Lenovo ThinkPad T470s: Carbon Competition 

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you were able to find a machine to meet your needs.

man you Americans and your absurdly cheap thinkpads 😡 used t470s' go for not less than $$250-300 here (par for the course for 2017-2018 laptops too 🙁)

@@nerd2544 So much depends on condition. A mint T470s with an i5 or i7 with 8 gb plus of RAM, 256 gb SSD is easily $250-$300.

@@hoppysport2872 cheapest I found was a bit over $200 but it had cosmetic wear and tear (scratches and chips and what not), other than that all the T470s in the market (this ugly one included) are identical specs

@@nerd2544 I was lucky enough to buy my i5 6300u that had 3 months left on the warranty. I had the lid, bezel, palm rest, screen, backlit keyboard and NVMe SSD replaced under warranty, so it looks new.

Makes sense. They also probably had a few extra chips lying around to get out the door.

The X1 Carbon (8th) has a 51Wh battery, so cloes to the modern T14 and less than the T14s with its 57Wh. So the TB3 lanes and better display options, plus build materials might be the few remaining differences. I totally agree with your final statement; to me, this is X1 territory, so now what's left for the X1 to do?

@@LaptopRetrospective In my opinion, Lenovo is using X1 as the new brand to compete against Dell XPS or Macbooks for general customers that does not know a lot of Thinkpad. So you see, a lot of Tech reviewers that are not really into business orientated products would often call x1 carbon just as lenovo x1 carbon as the others would emphasizes the thinkpad brand.

You raise a valid point about branding, the X1 name is very important not just internally, but perhaps even more so externally. In a team of machines, it is indeed the one most reviewers would and do often compare against other brands. I've spent a lot of time trying to find videos and content that was comprehensive that compared the X1 Carbon to the T14, T14s and X13 and came up short. I'd love to make that series myself but my pockets aren't that deep.

Aye, lots to like, that's for sure.

Hey James! So glad you found the videos helpful. I'm just editing a video now that I'd love your opinion on.

It's crazy slick.

switching from broadwell to kaby lake seems like such a waste to me. you might as well go up one generation to coffee lake and get double the cores and threads

A lot of the used market depends on availability and pricing.

It sure is! I'm really glad I crossed paths with it.

😁 It has been a real eye opener having it around.

That's quite an upgrade I imagine. ;-)

Yeah so it would seem. There has been some good discussion about the X1 in the comments here.

What would you recommend between t470,t470s and x270?

@@clagccs x270 if size and weight matters.T470 otherwise. But make sure that you get x270 with FHD IPS display. Also make sure that they actually have the internal battery, often times you see them without it.

Good advice. ☝️

@@LaptopRetrospective I am always so mad when I see a great Lenovo thinkpad with those TN $hitty panels, shame on Lenovo for this, they shoul not install those to the Thinkpad series at all.

Glad you've enjoyed the video! After looking at hundreds of laptops you start to appreciate the small things.

The IR camera was an option that the purchaser could select. It was usually offered on the higher end prebuilts.

Haha, yeah I'm not too worried about a few grams thankfully.

@@LaptopRetrospective Yeah, it really all depends on how much time you spend carrying your laptop around. I prefer to travel with just carry-on, so each gram matters when you're limited to 7 to 8kg when travelling outside of North America. But yeah, for most people, it's a moot point. If I won the lottery, I'd run out and get the X1 Nano, ha ha.

The Nano is cool, but it's the next round of thin and lights and that wasn't a super big draw for me the first time.

@@LaptopRetrospective I just love thin and light, I can't help it. There were a lot of years where I'd upgrade my personal laptop every year, and it was so much fun seeing how much smaller and lighter I could go.

@@LaptopRetrospective By the way, the original SSD failed (not unusual, since it was five years old and who knows how it was used before I got it) so I ended up having to do a fresh install of everything (the recovery USB stick didn't work so I had to download Windows 10 from Microsoft directly). Since then, Lenovo Vantage, keeps disabling the Battery Charge Threshold. I don't suppose you know what might be causing the problem? I've updated all the drivers, so I'm at a loss, because it was working fine before the SSD meltdown.

Global prices can vary a fair bit. Glad to hear your X200 is well.

I'm honoured by your generosity!

I'd go with the T470.

I'd imagine it would do well.

Fair points.

To be fair, I use my T430 on the train and I don’t think it’s that bad.

Sounds like your computer had a rough previous life or was stacked way too much. These machines are usually good at avoiding keyboards damaging the screen.

@@LaptopRetrospective Now, between the screen and the keyboard, I use a spacer made of Fizelin. But I still rate this laptop as very good.

I hope it works hard for you.

