Lenovo ThinkPad T480s
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 26 of 63 laptops by recommenders
People recommend it for its repairable parts, long working life and strong Linux support, with a sturdy build that lasts years. Critics mainly dislike the keyboard.
People recommend it for its repairable parts, long working life and strong Linux support, with a sturdy build that lasts years. Critics mainly dislike the keyboard.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 70%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Repairable with replaceable parts
“those clips were made out of metal and held in with screws, meaning they were themselves replaceable”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Fixing a Bricked Framework Laptop” “My ThinkPad (T480s) is turning 8 this year, and only got its first battery replacement last month.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Spirit of ThinkPad” “it is a remarkable device, which can be repaired just like the framework”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Fixing a Bricked Framework Laptop” Long-lasting and well cared for
“I take pretty good care of my machine, so it's still in superb physical shape.”
Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “I'm returning my Framework 16” “Several years older Thinkpad T480s gave me way longer usage”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?” “the laptops were pretty solid”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Spirit of ThinkPad” Works well with Linux
“they also support Coreboot and Libreboot so you no longer have to rely on Lenovo for firmware updates”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “Dual-core ThinkPad owner, wondering about Black Friday trends?” “absolutely perfect with Linux (Mint)”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Keyboard layout frustrates some users
“It is almost completely unusable due to how to clicky buttons are placed.”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “ThinkPad: From IBM's Bento Box to Lenovo's AI Workstations” “i havea. t480s and do not like its keyboard”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Omacom Foundation Launches with $8M”
Other laptops people recommend
The four most recommended other laptops, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro | 928 | 688 | 57% | 13 | 5 yrs248 owners | — |
| Apple MacBook Neo | 707 | 355 | 66% | 9 | 1 mo8 owners | — |
| MacBook Air | 633 | 209 | 75% | 12 | 5 yrs130 owners | Approved |
| Apple MacBook | 499 | 348 | 59% | 12 | 9 yrs77 owners | — |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T480sThis page | 14 | 6 | 70% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
17 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“My t480s is also very light”
“i havea. t480s and do not like its keyboard”
“it is a remarkable device, which can be repaired just like the framework”
“those clips were made out of metal and held in with screws, meaning they were themselves replaceable”
“same thing happened to my daily driver T480s, so I took precautions”
“it is slow for my needs now”
“It is almost completely unusable due to how to clicky buttons are placed.”
“my pile of t480s beats any cloud vm”
“which is also a wonderful machine”
“the laptops were pretty solid”
“We continue to buy these crappy laptops and monitors despite all the issues they cause us”
“My ThinkPad (T480s) is turning 8 this year, and only got its first battery replacement last month.”
“The speakers were so bad it was impossible to understand the dialogue while watching a movie”
“absolutely perfect with Linux (Mint)”
“I take pretty good care of my machine, so it's still in superb physical shape.”
“Several years older Thinkpad T480s gave me way longer usage”
“they also support Coreboot and Libreboot so you no longer have to rely on Lenovo for firmware updates”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.