Laptops are getting thinner, lighter and more compact every year. A positive trend – though it sometimes also results in the loss of valued features.

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Since the first computer, miniaturization is a major driver of innovation. For laptops, this development has manifested itself in the last years mainly in a thinner design.

The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 that we reviewed a short while ago is a good example: Compared with the predecessor Lenovo ThinkPad E490, its height has decreased by two millimeters and it also weighs 200 g less.

This reduction in thickness and weight did not happen magically without sacrifices though. To make the Lenovo laptop more mobile than before, Lenovo has changed some aspects of the design. For example, the keyboard is not integrated into the palmrest, making a keyboard exchange a much more difficult task then before.

Worse is the loss of two other features: The microSD card slot has been eliminated without replacement. And instead of two RAM slots, there is now only a single SO-DIMM slot. This means that the maximum RAM capacity decreases from 64 to 32 GB and that the memory always runs in the single-channel mode.

If this dietary development that costs features is welcomes by potential buyers is questionable: Especially the second SO-DIMM slot was one of the main advantages of the ThinkPad E490 compared with the more expensive T series.