Small laptops are great, but for a blend of productivity and portability, 15-inch models are perfect. Two of the best manufacturers for laptops of that size are Dell and Lenovo, so picking between two of their flagship devices in that range isn’t easy.
Shouldering that task though, we pitted the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 versus the Dell XPS 15 in a head to head on design, performance, and portability.
Design
Neither the Dell XPS 15 nor the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 is a style icon compared to more form-focused laptops like the XPS 13 or MacBook Pro, but they’re hardly bad looking either. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 sports thinner bezels than its last-generation counterparts, but retains the boxy-look so classic of the range. The Dell alternative does have thinner bezels and an altogether more modern-looking design than its Lenovo counterpart. It’s a little thinner than the ThinkPad but does weigh in heavier with the larger battery option. It has a silver exterior paint job compared to the ThinkPad X1’s overall black coloring, which impacts personal preference more than anything tangible. .