Lenovo ThinkPad T490 Review: Stunning 2K HDR Dolby Vision Display

[@hwhironman27]

Watching this with T420s, still working perfectly

[@메시-o5x]

Hani Hadid really? still working well?

[@yorungesineoturmayantelesk5790]

What a great review, thank you. I'm simple T series fan and users. Now I planning use my t480 to 2023. So why some People want to use Thinkpad t series? -Great keyboard feedback -durability -modifiable battery If I want to thin thinkpad, I will buy carbon x1. That is not t series that looks like cheap carbon x1.

[@victorvale5534]

X1 Carbon comapred to T490 is terrible. Other than it being slimmer and lighter future upgradability is almost nil. Not to mention no privacy camera, sd card slot and option for dGPU.

[@victorvale5534]

That's what I call a review. All aspects of the laptop covered. Excelent video quality - You've earned a sub!

[@wauroware]

glad you mentioned that the thunderbolt 3 use only 2 lane of PCIe

[@richardgilmore5607]

I am a little late to the game, but due to your review and the suggestion that getting the 2k model with the 500 nts display is the best bet, I just purchased the T490 on Lenovo yearly pre black Friday sale with a price protection for the rest of the year. Good price at 1417 CDN. (I think that 1050 USD)... Thanks Andrew for the great review.. I trust you and Lisa a lot in these reviews. I waited a long time after this specific review before I could get one at a price that meets my needs without breaking the bank.

[@lorcro2000]

Doing away with the removable battery and drive tray was stupid. The one thing I don't like about the T490, really. I mean - they have the T490s. That is nice and thin already, there was no need to think down the T490 itself at the expense of expandability and battery capacity. They also have the X1 Carbon where thinness is the defining characteristic, and performance is otherwise similar. Where's the expandable replaceable battery workhorse that was the T480? The T490 is a slightly fatter T490s now. Quite a stupid decision in my book.

[@datdang9113]

It's a trend now, to make thin laptop despite running hot and sacrifice upgradeability. I think the best choice is to buy older Thinkpad models, there're still plenty of them with better price

[@zector4583]

I agree. This is basically just a slightly chunkier T490s, minus the benefits we used to get with the non-s version.

You can still get T490 with dedicated mx250

[@aneeshprasobhan]

or just geta T580 or 90 ?? I think they still have the internal and external battery separately.

[@lorcro2000]

@@aneeshprasobhan Yeah the T480/580 do have a fixed and an externally accessible battery, both. Not a bad choice while they can be had.

[@JanRiberChristensen]

Lenovo should never had ditched the double battery design - that is: With one hot plug/unplug swappable battery.. N E V E R ! ! !

[@Kwntum]

Thanks so much Andrew for such a detailed review. I’m going to get one next week for my work laptop 🙏

[@andrewmarcdavid]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@skn180]

marc, how about a list of your favorite top ten laptops

[@jdavilape]

Still giving a good battle 👍

[@lexxynubbers]

Getting rid of the swappable battery is one of the best features. The availability of universal external battery packs which can be used for other devices makes a single purpose swappable battery redundant. It is now much easier to manage the single battery and keep the charge level to an optimal 80% with Lenovo Vantage software, although it would be nice if there was an easier method to boost the charge to 100% temporarily, without digging into Lenovo Vantage settings.

[@highendcheaptech9705]

Great laptop! Keep up the great work! Liked/shared right now.

[@karaygeoushearts]

Will you review the T590? I love that the keyboard comes with a numeric pad.

[@haydenstrickett4705]

Please do

[@muhammadasimsohaib2740]

It is Gorgeous... It Is..... Good Job Done Sir...

[@Bhethar]

Who else is watching this 5 years form the release date 😂?

[@3dlll]

I have the t480s full full. I am not going to buy this one until 5-6 years

[@wololo10]

Can we put this screen in our T480s? Would it identify it?

[@3dlll]

@@wololo10 Maybe who knows ? You can send an email to Lenovo's support to know if its fit or not

[@luigidi8658]

Hey Andrew, which would you recommend the T490 with the wqhd display or the yoga c940 uhd for photo editing?

