Lenovo ThinkPad T470 I5-6200U 20JM000CCA Review

The 3-Minute Lenovo ThinkPad T470 i5-6200U 20JM000CCA Review

A Decent, Entry-Level Business Oriented i5 Laptop

By Graeme Messina | February 27, 2018

The Specifics:

Features & Design: 4/5 ● Performance: 4/5 ● Value: 4/5 ● Battery: 4/5 

The Best:

This is a business class laptop with a durable, simple, and clean design. The T470 offers great performance for a competitive price, and features Intel’s 6th generation Core i5 6200 CPU at its centre. This model also ships with an HD (1366 x 768) 14” inch screen and 4GB of system memory for maximum office productivity.

The Bugs:

Users that are accustomed to the traditionally sized 15.6” inch LCD size might find the overall viewing area a little disappointing. If you are not a fan of the ThinkPad style then you will not be a fan of this model, as it remains relatively unchanged aesthetically.

Is it for you?

If you are after a mid-tiered, well priced business laptop to complete your office tasks such as email, spreadsheets and document authoring, then this is a good choice.

Meet the Lenovo ThinkPad T470

As we’ve already said, the Lenovo ThinkPad is synonymous with office productivity, and most users will find that the Core i5 CPU, along with 4GB of DDR4-2400 RAM to be more than adequate to get their work done. Connectivity is handled nicely, with ample USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet port and an SD Card Reader. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth also come standard, and the battery life is more than acceptable for normal use.

What we like

The construction and overall strength of this laptop is definitely a major selling point on these laptop units. It is not uncommon to hear anecdotal stories of how previous generation ThinkPads have survived falls from table tops, knocks and spills, yet kept on ticking. While we certainly don’t recommend that you put these units through such punishment, it is comforting to know that other misfortunate users have come away with good experiences.

Battery life is good, the display is clear, if not a little small, and there are enough ports and plugs to connect up your peripherals, including an HDMI 1.4 port. The keyboard illuminates, allowing for optimal tying in low lighting situations.

What we don’t like

We felt that the keyboard, although perfectly useable, was a little on the disappointing side. The keys feature an ever so slight concave that may or may not appeal to your fingers, depending on your personal preferences.

If you plan on upgrading your RAM at some point, be prepared to remove the bottom cover entirely. This isn’t a terrible thing, it would have been nice to have a separate RAM cover though.

The screen is a little disappointing, although competent and completely usable in an office environment. Movie lovers and photo editors might not appreciate the color reproduction that is handled by the 14” LCD panel.

Should you buy it?

This is an easy laptop to recommend if you are in the market for a new office laptop for work. It has a decent battery, average screen, plent of connectivity options and ports, and is reasonably priced. People wishing to find a more personalized laptop with colour options for style, or decent graphical performance for gaming, would probably do better looking elsewhere. But for those of us who need to perform basic office functions like email and productivity tasks, this is a good choice indeed.