains of the 20 series models:

• Decent (at least 6 hours) battery life
• A few extra cores for running virtual machines
• A more “colorful” IPS display

Was I wrong?

Specs and price

I got a “new” T480 from a local vendor, with the following specs:

item	specs
ram	16 GB
storage	256 NVME
screen	FHD IPS
battery	external (72) and internal (24)
os	windows 10 pro (who uses that anyway? jk)
warranty	around 8 months left
price	around $15000 MXN (725 USD)

So far, it looked like a decent purchase, it even had some warranty time left, but my excitement disappeared when I received the product.

Cons

Batteries

What a surprise when I realized none of them worked, this was the reason why I choose a “new” laptop instead of a used one, I felt “secure” about the batteries because the product was never used, so I did not thought they were probably dead! 🤦.

I tried fixing this issue using the reset button below the case and unplugging both of the batteries but I had no luck. The next thing I tried was contacting Lenovo, because I swear I saw somewhere the company had the obligation of replacing at least one battery if it is considered as “faulty” or if it does not check the least minimum requirements. After contacting support and trying to validate this clause I get “no” as an answer. Turns out, both batteries had a warranty but they do not offer periods longer than a year. The vendor tried getting a battery, but they missed and got one for a T440.

I ended up ordering a new 72Wh model from a “local” seller and so far the battery presents no problems, I am still waiting to order the internal battery, I just want to be sure the external one does not fail after a month.

Keyboard

A lot of people tend to praise ThinkPad keyboards, even with the newer models, and, let me tell you, they suck compared to the “classic” ones, the key travel is reduced, the island keys make keys feel small, and the over all position of the special keys makes no sense, also I miss the gigantic Escape of the classic keyboard.

I know a T25 keyboard mod is available, but, at what cost?, getting parts here is more complicated and not to mention more expensive. The whole idea of getting a new laptop implicated not upgrading too many stuff in it, since it was supposed to be that, and upgrade of the T420.

Also, I hate the removal of the ThinkLight, that thing was so useful. ):

Panel

What? The panel is a con? But you said you wanted to get out of the crappy TN panels! Yup, I said that, but jeez, I cannot read anything with this fancy 14 inch FHD panel, I wear glasses, so 1366x768 is a comfy resolution using bitmap fonts at size 8, with this panel I struggle reading the same fonts at size 10. I mean, it has way better colors and viewing angles, but I do not read colors.

The obvious solution to this is to try Wayland fractional scaling, using 1.25 makes things readable, but fractional scaling is not as usable as you may think, just try to use Firefox with fractional scaling an it all becomes blurry, unless you mess with the CSS configuration file, which I did not.

What about increasing the font? Is not that the obvious solution? Yes, and this improves the “readability” a lot, but at some point I end up with a similar amount of text columns and rows using a FHD or a HD screen, the only tangible advantage is having an IPS panel, but no other than that since I do not even use the touch screen (I did realize this after 3 weeks of use, when I tried to “clean” the panel).

The “dock” setup

With the 20 series models, I purchased a new dock for $1100 MXN (53 USD), so I was used to the comfort of the “laptop/desk” hybrid mode spending a fair amount of money.

Well, you should see how much the “new” docks cost, around $3700 MXN (181 USD), that is three times the price of my old dock (and the price of an used X220/T420), and to be honest, I do not own a 4K panel or something similar, I just want the hybrid “single cable” experience, not all the fancy stuff.

Getting a second hand dock appears to be the cheapest solution, or even trying with a different brand, so let’s see how it goes...

So, I got a dock. It’s fine, but I still feel this as an overpriced product. The only problem I have found so far is, once it is connected the sound output device changes to the dock automatically, even when it has no sound devices plugged in. The workaround is to manually choose the output. I do not know if this is supposed to happen.

Overall price

item	cost
t480 price	around $15000 MXN (725 USD)
+ US keyboard	$1300 MXN (63 USD)
+ 72 Wh battery	$1900 MXN (93 USD)
+ usb-c dock 2.0	$3000 MXN (147 USD)
final	$21200 MXN (1028 USD)

This without considering the price of a 500 GB/1 TB NVME and the internal battery, ¡damn!, is a lot of money spent on a laptop. I use it for school and probably I will use it for work now, but I might been just fine selling my T420, getting a X230 and purchasing a new battery ($3500 + $2000 MXN, 269 USD). ):

Pros

Battery life

Using the 72 Wh model I get around 10 hours of use, doing pandemic light stuff, videoconferencing, browsing, writing stuff, and listening to a ton of music. Kudos for that.

> uptime # full charge with 10% of battery
 12:39:28 up 18:57,  1 user,  load average: 0.39, 0.40, 0.44

The time will probably increase to 12-14 hours with the internal battery.

Easy to upgrade

The laptop came with a Latin American keyboard, getting and American English one was very quickly and it had a kind of decent price tag at $1300 MXN (63 USD). Same with the batteries.

Also, using my previous 2.5 SATA SSD was not possible, since I had to acquire the adapter bracket.

Overall, the T480 is pretty serviceable, my only complain is: Why did you go with clips in the bottom cover? I feel like I am going to break them every time I open this thing.

Final thoughts

Maybe this was an unnecessary purchase, with all these “cons” and a couple of “pros” I wonder if I made the right decision. Anyway, if I regret I still can try to sell this fancy thing (now I think no one would buy this). Maybe I feel this way because it’s my second expensive laptop (the first one was a Dell XPS 13) and is a big price jump from an older model.

If you consider to get a T480, you should be fine if you go with a used one (just make sure the one you are getting has the thunderbolt firmware update). There is a huge gap between this model and the 20 series models I was used to, if your “computer needs” require more battery life or more powerful CPU and you do not mind leaving “the old stuff” (like the keyboard) paying a considerable amount of money, then yeah, go for it.

Also, Arch Linux runs flawlessly, getting a LVM + LUKS encrypted installation was pretty straight forward.