Lenovo Thinkpad T590 (Questions Answered)

The Lenovo Thinkpad T590 is a 15″ laptop released in 2019 with a sleek design and increased battery life. It is under the Thinkpad brand which undergo military grade testing and reliability/quality checks.

The Lenovo Thinkpad T590 specs and accessories are detailed as well as questions about RAM options, SSD upgrades and ports available.

Do you have a question about the Thinkpad T590? I tried to cover all of them in this article, see if I answered yours.

Tell Me All About The Thinkpad T590

Lenovo Thinkpad T590 Specs

These are the specs for the T590 type 20N4 sold in North America. Details for individual models can be found in the table below.

T590 Processor:

The T590 has the 8th generation Intel® Core™ i5 / i7 Processor.

IntelCores/ThreadsFrequencyCache
Core i5-8265U4/8Up To 3.90 GHz6MB
Core i5-8365U4/8Up To 4.10 GHz6MB
Core i7-8565U4/8Up To 4.60 GHz6MB
Core i7-8665U4/8Up To 4.80 GHz6MB

T590 Graphics:

The T590 graphics is either the Intel UHD Graphics(Intel UHD Graphics 620) or NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250.

GraphicsInfoMemory
Intel UHD Graphics 620Integrated onto CPUShared With CPU
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250Discrete2GB Memory

T590 Display:

The T590 display comes as either Full HD(FHD) or Ultra HD(UHD) as show in this table, some are touchscreen. Note that UHD (3840×2160) is considered 4K.

To answer a question, is the Thinkpad T590 4K, the answer is yes on models with UHD display.

Display TypeTouchscreenTypeBrightnessContrastSurface
15.6″
FHD (1920×1080)
On SomeIPS250 nits700:1Anti-Glare
15.6″
UHD (3840×2160)
NoIPS500 nits1200:1Anti-Glare

These shown in the table are all of type 20N4 and have backlit keyboards and fingerprint readers.

T590 ModelProcessorGraphicsRAMSSDTouchscreenDisplay
20N4001LUSIntel Core i7-8565U (4C / 8T, 1.8 / 4.6GHz, 8MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics8GB Soldered DDR4-2400 + 8GB SO-DIMM DDR4-2400512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal210-point Multi-touch15.6″ FHD (1920×1080)
20N4001KUSIntel Core i5-8265U (1.60 GHz, up to 3.90 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 6 MB Cache)Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics8 GB DDR4 2400MHz (Soldered)256 GB PCIe SSDNo15.6″ FHD (1920×1080)
20N4001TUSIntel Core i7-8565U (4C / 8T, 1.8 / 4.6GHz, 8MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics8GB Soldered DDR4-2400512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal2No15.6″ FHD (1920×1080) IPS
20N4001UUSIntel Core i7-8565U (4C / 8T, 1.8 / 4.6GHz, 8MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics8GB Soldered DDR4-2400 + 8GB SO-DIMM DDR4-2400256GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal2No15.6″ FHD (1920×1080) IPS
20N4002RUSIntel Core i5-8365U (4C / 8T, 1.6 / 4.1GHz, 6MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics16GB Soldered DDR4-2400512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal210-point Multi-touch15.6″ FHD (1920×1080) IPS
20N4004PUSIntel Core i7-8665U (4C / 8T, 1.9 / 4.8GHz, 8MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics16GB Soldered DDR4-24001TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal2No15.6″ UHD (3840×2160) IPS
20N4004QUSIntel Core i7-8665U (4C / 8T, 1.9 / 4.8GHz, 8MB)Integrated Intel UHD Graphics16GB Soldered DDR4-24001TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal2No15.6″ UHD (3840×2160) IPS
20N4005PUSIntel Core i5-8265U (4C / 8T, 1.6 / 3.9GHz, 6MB)NVIDIA GeForce MX2508GB Soldered DDR4-2400 + 8GB SO-DIMM DDR4-2400512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe Opal2No15.6″ UHD (3840×2160) IPS

As you can see, some models of the T590 do have a touchscreen.

