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Dell XPS 13 vs Lenovo ThinkPad T540p

Dell XPS 13

104 reviews

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Lenovo ThinkPad T540p

Lenovo ThinkPad T540p

32 reviews

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#5 most mentioned

Reddit · r/laptops

Best Windows Ultraportable Laptop

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#30 most mentioned

Reddit · r/thinkpad

Great quality keyboard

Large keys with less gaps and low backlight bleed

Overall good quality

Compatible with Linux

Thunderbolt charging capabilities

Great price-to-value ratio

Solid construction and easy to upgrade

Excellent keyboard and integrated 10-key

Linux-compatible

Red TrackPoint for easy pointing

Not budget friendly

May have issues with difficult monitor set ups

Not suitable for those who prefer Thinkpad or Spectre keyboards

Not the best battery life

Clunky and unreliable touchpad

Verdict

The Dell XPS 13 is a premium laptop that can be configured with a touchscreen. It has a good quality keyboard and large keys with less gaps, and low backlight bleed. It also has an overall good quality, though it may have some issues with difficult monitor set ups. It is compatible with Linux and comes with Thunderbolt charging capabilities. However, it is on the expensive side.

Verdict

The Lenovo ThinkPad T540p is a powerful laptop with an excellent price-to-value ratio. It has a solid construction and is easy to upgrade, with a great keyboard and integrated 10-key. It is also Linux-compatible and has a red TrackPoint for easy pointing. However, the touchpad is clunky and unreliable, and the battery life is not the best.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Keyboard

Love the keyboard, horrible webcam (updated)

Love the keyboard. I'm a mechanical-keyboard type of person, and while I typically hate low-profiles, I liked the keyboard on this laptop enough that it was the decision-making factor when it came down to a few options. Handles smaller games great, professional looking and would recommend to anyone using it for non-webcam related purposes. Update: Some serious graphical glitches came with this laptop

Great keyboard and build quality; Odd touchpad

I have to say the keyboard is a true joy to type on, by far the best laptop keyboard I've ever used. I fully expect this Thinkpad to outlast my need for it..

Battery Life

So lightweight!

The battery life is very short (4ish hours) and it takes a long time to charge (about 1 1/2 hours). The brick on the cord gets very hot as it charges as does the bottom of the laptop. Otherwise it runs cool. I really like that there is no separate place to plug in the charger

I then installed both windows 10 technical preview and kubuntu 14.10, which performed excellently. Battery- This uses a haswell processor, so the CPU draws significatly more power (37w TDP vs 13w TDP) then the latest-generation intel mobile CPUs (the new broadwell parts are soldered to the socket, which is a deal-killer for me as I intend to upgrade the CPU later). However, lenovo packs a big ass battery in there, and you can get the 57++ which will give you apx

Performance

BEWARE!!!! Paid full price for a new one and received a used one!!!

Laptop seems to be working "ok" as of now besides the WiFi issues everyone has been having and apps like Netflix and Hulu not properly working. Another thing that is concerning is the packaging. I'm pretty sure I was sent a used product considering it came in a cheap cardboard box and not in it's original XPS box/packaging. Also the laptop itself was not even wrapped in any kind of plastic or padding or anything and I am at a military base in Iraq

I can't believe it is a Thinkpad T!

And the greatest surprise is that I cannot feel it faster than my C2D 1G memory windows XP laptop. It will become slow when you turn on several programs. I will try to add another 4G memory to see the difference. Generally, I am disappointed although I still wish it is very durable

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