If I ever get those machines, I'll film them. Since the s variants generally have more of a Carbon upgrade path both will be very similar with the exception of CPUs. Newer will be better.

BIOS for this machine is stored in the EEPROM. This makes is fairly difficult to do anything about. Many people will replace the motherboard or try and desolder the chip for a fresh one. For more information, you can visit: www.ja.axxs.net/other_models.htm

Yeah I would. With its dual batteries and other features it's really good for that use.

The machine may have the slot but not the modem, have you confirmed you have one installed?

ThinkPad gets my vote. I haven't had the chance to see the 840 G4.

I'm not entirely sure I understand your question.

@Leonytha-Meriana: this laptop has Ram soldered onto the motherboard and only ONE Ram-module slot.

The s model is thinner and has an internal single battery. The regular one has dual batteries and is thicker. People are somewhat split but generally prefer the regular model.

What about the performance of both ? Does any one has heat issue?

CPU is the same in both so it's all down to cooling. The T470 on paper should cool better. More mass to move heat.

Interesting choices! Any T480 around? Reason I ask is you're close to an 8th generation Intel which would give you Windows 11 official support. Between the two you've listed, if you don't care about battery life or device screen size, the T470s with the newer CPU and NVMe slot would get my consideration.

@@LaptopRetrospective thanks for the information :-) . the X270 with the 1080p-resolution on a 12-incher screen, i know will have more pixel-density than the 1080p-resolution on the 14-incher screen of the T470S. that being said, i wonder why it sounds like there would be more "battery life" on the X270 than the T470S, when they both have "dual battery"; Only reason i can figure is, older (and therefore "less powerful") processor (on this particular X270). (that being said the 7th-generation Intel Core processor is more efficient, so i wonder why it wouldn't-have better battery-life)). that being said, i haven't seen any T480's thus-far at ANY of the places in my area--or--city that sell Refurbished computers. however, i'm not interested in the T480 because of the soldered-onto-the-motherboard power-port. i'm also not interested in Windows 11 (nor 10. nor 8. nor 8.1) because of the Telemetry and the Privacy-implications (including but-not-limited-to the current End-User-Licence-Agreement: "Microsoft reserves the right to scan all of your pictures, photos, videos, documents, music-files, etcetera etcetera, when we have reason to believe we have "good faith" in doing so. and only we at Microsoft can make that determination of " *when* it is "good faith" to do so". "), as well as the-fact that i don't like being *forced* to have an account of a Microsoft product (example: Hotmail. Xbox. Etc.) JUST to be able to log-in *to my OWN computer* . first thing i'm gonna do, when-&-if i get any of these computers, is boot into a LiveUSB of a Linux distro and install Linux on them. (my current "daily-driver" computer, a Asus P43E-XH31* laptop with a Intel Core i3 2330M in it, is running a "dual boot" configuration of EndeavourOS (with the KDE desktop-environment) and Windows-7-Professional-64-bit). *(what seems-to-be a 14-incher version of this ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AqdXtwaiNe4.html ) Once-again, thanks-so-much for the help :-) . P.S. if i could i'd get BOTH 😅 (but as things are right-now, it'd be best to get the best of the two first, and THEN later-on, if the other is still available, get the other).

The X270 has PowerBridge which has an internal, fixed capacity battery and an external battery that can be up to 9 cell. The T470s at its best has two internal batteries. Since they have to fit inside, the capacity is less

@@LaptopRetrospective oh i see :-) . thanks for the explanation 👍.

@@LaptopRetrospective by the way: Is it possible to remove the internal-batteries of the T470S, or the internal battery of the X270 (or any laptop that has PowerBridge), if the internal-battery (or internal-batteries, in the case of the T470S) doesn’t hold-a-charge anymore, and/or if it (let's hope not) gets swelled-up?

Not sure I understand your question.

hard drive too slow. Do you have windows installed on a HDD?

Noted and thanks for the welcome, hopefully I'll get more chances to visit in the future.

@@LaptopRetrospective I hope we both will! The ThinkPad X1 extreme series is the next one I'm eyeing up

Those are neat for sure.

I have a T480s also. It's one of the last ones you can upgrade stuff on and have all the ports you need.

Think it was still DDR3 in those. Edit: Sorry, it is DDR4.

The x260 got the bump up to ddr4

Yep, 16GB max. Was thinking another generation in my head. Thanks for the comment.

@@LaptopRetrospective it looks like the t460s 6th gen also got the ddr4 treatment. I wonder if any others.

All in that generation would have been the same I think.

Depends on the laptop. If it has the contacts for it pre installed then it's just a matter of sourcing the parts.

