When it comes to buying laptops on a budget, the first brand that comes to mind is Lenovo. All the specifications found in a more expensive laptop can be found in the cheaper Lenovo laptops, and that’s why the brand is quite popular among the masses, especially those who can’t afford to spend a fortune on a laptop. One of its popular series of Lenovo, the Thinkpad, is mostly preferred because of its cheap cost and impressive features.
Under the same Thinkpad series, Lenovo has launched its two laptops — the T480 and T480s. Both of them are identical in appearance and sports almost similar features, with few exceptions, and a similar price range. So you might wonder which one of these two laptops is the better pick? But you don’t have to worry about putting in that effort.
In this post, I have compared the two laptops — Lenovo T480 and T480s — based on their display, performance, storage, battery, and so on.
Lenovo T480 vs T480s: Key Specifications
Before we move on to the most detailed version of the comparison between the T480 and T480s, first let’s see how both of them perform against each other on paper. The below table will give you a quick overview of the key specifications of the T480 and T480s.
| Category | Lenovo Thinkpad T480 | Lenovo Thinkpad T480s | Display | Touch: 14 HD TN Touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 WQHD IPS | Touch: 14 HD IPS Touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 WQHD IPS |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Up to i7 8th Generation | Up to i7 8th Generation |
| RAM | Up to 32GB DDR4 | Up to 24GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 1 TB OPAL2 M.2 SSD Up to 1 TB HDD | Up to 1 TB PCIe SSD |
| Graphics Card | Intel UHD 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 (optional) | Intel HD 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 (optional) |
| Battery | Up to 30hrs (24Whr + 72Whr) Up to 14hrs (24Whr + 24Whr) | Up to 16hrs (57Whr) |
| Dimensions | 336.6 mm x 232.5 mm x 19.95 mm | 331 mm x 226.8 mm x 18.45 mm |
| Weight | 1.58 kg | 1.31 kg |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth v4.2 | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth v4.1 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
| Category | Lenovo Thinkpad T480 | Lenovo Thinkpad T480s | Display | Touch: 14 HD TN Touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 WQHD IPS | Touch: 14 HD IPS Touch: 14 FHD IPS Non-touch: 14 WQHD IPS |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Up to i7 8th Generation | Up to i7 8th Generation |
| RAM | Up to 32GB DDR4 | Up to 24GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 1 TB OPAL2 M.2 SSD Up to 1 TB HDD | Up to 1 TB PCIe SSD |
| Graphics Card | Intel UHD 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 (optional) | Intel HD 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 (optional) |
| Battery | Up to 30hrs (24Whr + 72Whr) Up to 14hrs (24Whr + 24Whr) | Up to 16hrs (57Whr) |
| Dimensions | 336.6 mm x 232.5 mm x 19.95 mm | 331 mm x 226.8 mm x 18.45 mm |
| Weight | 1.58 kg | 1.31 kg |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth v4.2 | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth v4.1 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
Build Quality
Needless to say, Lenovo is criticized for using cheap materials on its laptops, especially those available at a cheap price. Apart from that, the glossy finish also made it appear all dirty and messed up, making it appear much older than it really is.
Thankfully, that is not entirely the case with both the T480 and T480s. I wouldn’t say Lenovo has used high-quality material on their build, but it’s still above average. Comparing the build quality of T480 and T480s doesn’t give much difference, though the latter is found to have a better overall finish based on user experience.
So if we have to pick a winner here in terms of build quality, it will be Lenovo T480s.
Display
Both the T480 and T480s are available with a wide variety of display options. While the T480 has four display options available on the market, the T480s has three. Apart from that, both of them also have options for touch-based screens and non-touch screens. Depending on your preference, you can pick any one of them.
First, let’s talk about the T480. The Lenovo T480 is available with touch screen HD TN display, touch screen Full HD or 1080p IPS display, non-touch Full HD IPS display, and non-touch WQHD or 1440p IPS display. On the other hand, the Lenovo T480s is available with a touch screen HD IPS display, touch screen Full HD IPS display, and non-touch WQHD IPS display.
Do note that the Lenovo T480 and T480s are 14” screen-sized laptops and hence there is no difference between their screen sizes. That said, both laptops have a wide range of display options available, but judging by the numbers, the T480 is a clear winner here.
