Lenovo ThinkPad A485 (Ryzen 5 Pro) Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

A combination of Lenovo's well-known T series and the AMD Ryzen processors: this can really only turn out well, or can it? Find out in this extensive review, why in the end the ThinkPad T480 Intel model is a better choice than its AMD sibling, the ThinkPad A485!

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-A485-Ryzen-5-Pro-Laptop-Review.334528.0.html

[Lollllll]

Have you seen the differences in the cooling system between this model and the Intel counterpart? One pipe Vs two pipes: this is why the Ryzen model cannot keep up...but as long as OEM won't pay the same attention in designing amd model as they pay to implement intel CPUs...amd chipsets will never show their full potential...just my opinion

[Marc]

You guys do undervolt testing on some of your reviews. Then why can't you do some testing with Dual Channel RAM? We also want to know the performance when the laptop isn't neutered by a single stick of memory.

[william blake]

yep, another oems fault lol. this meme is too strong. ryzen architecture consumes more=oems are bad. lisa su lied about performance-oems are bad(yes guys, there is no magic involved and 600 cinebench cpu+3000 3dmark gpu is not possible in 15w package. just by the laws of physics). no 45w products in a YEAR=oems are bad. new lenovo 17-330 with bristol ridge crap but not ryzen=oems are bad. and so on and on. and "we proud, we proud, we proud" from and management.

[M2018]

Just another Lenovo crap - poor performance and overpriced!

[fmyhr]

IF Lenovo had included ECC RAM support (which AFAIK Ryzen Pro is fully capable of), this review would be singing a different tune. There are *zero* mid-cost long-battery-life ECC-capable Intel notebooks available -- only high-power, very expensive Xeon "workstation" notebooks. If there were just ONE Ryzen notebook that supported ECC RAM, it would have that segment ALL TO ITSELF.

...Maybe that's why Lenovo isn't giving us a Ryzen notebook with ECC Support: they fear it would undercut their Xeon notebook sales...?

[Vance]

There is not one stand-out thing about this laptop except for its input devices.

"Robust case" is debatable. Since Lenovo uses ABS plastic that is prone to cracking for B and C covers (screen, keyboard bezels and palmrest) and stopped providing magnesium alloy for A and D covers (lid and base), build quality has been significantly worse than its predecessors. Same goes to all apart from the X and T4x0s series.

"Extensive equipment" maybe but struggles to compete without TB3 x4, PCIe x4, UHS-2 SD, etc which even many consumer laptops have these days. FP reader successfully works less than half the time and IR cam has accessibility issues.

"Silent operation" is desirable however not at the expense of any expected performance gain. Same goes for the "powerbridge battery" as LG Gram 14 with 72 Wh battery can last 12 hours, far outshining the A485 that is twice as heavy a laptop with its 96 Wh .

Finally, each of the points in the cons section is a definite deal breaker on its own. And that's not even counting the cons of the original T480 like its dreadful audio and FHD screen choices. I really don't understand what they were thinking here.

[NilRecurring]

I love this website. It's a fantastic resource if you are interested in laptops - that is if you read it and ignore all the scores, because they seem absolutely meaningless

Your weighted scores seem to range from 70 (crap) to 92 (best there is), so why does a device, that has good input devices as a single positive notion, get a score of 88 (or 89 on the German site)? Why is battery life decribed as 'very poor', but still get a category rating of 81%?

When I was reading the review, I got the feeling that a lot of this Laptop was middling at best and there is more outstandingly bad than good - especially in important categories like battery life. And that for a 1200+ euro device. So why is the score so positive?

You are the most thorough and comprehensive mobile tech reviewing site on the internet, but your scoring system seems arbitrary as hell, which unfortunately also makes your best-of rakings suspect. And this is frustrating...

[Tygran]

Maybe you shouldn't use an old BIOS-Version. In this Test BIOS-Version 1.00 was used, but Version 1.02 is available. My A485 with Ryzen 2700U Pro had also the old version installed. And I got similar results when running benchmarks. After updating to 1.02 everything was as it should be, the CPU is running stable at 2,4-2,6 GHz on all cores, running Prime95 for more than an hour. The only problem left, as far as I know, is a flaw in the BIOS, that keeps Linux/Grub from booting without adding some boot options manually.

[DeepskyScorpion]

So it would take Lenovo to allow the other display options and to run dual channel RAM for this to only be worse in the battery department than the T480s counterpart? Though, I do have to wonder why the single channel RAM is present in this review and I do hope to see one with ual channel RAM config.

[william blake]

so amd so called15w apu consumes so much that 1 heatpipe is not enough? another law of physics destroyed by lisa su?
..
ill tell you the proper example when oems are just wrong. dell 5770 intel-with ssd option. dell 5775 amd-without ssd option. thats a clear bullshit.

[Anonym]

so amd so called15w apu consumes so much that 1 heatpipe is not enough? another law of physics destroyed by lisa su?

Actually, much like any modern CPU, the quoted TDP is only valid for the base clock. As soon as you turbo boost the figures will change dramatically, which is valid for Intel as well.

The thing is, despite the landscape on the desktop, when it comes to mobile Intel still appears to hold the edge in regards to power and thermal management. Do note I'm saying the manage those better, not that they are inherently better in heat output or at doing more operations with less power. They are just leaps and bounds ahead in achieving the right compromises in mobile, which clearly shows.

[OPLEaDER]

Have you seen the differences in the cooling system between this model and the Intel counterpart? One pipe Vs two pipes: this is why the Ryzen model cannot keep up...but as long as OEM won't pay the same attention in designing amd model as they pay to implement intel CPUs...amd chipsets will never show their full potential...just my opinion

Hi, I'd like to point out that the reciew page here has a picture of the inside of  a T480 on the A485 review page. The Intel CPU only option with no dGPU for the T480 also only has one heat pipe, and the single heatpipe in the A485 is actually thicker.

[commandline.be]

Owner of a Ryzen 1700 desktop and quite happy.

The disappointment not being able to find a Ryzen based laptop with high enough nits and battery life of 6 hours or better has grown to irritability.

It is almost a law the notebook/laptop makers pair the Ryzen with a power hungry GPU and poor display as well as poor battery.

Maybe the test engineer should also take into consideration tweaking the bios to be more battery friendly or test with a power conserving application ?

I hope there will be laptop CPU and APU for Zen2 which take this to the next level.

[mathew7]

Soooo, when will the A285 be tested? I really want a smaller laptop (still have the x230) with better integrated GPU. My other optimus(1060) is terrible in linux (not powering off the GTX when I need battery life). So I want to avoid 2 GPUs.