What ports are in Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3?

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is the company’s latest attempt at a business laptop geared toward more casual users. It comes with some significant improvements over the previous generation, most notably the addition of a 16:10 aspect ratio of the screen, which is a huge boost to productivity. However, one thing that has not changed is the solid range of connectivity options. Out of the box, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 gives you a wide selection of ports for all your needs, although how good they are depends on which model you get.

By default, the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 includes two USB Type-C ports, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet, and a headphone jack. There is also an option to add a smart card reader, if that’s something you need for your business. If you also want to add cellular connectivity, you also get a nano SIM card slot.

However, USB Type-C ports vary greatly depending on whether you’re getting a ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 with an Intel or AMD processor. If you choose the Intel model, the USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 4, with 40Gbps of bandwidth for peripherals, external monitors, and even external GPUs. But since Thunderbolt 4 is a proprietary technology of Intel, this is not supported in the AMD version. Instead, these ports only support USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds (up to 10Gbps).

Need more ports on your ThinkPad T14 Gen 3?

We say the port selection with the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is pretty solid out of the box. You get a lot of them and there’s a lot of variety too, mixing more modern USB Type-C ports with all the traditional ones you might still use. However, if these ports are not enough for you, you can always add more.

This is where the Thunderbolt support features can come in handy. With a Thunderbolt base, you can add a large number of high-speed ports to your laptop. For example, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Dock (TBT3-UDZ) gives you six USB Type-A ports at USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds, plus you get two display outputs (with your choice of HDMI or DisplayPort), plus an SD card reader, which isn’t Included in the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3. They add a lot of versatility to your laptop and are one of the best docks you can buy today.

There are also docks designed for standard USB Type-C ports, which you can use with AMD variants of the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3. Due to the lower bandwidth, you won’t get the same high-speed connection, but you can still be useful, as in the case of Bridgestone IIA USB-C-based hard dock with three USB ports, Ethernet and HDMI.

The benefit of the dock, in addition to adding more ports, is that it can simplify how your setup is connected. For example, if you bring your laptop into the office and want to connect all your peripherals at once, you can leave them attached to the dock and attach the dock to your laptop, making it easy to set up everything. Given that you already get a decent supply of ports with the laptop, we’d say that’s probably the biggest reason you might want a dock.

And that’s all you need to know about the ports on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3. Like most business laptops, the selection you get with the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 really gives you plenty of options, but you can always use the dock to expand that selection. There’s no shortage of docking options if you need them, although we really like the aforementioned Plugable model.

If you are interested in Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3, you can purchase it below. At the time of writing, only Intel models are available for purchase, and an AMD version is scheduled for a release sometime in June 2022. Depending on your needs, this could be one of the best ThinkPads you can buy in 2022. If you want to check out the Other options and don’t care too much about built-in ports, you might want to check out the best laptops overall to see some of the slimmer, modern designs.