Weight & Thickness
Here in this department, you will find a major difference between the two laptops. The Lenovo T480 is 336.6 mm wide, 232.5 deep, and 19.95 thick. It weighs around 1.58 kg to carry, but when combined with its charger, it weighs 1.7 kg.
Compared to the T480s, you will find that the T480s is much better in this department. The Lenovo T480s is 331 mm wide, 226.8 mm deep, and 18.45 mm thick. You can clearly see here that the T480s appears thinner and slimmer than the T480. Also, it weighs only 1.31 kg, and even with the charger, it weighs 1.45 kg, which is less than the original weight of the T480 (without charger).
So if you prefer lightweight laptops which are easier to carry, the T480s is the clear winner here.
Performance
Performance-wise, both the T480 and T480s work in a similar way. And since both of them have similar processors and graphics, it is obvious that their performance will also be the same. Their base variant comes with an i5 8th generation processor which can go up to the i7 8th generation. Some models don’t have any dedicated graphics card, while some are available with the MX150, a 2GB DDRR5 GPU. So depending on your budget and preferences, you can choose any one of them.
Talking specifically about power and performance, both the T480 and T480s deliver decent performance without any hard issues. You can easily do basic surfing, run MS Office, edit videos in Adobe Premiere Pro, and do more heavy graphics-related tasks. However, you can’t play AAA titles on these laptops and I wouldn’t recommend you do so.
That said, it is quite hard to pick a winner here as there is no major difference in performance. So it’s a tie.
Memory & Storage
While both the T480 and T480s perform in a similar way with no major changes, the main difference you will find is in the RAM and storage capabilities of these laptops. The Lenovo T480 comes with a base RAM of 8GB, which can be upgraded to 32GB. But that’s not the case with the T480s, as you can only get up to 24GB of RAM on this one.
The reason is that in the T480s, the 8GB RAM is non-removeable, so you can’t replace it with a 16GB RAM stick. Hence, the already present 8GB RAM paired with an additional 16GB RAM makes it only 24GB. But this is not the case with the T480.
Though it doesn’t make much of a difference for most of the users, if this is something that bothers you, you can choose the T480 over the ‘s’ version.
Regarding storage, the T480 is available with both 1TB M.2 SSD and 1TB HDD. But the T480s is available with only one option — 1TB PCIe SSD. However, performance-wise, the T480s has much faster storage than the T480 as it has a dedicated NVMe slot on the motherboard.
Summing up, while T480 takes the trophy for RAM expansion, the T480 wins for its faster storage capabilities. Hence, you can decide it yourself what you want — more RAM or faster storage.
Battery
Another major area where you will find a significant difference is the battery. The Lenovo T480 has this unique feature to pair its built-in 24Whr battery with an optional battery of up to 72Whr. So if you pair it with the 24Whr battery, you can expect an average battery backup of 13hrs. But with a 72Whr battery, you can expect it close to 30hrs.
On the other hand, the Lenovo T480s has an integrated 57Whr battery which can’t be paired with any other optional battery. Hence the average battery backup you get here is around 16hrs. So clearly, the T480 is the winner here with a huge advantage over the T480s.
Also, remember that both of these laptops use a 65W charger, so there’s no advantage of fast charging over each other.
The Takeaway
The Lenovo T480 and T480s are well-built laptops with decent features, optimum performance delivery, plenty of storage options, decent battery backup, and reasonable prices. There is no significant difference, except for a few, between these two laptops. And those few differences don’t make a huge impact on the performance of these laptops. Hence, choosing either T480 or T480s won’t put you at a disadvantage.
It completely depends on your preference to pick any one of these laptops. If you need access to more RAM memory, you can go for the T480, or if you want faster storage for quick data transfer, you can go for the T480s. The same goes for the battery backup of these laptops. Unless you pair the T480 with a 72Whr battery, there’s no major difference in battery backup.
Having said that, if you ask me, I would pick the Lenovo T480 for more RAM capacity, dual battery backup, and a cheaper price. In the same way, I would pick the Lenovo T480s for its faster SSD and lightweight, which makes it easier to carry around. Hence, it depends on your needs to pick one. So choose wisely!
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