2017–2018 · 7th gen Intel
Can A Lenovo ThinkPad T470
Run Windows 11?
Not officially — but read the next bit
The T470 shipped with 7th generation Intel processors, one generation below Microsoft’s floor. The near-identical T480 clears it.
Microsoft’s floor is Intel Core, 8th generation (Coffee Lake, late 2017) or newer, or AMD Ryzen 2000 series (Zen+) or newer. The Lenovo ThinkPad T470 shipped with processors like Core i5-7200U, Core i5-7300U, Core i7-7500U — 7th generation, which is one generation short of the 8th generation cut-off.
This does not mean the machine cannot run Windows 11. It can be installed on unsupported hardware, and it generally runs fine. What you lose is Microsoft’s support: they have said updates on unsupported hardware are not guaranteed, and that is a security position rather than a performance one.
So the real question is not whether it will boot. It is whether you want to run a machine whose security updates depend on a company’s discretion.
Three things worth doing
In the order most people should consider them. Scrapping a working machine is the only genuinely wasteful option here.
1. Keep it
Windows 10 stopped receiving updates in October 2025, so staying on it is a decision, not a default. If the machine is offline or does nothing sensitive, that may still be reasonable.
2. Put Linux on it
A current Linux distribution supports this hardware fully and keeps receiving security updates. For a machine used for browsing, email and documents it is the option that costs nothing and solves the actual problem.
3. Pass it on
If you are replacing it anyway, a working Lenovo ThinkPad T470 is worth more to someone without a computer than it is in a drawer. We wipe every drive, refurbish what works, and pass machines to schools, charities and community groups.
The Windows 11 answer above is worked out from Microsoft’s published processor requirement and the processors this model shipped with, not from testing every configuration. If yours has been modified, check it directly with the checker.