💻 Dell Pro Plus 14 vs ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 vs MacBook Air 15

The most important practical difference here is platform, not hardware quality — all three are well-engineered premium ultraportables, but they target different fleets. The Dell Pro Plus 14 and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 are Windows 11 Pro / Intel vPro machines that drop into an existing Microsoft estate via Intune or SCCM, while the MacBook Air 15 M5 is an Apple Silicon device managed through Jamf or Apple Business Manager (with Intune as an option). If your golden image, Conditional Access policies and AppLocker rules are built around Windows, the Dell and Lenovo are the realistic shortlist; if you're standardising on macOS or supporting a mixed estate, the Air is in a different league for battery life and silent performance.

The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is the most conventional business laptop of the three and arguably the most refined. Sub-1.3 kg, MIL-STD-810H tested, the best keyboard in the category, TrackPoint for users who still want it, and full vPro plus ThinkShield firmware security make it the safest pick for large regulated fleets — financial services, legal, central government. The 2.8K OLED option is genuinely excellent; the base WUXGA panel is merely adequate next to the Dell and Apple. The Dell Pro Plus 14 differentiates on form factor: it is the only convertible here, with an active-pen-capable QHD+ touch panel and an optional 5G WWAN modem with eSIM. For field roles — surveyors, clinicians on the DSPT estate, sales engineers presenting in tent mode — that flexibility is meaningful, and the higher-resolution touch display is a clear upgrade over the T14s base SKU.

The MacBook Air 15 M5 wins on the things Apple Silicon has owned for three generations now: fan-less silent operation, 18-hour real-world battery, a 500-nit 15.3" Retina display, and sustained performance on video, code compilation and on-device ML workloads that Lunar Lake cannot match at this thermal envelope. The trade-offs are equally clear — capped at 32 GB memory (versus 64 GB on the Intel pair), no cellular option, no touch, only two Thunderbolt ports, and a management story that still requires either Jamf or a mature Intune-for-Mac configuration. It is also the heaviest of the three at 1.51 kg, though the extra screen real estate justifies it.

Recommendation framework: pick the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 if you are a Windows shop buying at volume and want the lowest-risk, best-typing, best-managed device. Pick the Dell Pro Plus 14 if users genuinely need pen, touch, convertible modes or built-in 5G — otherwise the T14s is the better clamshell. Pick the MacBook Air 15 M5 where battery life, screen size and Apple-ecosystem integration matter more than vPro and WWAN, particularly for developers, creative teams and executives.

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Indicative estimate · subject to change · soft search, no credit-file impact · hire purchase, lease & subscription for UK businesses