T450s vs T460? Which one to chose

[mindthomas]

I have been considering buying a Lenovo laptop for quite some time and decided to do so a month ago. Originally I decided that I wanted to buy a T450s but at the time when I tried to proceed with the purchase at Lenovo's online store they had changed their portfolio to the 6th generation (T460s etc.)
As I didn't like the fact that the T460s didn't have any swappable battery I actually ended up going with the T560, though being quite bigger.

Now I have received it and have been testing it for a while and I must admit that I am quite dissapointed with both the TrackPad, being jerky and unresponsive and the size and weight (though I could have told myself).

I have decided that I will return this T560 unit and then spend some time to decide whether or not to buy another one. This is why I am asking you for some advice.

I have good experience with the T450s and the TrackPad as well, why I am considering to buy the T450s. Unfortunately Lenovo doesn't stock this anymore so I would have to buy it from a subsupplier, which becomes a lot more expensive.

So I started looking into the technical details and found that there were very little difference between the T450s and T460 unit with regard to the size (and weight). I know that the T460 is slightly heavier and has some different port options (HDMI instead of VGA), but other than that: What is the difference?

To be exact I am considering buying either a:

• 
  T450s with the i7-5600U, 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD, FullHD IPS, 72 WHr rear battery
  T460 with the i7-6600U, 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD, FullHD IPS, 72 WHr rear battery

Which one would you go for? And please explain the reason for your choice.
Thank you in advance.

 

[okcnaline]

T460 if it's going to be cheaper and newer.

 

[mindthomas]

The T460 that I consider buying will have the same specs (or even higher specs) but at a lower cost compared to a T450s.
I would save around $200 USD chosing the T460.
But then I would lose VGA and the T460 will also be a bit thicker and heavier.

 

[okcnaline]

Well, which one is more important? VGA or better specs and lower price?

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, you need to decide what is more important to you between the T450s and T460.

Of course there is the T460s which is the direct successor to the T450s, but it is more expensive and it also lacks a VGA port. I suppose this marks the beginning of the end for VGA ports in business laptops.

You can always purchase a HDMI to VGA adapter if you need to connect the laptop to a VGA port. Here's an example:

http/www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Active-Adapter-Micro-USB/dp/B00879DM56

 

[mindthomas]

That is indeed true - and I for sure have that in my mind already

Does any of you know the FRU of the T450s TouchPad vs the T460 touchpad?
As I am more concerned about the bad reputation I hear about the touchpad.

 

[jaguarskx]

I haven't heard anything bad about the touchpad on the T450s. The T460 is too new for me to have heard of anything.

ThinkPad laptops that received the most criticism about the touchpad were those using the [strike]Broadwell[/strike] Haswell generation Intel CPUs. An example is the ThinkPad 440s.

The touchpad was criticized in that generation of ThinkPad because there were no physical buttons and the trackpad acted like a huge key. When you press on the trackpad it sinks into the laptop like a key.

Due to the high level of criticism, Lenovo went back to a trackpad that had physical button and did not sink into the laptop when you press down on it. This was when they released the next generation of ThinkPads using Intel's 5th generation Broadwell CPUs, like the T450s.

 

[mindthomas]

Hmm.
I have tried the touchpad on a T450s running Linux which worked fine without lag/latency or touch issues. Then trying what seemed like the same touchpad on a T560 running Windows 10 was a completely different experience, as this didn't work very well neither reliably.
So with a T460 I am afraid that I will be getting a touchpad similar to the one I've encountered on the T560 machine which was not a pleasant experience.

 

[jaguarskx]

It could be the Win 10 trackpad driver for the T560 is not very mature and need some tweaking by Lenovo.

I suggest you go to NotebookReview's forum and post your questions and concerns there. The site is basically devoted to laptops (a.k.a. notebooks) and ThinkPad's are very popular business laptops. Their forum is much more active than THG's laptop sub-forum.


http/forum.notebookreview.com/