Lenovo ThinkPad T490 Laptop Review: A business laptop with long battery life and an iGPU

[Redaktion]

We are already well acquainted with the ThinkPad T490, having reviewed the model with an NVIDIA GPU only last month. Now it is time for the model with only an Intel GPU to be subjected to our tests, but how will it perform in the absence of a dedicated GPU? Read on in our detailed review to find out.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T490-Laptop-Review-A-business-laptop-with-long-battery-life-and-an-iGPU.424838.0.html

[william blake]

a laptop category i hate the most-"business"
too much money for too little.
screen is great? 60 bucks.
thunderbolt is pricy? can i ask you why?
look at the internals. not far from 300usd laptops. is it so difficult to dissipate 40 watts without 40 db? i dont think so. take extra 100 usd please for some well engineered heatpipes and coolers.

[Benjamin Herzig]

As someone who likes business systems: Different devices for different users. These devices are not made for the average consumer, which explains why they don't have a good value compared to consumer laptops. These systems are made for big companies, which have different priorities, like reliability, security as well as better warranty services and manageability features.

[william blake]

As someone who likes business systems: Different devices for different users. These devices are not made for the average consumer, which explains why they don't have a good value compared to consumer laptops. These systems are made for big companies, which have different priorities, like reliability, security as well as better warranty services and manageability features.

1.a big company. lets say the biggest bank in a big country. central office. thinkpads on every table. they are not travelling with that devices, they are sitting there staring at the screen and talking with the clients all day long. and i was thinking why in the hell 14 inches. isnt 17 better for all these poor people? isnt that obvious?
2. and you say "reliability"? can you explain this a little?
3. business category is about "because they can". manufacturers can milk extra money from nothing. and you have no choice. want 3y warranty? please pay us 500usd more.
i'd say thats bullshit. you say thats fine, they gave you 3y warranty. we both correct but you stay on the manufacturer side for some reason.

[Rrrrrrrraaaaa]

So then t480s with i5 and mx150 still performs better?

[Benjamin Herzig]

@william blake,
a typical use-case for business laptops is in combination with a docking station and a bigger external monitor. 17 inch laptops are too large for most people to carry them around, even if it is just in the office. Thats why 14 inch and 15.6 inch variants are much more popular than 17 inch laptops.

Reliability just means that business laptops are typically put through more quality and longevity tests. These systems are supposed to last at least three years and if they break during their warranty (which can be extended to up to 5 years in some cases), the repairs are expensive for the manufacturers. Thats why business laptops tend to be more reliably compared to cheap consumer PCs that you may buy in a Wallmart or Best Buy, since these PCs are mainly optimized to offer the most "bang for a buck", but not really made to last long. Consumer laptops often have just a 1 or 2 year warranty as well.

[Gorjan]

Thank you for a great review of the T490. I'm thinking of buying the T490 with the WQHD monitor and also occasionally connecting the pc to an external 4K display with DP. Will the integrated graphic card be able to handle this without any hiccups or would it be wiser to go with the MX250? I mostly do office work and web browsing. Thank you.

[Sunil Raj]

One of the Cons : I believe the keyboard layout could have been better. "Ctrl" button which is generally at the left bottom has been moved one place and it's really annoying to someone who is used to quick copy/paste shortcuts. And the frequently used Home/End buttons could have been placed next to arrow keys.

[Aviram Iancovici]

As an owner of the i7-MX250 unit (got a new one from work), the reason I wanted it was the mobility and specs. in truth - with current updated BIOs, this laptop is crap and thermal throttles - you can change that to get a better performance at the cost of having this laptop reach critical temperatures.. and the 1440p screen option is useless, the screen is too small to tell the difference plus it's a nightmare with resolution change when docked with other resolution monitors.