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Lenovo ThinkPad T470 Review

Lenovo ThinkPad T470 ReviewThe matte charcoal grey exterior features a soft-touch surface, and the red gum-shaped TrackPoint controller is right where you'd expect it to be, in the middle of a comfortable keyboard. The Lenovo ThinkPad T470 measures 0.79 x 13.25 x 9.15 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.74 pounds with a standard three-cell battery. Replacing the extended six-cell battery increases the weight slightly, to 4.15 pounds. While not the lightest or thinnest laptop, it's only slightly larger and heavier than competitors. You should have no problem stowing the T470 in any laptop bag designed for laptops 15 inches or less.

Still the Best Keyboard

The backlit keyboard is spill-resistant, and each key has a comfortable clamshell feel. The keyboard feels premium. Continuous typing for several hours is not an issue on the T470, a trait it shares with pretty much every other ThinkPad in recent years. It has an integrated TrackPoint for ThinkPad computers and a one-piece trackpad under three physical mouse buttons. The trackpad uses Microsoft's TouchPad technology, so Windows 10 automatically updates its drivers, simplifying support. The fingerprint reader on the right side of the keyboard works with Windows Hello and can be integrated into your company's security policies for OneTouch logins to your account.

Sound and Vision: Adequate for Business

The system's speakers are under the base, pointed out from the front of the laptop. They provide enough volume to fill a small room but are tuned for voice rather than music or layered sounds from videos. They sounded fine while watching lectures on YouTube, for example, but the instant I played the trailers for movies, background sound effects and music muddled the voices and were a detriment to clarity.

Likewise, the 14-inch’s anti-glare coating reduces glare in a room but reduces colours. The Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display has enough space to function but is only rated at 220 nits. Having 220 nits is enough for office documents. The T470 is covered by a one-year warranty.

A 720p webcam is centred at the top of the screen, where you'd expect. The dual-array microphone is located next to the camera and features noise reduction for web conferencing and more. The camera's quality is perfectly suited for live webcasts or one-on-one on Skype for Business or other services.

Battery life

Battery life is a high point for the T470. It comes equipped with a three-cell internal battery, along with a three-cell hot-swappable external battery. The combination of both three-cell batteries lasted 9 hours and 21 minutes on our rundown test. However, there is also a six-cell removable battery option that lets you run the computer away from AC power for 17 hours, 39 minutes.

Technical Specs

The T470 comes in many configurations, namely the test subject which we have is the i5-6200u,8GB, 256GB SSD model. The i5-6200u is a 2 core, 4 threaded processor and it runs at a base frequency of 2.3 GHz and a turbo boost at 2.8 GHz. The ram situation in our sample is a single 8GB DIMM running at 2400Mhz. The graphics processor is the integrated Intel HD 520, which is capable enough for office tasks and some light gaming in your free time.

Lenovo ThinkPad T470 ports

The Lenovo ThinkPad T470 has all the connections an efficient user could want. One Thunderbolt 3 port allows users to connect a variety of high-speed Thunderbolt and USB Type C peripherals, including multi-function chargers and docks. While some laptop manufacturers use firmware that prevents their laptops from using third-party USB Type C chargers, Lenovo still works with any power source but guarantees to Protect you from power surges with anti-chip technology. We tested with the Innergie PowerGear USB C charger and the laptop worked perfectly.

The Classic Business Laptop

In many ways, the Lenovo ThinkPad T470 might be close to ideal for business. It has classic aesthetics, is powerful enough for most office tasks, is comfortable enough to satisfy a wide range of business users and has the potential for 17.5 hours of battery life on a single charge.