[@GfM777]

Hi Andrew, thank you for this review. You talk about the 2K HDR Dolby Vision Display top of the line, the entry level is for the IT guys, but what about the medium level, for example the 14.0" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare, 250 nits & 300 nits? Do you think it is worth it?

[@andrewmarcdavid]

Yes, that display would be perfectly fine as well.

[@GfM777]

Thank you so much for your promptly answer, I need to know asap to make a decision to buy the t490 today.

[@DrWenChannel]

how would the T490 (performance, screen quality, benchmark) compare to the latest 2019/2020 Macbook Pro 16" ? Thanks

[@bega211]

PS. As always, Andrew, great reviews!

[@andrewmarcdavid]

Thanks!👊

[@deathwatcher429]

Great video as always! Would like to ask what is the best ultrabook on a budget? I really like the asus zenbook 13 but is quite high in terms or price, also like the hp envy but has downfalls. Would like to know any recommendations for budget ultrabooks. Thanks

[@lorcro2000]

Well, the T490 is basically an ultrabook and not expensive.

[@deathwatcher429]

Croft how much is it? 1100? Is it possible to have an ultrabook under 800?

[@adamwalter2573]

Quizz - do yo really like that keyboard ? Especially arrows - small in size, thin plastic, acting as if they were to fall off in a mintue ?

[@horacioborgen5215]

Hi! I just watched your videos of the L13 and the T490. I'm deciding between those 2, what do you thing is better, L13 i7, 8 ram and 256 sdd or T490 i5, 8 ram and 256 sdd? I appreciate your advice. Thanks!

[@avgonyma1]

Andrew, I got a P53 with a basic display. And everyone is just in awe of the gorgeous 4K. Do you think there is a chance to exchange that after acquisition (I mean technically)?

[@jamespucciarelli6538]

Hi Andrew, Thank you for a great no nonsense review. Do to this great video review it has helped me decide this is the one for me. This will be more of a secondary PC as I will be using this one for travel. Lenovo is running a great sale right now, so I'm going to be picking it up at a fantastic price. This will be my first Lenovo laptop after traveling with an HP Brick for the past 3 years.

[@turic1464]

How can i make a HID compliand touchscreen appear on my Lenovo T490, I already search it but I don't find it anywhere

[@henry5617]

Is there any ghosting with the 1440p display? I heard its a problem some people have noticed. I know this isn't a gaming device but I do want the possibility of light gaming on the side, and I am wondering if ghosting would effect this (I sometimes play shooters so it can get quite fast paced)

[@PaFeliePixel]

Really, the thinkpad t490 is the first to have top firing speakers, in the T series thinkpads? How about the t420i :).

[@andrewmarcdavid]

A laptop from 9 years ago.

[@vince2nd]

Very good. Very Very Good. This looks like what i NEED

[@sumayyaalmaftool9730]

Can i install pen to it? Does it support any type of pen?

[@sunnyreddy]

How reliable is hinges of T490 vs X1 Carbon?

[@64kdawg]

HORRIBLE. Who tf cares about thinness and lightness? T Series were known as robust upgradeable battery swappable machines. If you can't handle a few extra grams that's sad.

[@harshreddy680]

Can we smoothly run premiere pro and other adobe softwares with the t490 i7 10th gen mx250

[@igwearinze5184]

Have you tried it out?

[@jamesalexander1441]

This guys reviews are great, but does anyone else get that movies shifty-dealer type vibe from him? 😂

[@andrewmarcdavid]

😳

[@michaelxz1305]

well it is a very grey area (sites that resell license keys) - because they are often originally purchased through questionable ways before they are resold, so while the licenses do work - it might be morally grey

[@carlomagnoaborde8167]

Can this laptop do any architecturr works such us AutoCad, Sketchup, vray and lumion?

[@phenomenon7030]

Does it have an extra slot ssd ?

[@arvindynr]

does it support fedora?

