Lenovo ThinkPad T470s Review: A Slim And Nimble Workhorse

Lenovo offers three different 14-inch display with the ThinkPad T470s, at three different price points, obviously. The high-end model features a 2560 x 1440 display, while below that is a 1920 x 1080 display with touch screen, and one without. We're looking at the non-touch 1080p variant here in this review. 

Despite being the low-end display in the T470s line-up, it still performs very well. Fast moving video files at 1080p were smooth and free of ghosting. Fine detail, like facial hair, came through with crisp detail and color output is rich and relatively accurate. There's a reasonable brightness output level from the display as well, but for a 250 nits panel, we've seen brighter to be sure. 

We wish we could be as effusive about the speakers, but unfortunately they're lacking sufficient volume for music. Tinny, thin and totally lacking any warmth, the sound system fell flat on everything from Motorhead’s raw sound to Nightwish’s lush orchestral sound without much dynamic range. With this machine, as with many thin and light notebooks, you'll want a good set of earbuds. 

The ThinkPad T470s' keyboard, on the other hand, is quite nice with a fast and responsive feel to it, with great tactility. The 2.2 x 3.9-inch touchpad is smooth and certified as a Windows Precision Touchpad. Some may not like the mouse buttons positioned above the trackpad, but that’s a preference and not a technical knock per se.

The ThinkPad T470s we reviewed came with a 2.7GHz Intel Core i5-7300U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB PCIe NVMe solid state drive. Graphics workloads are handled on the CPU's integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 GPU. Despite being on the low end of the performance scale for this product line, the machine performs well and feels generally very responsive.

Let's check those all-important benchmark numbers though, to corroborate our initial impressions of the new Lenovo ThinkPad T470s...