Lenovo ThinkPad L460-20FVS01400 Notebook Review

Communication

Intel's Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 Wi-Fi module is inside the ThinkPad. It supports the 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standards and also provides Bluetooth 4.2. We did not encounter connection issues. The connection was always stable in a 15-meter radius around our router. The ThinkPad also sports a Gigabit Ethernet port. The chip also comes from Intel (I219-V). It did an impeccable job.

Memory-Card Reader

The installed memory-card reader is relatively fast. A maximum transfer rate of 82.4 MB/s is reached when copying large data blocks. Transferring 250 JPG image files (approx. 5 MB each) is performed at a speed of 61.7 MB/s. We test the memory-card reader with our Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference card.

Security

The ThinkPad offers diverse security features. For example, a fingerprint reader for biometric authentication is on board. A Trusted Platform module is also present. The laptop is optionally available with a SmartCard reader. Our review sample does not have this reader.

Accessories

The ThinkPad is shipped with the usual accessories: A quick-start poster and warranty information.

Operating System

The review sample that we were provided with did not have an operating system. Installing Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 was easily possible. Lenovo provides drivers for all three versions. Before our L460 test, an owner of an L460 model turned to our editorial office for assistance. We were asked to check whether the same errors he had been experiencing also occurred in our review sample. The reader built an M.2 SSD into the laptop and installed Windows 10 on it. The operating system stuttered and recurrently froze. We could not reproduce this behavior on our review sample. Possible reasons could be a defect laptop/SSD, incompatibility of the used SSD with the laptop and/or missing drivers.

A second issue also troubles the user. Windows 10 was delivered on the included SSD this time. The user set the sleep mode via power button in Windows 10. When the laptop was awakened, the fan started to spin at full speed after about 15 seconds. 5 seconds later, the laptop shut down. We could not reproduce this behavior, either. Again, missing or faulty drivers are likely responsible here. Of course, a defect laptop cannot be excluded.

Docking Port

The ThinkPad L460 is essentially available with the docking port known from the ThinkPad L450. Thus, corresponding docking stations can also be used with the L460. However, Lenovo does not incorporate docking ports in models furnished with a dedicated AMD graphics card. Thus, a USB 3.0 solution would have to be used if a docking station were to be connected to our review sample.