Design
Lenovo's notebook uses the same chassis as its predecessor, the ThinkPad T440s, and that's a good thing. With the T450s' rectangular shape and raven-black lid, sides and bottom, the device has the quiet but classy ThinkPad aesthetic that's equally at home in the boardroom or the coffee shop. The red TrackPoint pointing stick and its red-striped buttons add small splashes of color. ThinkPad logos with glowing red lights for the dot in the "i" sit on the lid and the deck, blinking to show you when your system is asleep.

Even if you don't like the ThinkPad T450s' conservative looks, you have to love its durability. With a carbon-fiber lid, magnesium body and interior roll cage, the notebook is designed to take some abuse, passing MIL-SPEC tests for extreme temperatures, humidity, vibration, sand, shocks and fungus. The company also tests the T450s by opening the device's stainless steel hinges 30,000 times and dropping metal balls on the machine from over a meter in the air. The keyboard also has a drain to help it survive spills.

Keyboard
If typing comfort and speed are important to you, there is no better choice than the ThinkPad T450s, which has the best laptop keyboard money can buy. It's even better than many other ThinkPads. With 1.9mm of travel and 63 grams of actuation force (55-60 is typical), the keys have a strong tactile feel that makes typing incredibly comfortable and accurate. Almost as good is the subtle indentation in the keys themselves, which makes it easy to feel your way around and avoid adjacent-key errors.