[@periabytes]

x395 review?

[@akshaytelang4532]

Can it extend to two additional monitors?

[@adamwalter2573]

Nope, buy docking station. Only one additional display is supported.

[@pd5156]

I really cry everytime when I see new ThinkPad and Lenovo lack of logic. They are following Apple trying to make workstation laptops thinner and less user friendly, but they are ignoring best thing about Apple design, 16:10 screen or even better aspect ratio, 4:3. They remove all physical buttons for microphone and sound mute etc., but they keep that crazy FN key in the old spot for years. I really don't know what is the reason for that. I really don't.

[@BayuSanjaya]

an exhaust fan in the right side is a big NO-NO for any laptop, especially for right handed mouse user. It will burn your wrist.

[@pluto8404]

But then all the cables are on the left side so doesnt interfere with mouse movement.

[@himanshugupta3279]

What about Lenovo X280

[@roshanbhandari2666]

Its cool give away it to me Andrew....😍

[@anatolystepanovichdyatlov1747]

I dont even blame companies for this stupid shit, but totally delusional users. This "thin it down" bullshit dooes not give you any portability, what does though is the display aspect ratio. There is only one single thing i give Apple credit for in terms of notebooks and that are the 16:10 displays. I see why classic 4:3 displays would be a radical change for most users nowadays and that it people would consider it outdated. Thus 16:10 is a nice compromise. What is the reason 16:9 became a thing? Games and movies, nothing else. Many people would even buy a 4:3 Thinkpad. Let me tell you, if youd have a 16:10, with small bezels you could easily make a T4XX more compact than an X1 Carbon, even if you make it pretty thicc [sic!]. The only thing thinning down even more gets you afterall, are soldered RAM and other soldered shit the end-user cant replace himself.

[@bega211]

Aside from the good specs and display (which we need both these days), why are we stuck with the same boring form factor? This is the main reason that I’m leaning toward the overtly fancy HP Folio product. A cool design, as long as you have 16G of ram to hold you for a few years and upgraded graphics, etc. Where are all the cool deigns in 2019???

[@NikosNikou]

I agree, i also want the looks, but thinkpad has a "trademark" design. Changing it would be a mistake

[@lorcro2000]

Thinkpads are milspec utilitarian tanks you can use to drive nails with in a pinch (ok, don't do that but still). They've looked this way for decades, and this is what the Thinkpad buyers want. Also, Lenovo is trying out making them in a dark space gray, which I think really works. But bottom line is, the people who want Lenovos, especially in the T series, aren't looking for cute leather clad fashion toys, they're looking for a reliable tool.

[@bega211]

Cenot4ph I understand that.~ but it’s time for a new design. You can have all that you mentioned and more with a more sophisticated and updated look without having to pay more. Where are all the engineers who are challenged to design new exciting products? (I’ve worked with many engineers (hardware/software dev) and know that they’re out there looking for a challenge.

[@Music4millions]

Send it to me Andrew and tell them It's stolen 😋

[@andrewmarcdavid]

😉

[@yengsabio5315]

😂😂😂

[@BTag2000]

He said t series

[@antoinechabas9380]

No Bridge Battery No thank you

[@mecares3898]

T490 is plastic. not magnesium alloy

[@Lck92200]

keyboard and touch pad layout/design looks outdated..

[@drumdover]

Chandrakant Patel But feels oh so nice :)

[@lorcro2000]

Performance and durability over flashy. Apple's butterfly keyboards are flashy. And total garbage. This thing is even spillproof. It's a tank.

[@Pasi123]

IMO it doesn't look outdated at all.

[@mrzisme]

Spotted the laptop noob.

[@grady7443]

Lenovo is always doing away with the things that really matter to the consumer. Cheaper for them is the order of the day. Shitty battery life, just like most of their garbage.

[@TheViptai]

review is lack of infomation % gamut color

[@andrewmarcdavid]

Did you watch the video? Dude watch the video before commenting

[@smirkncyntr1]

First 😆