About three weeks ago, I ordered my Lenovo ThinkPad T14s, which is my first laptop with an AMD processor. While the shipping time was expected to be more than eight weeks, I was greeted with a surprise on 31 Dec 2020, when I received a notification that my laptop has been delivered. Over the past week, I used it regularly as I had many meetings outside of my home. Written below are some thoughts I have about this new laptop of mine!
For just a price of $1127 (albeit after some discounts), this laptop has above average specs, and seems to be a great and affordable option for business people and students. Over the hectic first week of 2021, the laptop has shown to be able to handle multitasking well, with almost no latency, even with multiple tabs open on Google Chrome, Figma, Telegram, all while having an online meeting. With that said, this laptop uses Radeon integrated graphics, instead of a dedicated graphics card (think the latest GTX/RTX), so I probably wouldn’t game too much on it!
With a thickness of 16.1mm and a weight of 1.28kg, the ThinkPad is definitely easier on my back (as compared to my ASUS G551) when travelling to work or school! The picture speaks for itself.
The battery life seems to be decent, lasting roughly 6-8 hours per full charge (but it is unwise to let any battery fall below 20% charge as that will hurt the battery life. - source: me, a computer engineering student). With the battery lasting that long, it is impressive that the performance of the laptop is not significantly affected, as laptops with good performance generally use more power which either results in a shorter battery life, or a heavier laptop.
One aspect of the ThinkPad I really like would be its amazing keyboard. I have always enjoyed typing on external keyboards due to their deeper key travels. The deep and satisfying key travel of the ThinkPad keyboard, along with its concave keys that guide one’s fingers sealed the deal on the ThinkPad. On top of that (well actually below the keyboard), the ThinkPad also comes with a fingerprint scanner, making the logon process swift!
Let’s not forget the iconic red trackpoint, nub, or mouse nipple. When I got my first laptop 10 years ago, it was an IBM ThinkPad (before IBM sold their PC business to Lenovo), and the nub was already there, so seeing it again brings a sense of nostalgia. I don’t really use it though.
I feel that the ThinkPad T14s has great value for its price, especially the AMD version, as it is generally cheaper. I am also extremely satisfied with its overall design! Be it for school or work, the T14s is a good fit and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new laptop.