Lenovo ThinkPad T480s upgrades

Released 2018 · on sale

CPU is BGA-soldered (not socketed) - no CPU slot exists; changing the CPU means replacing the system board. Factory CPUs are 7th/8th Gen Intel Core U-series (15W nominal) - a 4-core 8th gen (i5-8250U/8350U, i7-8550U/8650U) is strongly preferable to the 2-core 7th gen parts. WWAN (M.2 2242), SIM tray and antennas are SKU-dependent. Soldered RAM amount (4GB vs 8GB) must be checked per unit as it sets the upgrade ceiling.

Upgrade guide → What fits, step by step, and official documents.

1 × DDR4 SO-DIMM + soldered RAM: DDR4 SO-DIMM · 8 GB soldered · up to 24 GB total · 2400 MT/s
1 × M.2 2280 SSD (NVMe or SATA): SSD M.2 2280 (NVMe / SATA)

Slot map

Schematic of the upgradeable slots (not to scale). Check the owner's manual for their exact positions.

1 × DDR4 SO-DIMM + soldered RAM DDR4 SO-DIMM · 8 GB soldered · up to 24 GB total · 2400 MT/s

4GB or 8GB is soldered to the board (8GB shown here; 4GB units top out at 20GB). Lenovo documents 1x 16GB SO-DIMM max = 24GB total; a 32GB module (40GB total) reportedly works but is unofficial and rank/BIOS dependent. DDR4-2400 is the ceiling (faster modules downclock); non-ECC unbuffered 1.2V only.

No compatible offers right now.

1 × M.2 2280 SSD (NVMe or SATA) SSD M.2 2280 (NVMe / SATA)

Single M.2 2280 bay only - no 2.5" bay, no second drive bay (that's the T480). Supports PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 or M.2 SATA 6Gb/s; Gen4 drives give no benefit. Limited Z-clearance: prefer single-sided modules. No documented capacity limit; 1-2TB practical. Bring your own mounting screw on used units.

No compatible offers right now.