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Head-to-head · Best Thin and Light Laptops

Dell XPS 14 (9440) vs Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Dell XPS 14 (9440) comes out ahead by a narrow margin (4.3 vs 4.0). The gap is mostly about Creators and power users who want a premium 14-inch Windows laptop with an OLED option and discrete graphics, and who can live with shorter battery life. — read the strengths below before deciding.

Dell XPS 14 (9440)
Higher ratedRanked #3 in Best Thin and Light Laptops
Dell XPS 14 (9440)
3 sources2 derived$2,049as of Aug 1

The Dell XPS 14 (9440) is the most powerful and feature-rich pick here, offering an optional OLED panel, RTX graphics and a striking aluminum design. TechRadar called it a stunning real MacBook competitor and Windows Central praised its display and quad speakers (Ausdroid 88%, 91mobiles 85%). Battery life and weight are the trade-offs for that extra power.

Strengths
  • — Stunning optional OLED display with excellent quad speakers
  • — Discrete NVIDIA RTX graphics option for light gaming and content creation
  • — Premium minimalist machined-aluminum design
Watch-outs
  • — Battery life is the weakest of this group at around 6-9 hours
  • — Heavier at about 3.7 lbs than the ThinkPad and MacBook Air
  • — Polarizing capacitive function row and seamless haptic touchpad
$2,049 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13
Ranked #4 in Best Thin and Light Laptops
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13
3 sources$2,349as of Aug 1

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition is the business ultraportable of this group, down to 982 grams without giving up the keyboard, the ports or the build. Notebookcheck scored it 90 out of 100 and Tom's Hardware 4 out of 5. The price is steep, and Laptop Mag was blunt about multitasking performance that does not match it.

Strengths
  • — 982 grams, roughly 2.16 pounds, with a 14-inch screen and full-size ports
  • — 14-inch 2880x1800 OLED at 120Hz and 400 nits
  • — ThinkPad keyboard, TrackPoint and haptic touchpad
Watch-outs
  • — Premium price, often above a comparably specced MacBook
  • — Lunar Lake multi-core performance trails cheaper rivals
  • — Battery life is good but not class-leading for the chip
$2,349 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

Dell XPS 14 (9440)

The performance and creator pick: it offers discrete RTX graphics the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13, MacBook Air M4 and ASUS Zenbook S14 lack, but it's the heaviest here and its battery life trails all three.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13

Lighter than the Dell XPS 14 and matching the OLED panel of the ASUS Zenbook S14 while costing more than either; against the MacBook Air M4 it trades unplugged endurance for Windows, ThinkShield security, a far better keyboard and a real port array.

Specs side-by-side

SpecDell XPS 14 (9440)Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13
CPUIntel Core Ultra 7 155HIntel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake)
RAM16-32GB LPDDR5XUp to 32GB LPDDR5X
Storage512GB-1TB SSDUp to 1TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD
Display14.5-inch FHD+ or 3.2K OLED14-inch 2.8K OLED, 120Hz
Weight3.7 lbs (1.68 kg)2.16 lbs (982g)
Battery6-9 hours real-world9-11 hours real-world
GraphicsIntel Arc or NVIDIA RTX option—
Ports3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C)2x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A, HDMI 2.1
Wireless—Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
← See the full ranking of best thin and light laptops