Lenovo T480s or T490s

[Hip]

Hey guys,

 

I need a new laptop and I wonder which one of these two is better.

 

T480s

i7 8550U

16GB RAM

GPU: MX 150

WQHD Display

 

T490s

i7 8565U

16GB RAM

GPU: Intel HD 620 (which is weaker than the MX 150)

WQHD Display

 

This seems to me that the T490s is weaker than the older notebook in graphics at least. Am I right?

Is there any Lenovo user that can help me in this decision?

[TheGlenlivet]

21 minutes ago, Hip said:

Hey guys,

 

I need a new laptop and I wonder which one of these two is better.

 

T480s

i7 8550U

16GB RAM

GPU: MX 150

WQHD Display

 

T490s

i7 8565U

16GB RAM

GPU: Intel HD 620 (which is weaker than the MX 150)

WQHD Display

 

This seems to me that the T490s is weaker than the older notebook in graphics at least. Am I right?

Is there any Lenovo user that can help me in this decision?

How much more is the t490s?  It's better in both CPU and GPU.  But is it worth it...?

[genexis_x]

T490s has non-upgradable RAM and no dGPU option

[Hip]

9 hours ago, TheGlenlivet said:

How much more is the t490s?  It's better in both CPU and GPU.  But is it worth it...?

100 € more

 

@GeneXiS_X So when I take 16GB Ram I can't upgrade to 24GB later??

[genexis_x]

54 minutes ago, Hip said:

So when I take 16GB Ram I can't upgrade to 24GB later?

Yes. But you can upgrade in T480s (one free slot, another one soldered)

 

Also: i5 is enough, you can upgrade RAM/SSD after purchase to save cost

[Hip]

58 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Yes. But you can upgrade in T480s (one free slot, another one soldered)

 

Also: i5 is enough, you can upgrade RAM/SSD after purchase to save cost

Actaually the "highend" version is way cheaper for me because I buy it from campus program.

Is the dGPU a problem at all in the T490s?

[genexis_x]

18 minutes ago, Hip said:

campus program

Oh ok. I thought you customize through their website

18 minutes ago, Hip said:

Is the dGPU a problem at all in the T490s?

If your workload don't require much GPU power then not a problem

[Hip]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Oh ok. I thought you customize through their website

If your workload don't require much GPU power then not a problem

Do you know if it's possible to connect an eGPU to it?

[aisle9]

14 hours ago, Hip said:

Hey guys,

 

I need a new laptop and I wonder which one of these two is better.

 

T480s

i7 8550U

16GB RAM

GPU: MX 150

WQHD Display

 

T490s

i7 8565U

16GB RAM

GPU: Intel HD 620 (which is weaker than the MX 150)

WQHD Display

 

This seems to me that the T490s is weaker than the older notebook in graphics at least. Am I right?

Is there any Lenovo user that can help me in this decision?

Speaking purely as a Lenovo fanboy, I'd go for the T480S. The T490S is an abomination that ditches the traditional ThinkPad "buy now, upgrade later" mentality in favor of an Apple-like "upgrade now or forever hold your peace" approach. I'm saving up for a T480S. A T490S...let's just hope the inevitable T4010S rights the wrongs of its predecessor and returns ThinkPads to what differentiates them from Apple; what makes them ThinkPads.

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Hip said:

Do you know if it's possible to connect an eGPU to it?

Both are possible, however T480s has only 2 PCIe lanes over TB3

[Fatih19]

2 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Speaking purely as a Lenovo fanboy, I'd go for the T480S. The T490S is an abomination that ditches the traditional ThinkPad "buy now, upgrade later" mentality in favor of an Apple-like "upgrade now or forever hold your peace" approach. I'm saving up for a T480S. A T490S...let's just hope the inevitable T4010S rights the wrongs of its predecessor and returns ThinkPads to what differentiates them from Apple; what makes them ThinkPads.

What makes them Thinkpad is that the people who buy them can actually think.

As for the modern thinkpad, yeah, it's pretty disappointing. I wish modern hardware can be powerful without sacrificing upgradability.

[aisle9]

3 hours ago, Fatih19 said:

What makes them Thinkpad is that the people who buy them can actually think.

As for the modern thinkpad, yeah, it's pretty disappointing. I wish modern hardware can be powerful without sacrificing upgradability.

I've seen some Lenovo disciples who are as bad as Apple fanboys, insisting that the -40 trackpad was great despite lacking physical buttons, the -30 and later island-style keyboard is as good as the old seven-row, that the T25 was a good idea and a worthwhile purchase, and that the corners cut during creation of the -90 series were all worthwhile and make for a better, more streamlined product family.

 

In reality, imo, the trackpad without physical buttons was a joke (and Lenovo agreed), the island-style keyboard is the best laptop keyboard out there today but pales in comparison to the seven-row, the T25 was a massive marketing gimmick and offered virtually nothing noteworthy about the $2,500-ish product aside from going back to the old seven-row keyboard, and the corners cut during the -90 were all in the interest of using a single motherboard design for both the X390 and T490 to cut costs, meaning both systems are badly gimped.

 

Lenovo's done a lot of amazing things and the people I know who really use their laptops are out there spending $800-1,500 on a new ThinkPad (or spending a lot less on a used one in great shape). The few people I know who've dropped over $1K on an Apple craptop are using them for word processing, email, web browsing and YouTube. You know, things you can do with a $199 Chinese netbook from AliExpress.

[Fatih19]

2 hours ago, aisle9 said:

I've seen some Lenovo disciples who are as bad as Apple fanboys, insisting that the -40 trackpad was great despite lacking physical buttons, the -30 and later island-style keyboard is as good as the old seven-row, that the T25 was a good idea and a worthwhile purchase, and that the corners cut during creation of the -90 series were all worthwhile and make for a better, more streamlined product family.

 

In reality, imo, the trackpad without physical buttons was a joke (and Lenovo agreed), the island-style keyboard is the best laptop keyboard out there today but pales in comparison to the seven-row, the T25 was a massive marketing gimmick and offered virtually nothing noteworthy about the $2,500-ish product aside from going back to the old seven-row keyboard, and the corners cut during the -90 were all in the interest of using a single motherboard design for both the X390 and T490 to cut costs, meaning both systems are badly gimped.

I don't know much about T-Series, I mostly harbor toward the X-Series, but yeha, I have agree with this point. They did remove physical button on the X240 but later reinstall them on the X250 so yeah.