Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (Intel) vs Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display
2560 x 1600
CPU
Apple M1
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (Intel) and Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
20.1
(Mediocre)
Value Index
64.5
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (Intel)
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 48GB) and an SSD
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)
  • Slightly easier to carry: weighs 180 grams less (around 0.4 lbs)
  • Around 2.2x better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • MacBook with the Apple M1 chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Thinner bezels and 10% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • 45% sharper screen – 227 versus 157 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Much smaller footprint: 14% more compact case (100.1 vs 116.1 square inches)

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.47 kg (3.24 lbs) 1.29 kg (2.84 lbs)
Dimensions 329.4 x 227.5 x 17.9 mm
12.97 x 8.96 x 0.7 inches
304.1 x 212.4 x 16.1 mm
11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches
Area 749 cm2 (116.2 inches2) 646 cm2 (100.1 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~72.1% ~79.4%
Side bezels 9.8 mm 8.8 mm
Colors Black, Gray Silver, Gold, Gray
Material Aluminum Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle 180° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No No
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 1 -
Noise level (max. load) 40.1 dB -

Display

Size 14 inches 13.3 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate - No
PPI 157 ppi 227 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:9 16:10
Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels 2560 x 1600 pixels
HDR support No Yes, HDR10
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen No No
Coating Matte Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor No Yes
Screen space comparison
ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (Intel)
14″ (16:9 ratio) = 83.8 in2
MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)
13.3″ (16:10 ratio) = 79.5 in2
~5% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 800:1 1069:1
sRGB color space 95.4% 99.8%
Adobe RGB profile 65.5% 85.9%
DCI-P3 color gamut 64.2% 98.6%
Response time 42 ms 35 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Voltage - 11.4 V
Full charging time 2:10 hr 2:23 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes Yes, 65 W
Charging port position Left Left
Charge power 45 / 65 W 30 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter 363 grams 172 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 0.9-2.4 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.2 GHz -
Cores 4 8 (4P + 4E)
Threads 8 8
L3 Cache 8 MB -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EU Apple M1 GPU
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP - 15 W
Type Dedicated Integrated
Fabrication process 12 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock - 450 MHz
GPU boost clock - 1278 MHz
FLOPS 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS 2.6 TFLOPS
Memory size 2 GB System Shared
Memory type GDDR6 LPDDR4X
Memory bus 64 bit 128 bit
Memory speed ~10 Gbps 4.27 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 896 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 56 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS 2.6 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Steel Nomad Lite Score
Blender GPU 127 235
Solar Bay - 6004
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details

RAM

RAM size
Channels 1x8 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 3200 MHz 4266 MHz
Type DDR4 LPDDR4X
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
Max. ram size 48 GB -

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 2x128 GB
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Audio chip Realtek ALC3287 -
Speakers 2.0 2.0
Power 2x2W -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~77.9 dB ~79.6 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6E v6
Bluetooth v5.2 v5
Fingerprint Optional Yes
Infrared sensor Optional No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720
Ports
USB-A 2x USB 3.2 No
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 2x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 3
HDMI 1x HDMI 2.0 No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) Yes No
SD card reader Yes No
Proprietary charging port No No

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.8 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Size - 12.1 x 8.1 cm
Surface Plastic Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
Further details
Notes on ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (Intel):
    - There is a model configured with a plastic case.
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
14 (50%)
14 (50%)
Total votes: 28

Comments

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