Can You Upgrade RAM On Thinkpad T590?

The T590 memory specs are:
DDR4-2400, One memory soldered to systemboard, one DDR4 SO-DIMM slot, dual-channel capable.

The maximum memory for the Thinkpad T590 is 48GB.

To achieve the max. RAM of 48GB, your laptop will need to already have 16GB soldered to the board. Then install a 32GB DDR4-2666 in the available slot.

See below for two possible memory configurations:

  • Up to 40GB (8GB soldered + 32GB SO-DIMM) DDR4-2400
  • Up to 48GB (16GB soldered + 32GB SO-DIMM) DDR4-2400

Looking for information on how to upgrade the RAM on your T590? Read my article titled: Thinkpad T480 RAM Upgrade, the procedure is identical except the T480 has two memory slots and the T590 only one.

Can You Upgrade the SSD On Thinkpad T590?

The T590 supports one drive of type M.2 PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x4.
Either M.2 2280 SSD or M.2 2242 SSD

Here are the specs for the SSD. Note the maximum SSD for the T590 is 2TB.

  • M.2 2280 SSD up to 2TB
  • M.2 2242 SSD up to 128GB
  • Optional Intel Optane™ Memory integrated with SSD, M.2

Performing the SSD upgrade is similar to the RAM upgrade, remove the back cover and locate the M.2 slot. As always, remember to backup data and plan to reinstall an OS on your new drive.

What Ports Does The T590 Have?

Ports for the T590 are listed below and are from Lenovo.com. Note the USB-C ports.

Standard Ports

  • 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1
  • 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Always On)
  • 1x USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 (support data transfer, Power Delivery and DisplayPort™ 1.2)
  • 1x USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 / Thunderbolt 3 (support data transfer, Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.2)
  • 1x HDMI 1.4b
  • 1x microSD card reader
  • 1x Ethernet (RJ-45)
  • 1x headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm)
  • 1x side docking connector
Thinkpsd T590 Ports

What Is The Warranty On The T590?

I pulled the warranty information for the T590 from the Lenovo support website. Basically it shows a 1 year depot or onsite service. Some models do show a 3 year depot warranty.

Enter your serial number to verify the warranty:
https://support.lenovo.com/warrantylookup

Base T590 Warranty Options:

  • 1-year depot service
  • 1-year limited onsite service
  • 1-year depot with 2-year system board service
  • 1-year + 2-year depot service
  • 1-year + 2-year limited onsite service
  • 3-year (1-yr battery) depot service
  • 3-year (1-yr battery) limited onsite service
  • No base warranty

What Battery Does The T590 Have?

The battery for the T590 is an Integrated Li-Polymer 57Wh battery that supports Rapid Charge (charge up to 80% in 1hr) with 65W AC adapter.

All the T590 20N4 models come with a 65W USB-C charger.

Lenovo Thinkpad T590 Docking Station:

The options for the Thinkpad T590 docking station are: ThinkPad Thunderbot 3 Dock Gen 2 (40AN0135US.), ThinkPad USB-C Dock Gen 2, and Thinkpad Ultra Docking Station.

Check out these docking stations from Amazon.com. Note, this contains affiliate links in which I get paid a commission if a purchase is made.

Additional T590 Information:

T590 Dimensions:
365.8 x 248 x 19.1 mm (14.40 x 9.76 x 0.75 inches)

Thinkpad T590 Weight:
The weight of the T590 depends on the model, it is at least 3.84 lbs and up to 3.99 lbs.

T590 has an Intel Wireless-AC 9560, 802.11ac Dual Band 2×2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.1, M.2 card.

Summary

I tried to cover all the Lenovo Thinkpad T590 questions I have seen. The specs and available accessories are shown above as well. If you own or are looking for a laptop, I think you can agree the Thinkpad T590 is worth consideration.