Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 Review

  • Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 Review
4.6

Summary

If you are looking for a laptop that is portable without compromising on performance or build quality, the ThinkPad T14s is the right choice. While it’s designed primarily as a business laptop, it can handle much more than your work. The T14s is also a great laptop if you occasionally play video games. With the FHD screen, it’s also excellent for movies and shows, especially when you are on the go and can’t access a TV.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 is a great choice for anyone shopping for an ultra-portable and powerful business laptop. Powered by the 11th generation Intel i7 processor, the T14s is smooth, powerful and perfect for business and corporate users. The 16GB RAM can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. 

It comes already equipped with Windows 11 Pro 64, so you can get down to work immediately. Read on for our full in-depth review of the ThinkPad T14s Gen 2. 

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 Review

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 Review

My new laptop…

What Are You Buying?

1. Ultra-portable Laptop

The ThinkPad T14s weighs just 1.28kg. You can use it just as comfortably in the office as you can on the road. It’s a great buy if you spend a lot of time on the move and would like a lightweight laptop that you can easily carry with you.

Portability is not just about weight, battery life matters a great deal too. Fortunately, the T14s is up to the task when it comes to battery life. The 57Wh Li-Po battery can deliver up to 14.6 hours of use, ensuring you can get a whole day’s work out of the laptop.

So you don’t have to worry if you are planning to do some work in a place without power supply like at the beach or in a train. Even when doing highly intensive tasks that use more power, you can still get several hours from the T14s.

When you get a chance to recharge the laptop, its 65W fast charging power supply gets it from 0 to 80% in just one hour.

By the way, just because the T14s is light it doesn’t mean it’s delicate. Lenovo says it has been tested against 12 military-grade requirements and over 200 quality checks to ensure they can endure a wide range of conditions from the arctic to deserts and even zero gravity environments.

2. Fast and Powerful Business Laptop

Many ultra-portable laptops tend to compromise on performance in order to keep the laptop lightweight. Not so with the ThinkPad T14s. It delivers on portability while ensuring you still have enough power to do your work.

Under the hood is an 11th gen Intel Core i7 vPro processor. Along with 16GB of RAM and integrated Intel® Iris® Xe graphics, the T14s can handle pretty much anything from everyday programs to media editing. It can function as a development workstation, run specialised applications for your particular field and is even a pretty good gaming laptop.

3. Large SSD Storage

With 512GB of SSD storage, you not only have plenty of memory for your files, you also get a zipping fast computer. SSD is a lot faster than traditional HDD memory and makes tasks like opening programs and editing files multiple times faster.

4. 16:9 FHD Display

When it comes to the display, it’s just as good as you’d expect from a high-end business laptop. It’s a 14 inch 16:9 display with a FHD 1920 x 1080 resolution.

It has a max brightness of 500 nits, which is bright enough for comfortable outdoor use. This adds to the portability of the T14s. You can work anywhere, inside or outside. The display is also specially designed to be anti-glare.

There are a number of screen options including a low-power option that compromises on brightness but maximises battery life, a FHD wide-angle touchscreen, and a stunning 4K option that uses Dolby Vision IPS HDR technology to deliver sharp contrast and accurate colours.

5. Versatile I/O Options

The ThinkPad T14s has a total of 9 input and output ports. These include a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports that allow you to quickly charge the laptop, transfer huge files, mirror or extend your laptop screen to another display and connect to other wired accessories.

You can also link the T14s to a second monitor like a TV or another device using the HDMI 2.0 port. It also comes with two USB-A 3.2 outlets, a combined headphone and mic port, a mechanical docking port, a Kensington Nano Security Slot, and a smart card reader.

6. Fast Wireless Connectivity

The Lenovo T14s comes equipped with WiFi 6, which offers fast, secure and reliable connectivity whether you are at home or have connected to a public network.

In addition, the T14s has built-in 5G WWAN. Yes, it is a 5G laptop, which offers a fast alternative to WiFi. But note that you’ll need to configure it with your mobile network provider.

The T14s also comes with Bluetooth connectivity, Bluetooth 5.1 to be specific. It’s not the very latest version (we are currently at Bluetooth 5.3) but it’s pretty recent so it’s fast and low energy.

7. Upgraded Security

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s goes beyond the standard security measures you get in regular Windows laptops. It adds several other layers of defence to protect your files and data.

It comes with a fingerprint reader to ensure only you can turn on the laptop. The fingerprint reader is integrated in the power button so you can power it on while authenticating your identity at the same time. This allows fast boot up.

There’s also an IR camera that allows touch-free login even when the laptop is asleep.

The T14s can also detect when you walk away from the laptop and it will lock it automatically. When you come back, you can use the IR camera for quick login.

If you are working in a crowded place, you can turn on the privacy filter to prevent other people nearby from peeping what’s on your screen.

How Easy Is It to Use?

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s is smooth, fast, responsive…all the things you want from a business laptop. Thanks to the 16GB RAM, it can handle multiple programs without slowing down. The SSD memory also helps speed things along.

The keyboard feels nice under your fingers and it’s backlit so you can work in the dark (and it looks nice). Lenovo ThinkPads have some of the best keyboards you’ll find on a laptop. If you spend a lot of time writing or coding, you will love working with the T14s Gen 2.

The HDMI and the USB-C thunderbolt ports make it easy to connect the T14s to other devices. If you are planning to set up a large workstation with multiple monitors, it’s easy to do that with the T14s.

We also love how portable the T14s laptop is. Even if you are not planning to take it on the road, you’ll find its thin and lightweight design handy when moving it around in the office or at home.

What Accessories Are Included?

The only accessory included with the ThinkPad T14s is an AC adapter.

Pros

  • Great choice if you are shopping for a highly portable laptop.
  • Powerful and ideal for a wide range of business applications.
  • Long battery life with fast charging.
  • High quality display.
  • Versatile inputs and outputs.

Cons

  • Not ideal if you are shopping for a budget laptop.
  • Can get a bit hot when running at full processing power.

Anything Else You Should Know?

If you want the more technical details of the T14s Gen 2 laptop, here are the main specs.

  • Dimensions: 16.14mm x 327.5mm x 224mm
  • Weight: 1.28KG 
  • Display: 14” 16:9 FHD and 4K 
  • Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Processor (2.40 GHz up to 4.20 GHz)
  • Graphics: Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
  • Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 64
  • RAM: 16 GB LPDDR4X-4266MHz
  • Storage: 512 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe TLC Opal
  • Camera: FHD IR/RGB Hybrid with Dual Array Microphone and Privacy Shutter
  • Battery: 4 Cell Li-Po 57Wh (About 14.6 hours battery life)
  • Wireless connectivity: WiFi 6, 5G WWAN & Bluetooth 5.1
  • Power supply: USB-C 65W

Conclusion

If you are looking for a laptop that is portable without compromising on performance or build quality, the ThinkPad T14s is the right choice.

While it’s designed primarily as a business laptop, it can handle much more than your work. The T14s is also a great laptop if you occasionally play video games. With the FHD screen, it’s also excellent for movies and shows, especially when you are on the go and can’t access a TV.

Where To Buy?

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