@@LaptopRetrospective The next time I disassemble it, I will check for the contacts. It has only been disassembled once and God knows how a the disassembly process of this machine is daunting. I was asking about the Smart Card because I wanna use it to hook up an external GPU, do you think it is worth it?

I think you've confused Express Card with SmartCard.

@@LaptopRetrospective Oh I am so sorry! I have meant Express Card all along.

Okay, so most laptops that had Express Card, come with them. On the T540p it's located just above the SD card slot on the left hand side I believe. It might have a blank installed but pressing it in should eject it.

I'd go with the T470 since it has PowerBridge and also has the newer CPU according to your listing.

@@LaptopRetrospective thanks!

No problem. Let me know how it all goes.

@@LaptopRetrospective hi again. I contacted the seller of t470. He sent me this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KTLTjCVNg2I.html and told me the laptop has the same cosmetic problem. Both clips are broken. He said it is very hard to notice it. But I'm not sure is it really only a cosmetic problem. He told me also that the laptop has new SSD Kingston and everything else is perfect with the machine. I checked this guy, the seller. He has a very good reviews in some local sites. His hobby is to refurbish laptops. But, as he is a private person, there is no warranty. Can you advice me on this issue please? Thanks in advance.

The clips are likely broken as they state and due to that won't fully close the keyboard deck and top cover. Depending on where the clip broke that means replacing the bottom cover or top deck. Not impossible but not ideal at that price point either. If you can view it before buying that's the best way to make up your mind.

I'd go T480. Newer CPU architecture.

@@LaptopRetrospectivewhy not the 480s instead ? Thanks

S variant doesn't have two batteries, has soldered RAM and not as many configurations if I remember right. If you want something slimmer and you're buying it used, the X1 Carbon is more of a better comparison.

If you have it, through the usual Bluetooth menus in Windows. Double check Device Manager that you actually have it.

@@LaptopRetrospective j'ai déjà fait bcp des essais ms pas de résultats Je pose la question s'il y a une technique par clavier (des buttons spécifiques)

There is no keyboard key. Have you checked Device Manager to see if you even have it?

@@LaptopRetrospective yes i do, but it's not there

@hafsaelkehihel7 If it isn't in Device Manager, how do you know you have it?

Hmmm good question. I'm not sure.

Can confirm. Mine has a 6300U and Thunderbolt.

Only the i7-6600U variant.

@@JackBandicootsBunker Nope, mine has an i5-6300U and it has Thunderbolt 3.

I wonder if it was a configurable option? Wonder if the webpage is intact in Wayback?

It's been a very educational video for me personally. I'm used to seeing older generations where the comparisons between the two groups were seldom made, but now I feel that game changed along the way and I'm working it out for myself. I'd love to get a modern T series and X1 side by side.

@@LaptopRetrospective The 8th Gen X1 Carbon (the only one with which I have any experience) feels like a very finely-made product: It's more than that it feels "solid" which is probably the impression made by any ThinkPad model in any series; the X1C is aesthetically pleasing in a way which isn't easy to describe. The sort of subtle qualitative difference between the X1 Carbon and the thinner T series models probably can't be fully appreciated without by a side-by-side comparison; and that difference won't be enough for some people to justify paying more.

Sight unseen I suspect not. I was trying to find content that compared them in detail but sadly I came up empty handed. I don't want to be that guy that orders both with the full intent of not keeping one.

That's awesome to hear what you've done. Linux is great for breathing new life as well.

Yes? What specific features are you looking for?

​@@LaptopRetrospective I am used to scrolling with two fingers and with 3 fingers when increasing/reducing volume volume i was wondering if this laptop trackpad has the same features as the elitebook 840 g3 i have at the moment

Three fingers for volume might be something specific to that computer unless it can be configured in Windows and not a third party program.

Between 6th and 7th, I'd try for 7th.

N which model is better to buy... t470 or t470s?

Depends on what you value more, battery life or portability?

Both 🤭 but im confuse b/w these... Please guide how much difference in battery life in these... n is t470 not portable?

Both are portable but the T470 has the PowerBridge dual battery setup whereas the T470s has only an internal battery.

Understandable. The T14 does have one expansion slot but I don't know of that matters as much for me personally. Trying to decide if I'd rather have that or the bigger battery of the T14s.

My T470s has one soldered memory slot and one additional memory slot. Mine came with 16gb, one soldered 8gb and one added 8gb. I removed the 8 gb and added a Crucial 16gb for a total of 24. I paid $53 for the Crucial memory on sale.

I mentioned it briefly in the video but don't go into detail because this example was missing one of its internal batteries.

With both batteries working at optimum capacity, I get 7-8 hours. With the smaller one compromised, you'll get half that.