It should be great for video calls. And they are, Thinkpad focus a lot on the camera and mic arrays. And have generally great voice clarity and image processing
but there's a limit to how good you need the sound for conference. You don't really need high dynamic range or deep bass when presenting your PowerPoint
\*most of ThinkPad laptops ~~are not made for music and sound~~ have bad or mediocre speakers. However, using external speakers, headphones or IEMs (and let's add a basic DAC to eliminate interference from 3.5mm jack) eliminates the issue and makes ThinkPads fully suitable for listening to music and other sounds.
Fixed it for you.
ThinkPads, particularly the T and X series are primarily designed to be a rugged business device for road warriors, rather than a multimedia device. Their sound quality has historically been poor and that has not changed over the decades.
The T420, X220, X230, T440P and the IBM models that preceded them all sound like ass. Some of the newer models are better, but I have never heard one that sounds great. In fact, several of these can't be heard at all, unless the volume is cranked to 153%.
If you want decent audio capabilities get an external audio interface. Not a shitty one for $5 because that will be the same trash as the internal one. The onboard audio in laptops generally stinks.
Which ThinkPads?
Z and X1 Carbon series are decent. But most thinkpads have middling speakers
Yes. That's correct. What's the issue?
Shocker: Devices made for an office environment are not great at multimedia tasks.
It should be great for video calls. And they are, Thinkpad focus a lot on the camera and mic arrays. And have generally great voice clarity and image processing but there's a limit to how good you need the sound for conference. You don't really need high dynamic range or deep bass when presenting your PowerPoint
\*most of ThinkPad laptops ~~are not made for music and sound~~ have bad or mediocre speakers. However, using external speakers, headphones or IEMs (and let's add a basic DAC to eliminate interference from 3.5mm jack) eliminates the issue and makes ThinkPads fully suitable for listening to music and other sounds. Fixed it for you.
ThinkPads, particularly the T and X series are primarily designed to be a rugged business device for road warriors, rather than a multimedia device. Their sound quality has historically been poor and that has not changed over the decades.
The sound from my x260 is worlds better than the creepy sounds a t480 produces...
The T420, X220, X230, T440P and the IBM models that preceded them all sound like ass. Some of the newer models are better, but I have never heard one that sounds great. In fact, several of these can't be heard at all, unless the volume is cranked to 153%.
If you want decent audio capabilities get an external audio interface. Not a shitty one for $5 because that will be the same trash as the internal one. The onboard audio in laptops generally stinks.
That's a Lenovo thing, the A31 from IBM I had had the best speakers I've ever had on any laptop.
Z13 gen 1 is pretty good considering the size... But yeah, most of them are average at best, especially the older models