It's probably too late, but I can throw my weight in. I've worked IT for almost 20 years and used a lot of tech. I used to not think much difference between the companies, but then worked at Lenovo right after they left IBM. Thinkpads are rock solid. I was highly impressed with how well they were put together. They are nicely built. They have some bells and whistles that are also cool. I will say that I can't speak to the non-thinkpad laptops.
Dells were always a bit on the cheap side. If you squeezed them a bit, they had some give and always felt more like a plastic toy. Thinkpads never did this. I will say that Dell is my current work laptop and they have gotten better. It is a solid machine. I don't mind Dell. I still have always found the reliability and superior engineered ThinkPads better.
Yes you are too late, but I did end up going with Lenovo.
I thought about it, read reviews, and just between experiences here and the fact that my school uses Lenovo, I just started leaning towards them, and then as I started researching, I found that they made the laptop with all the features that I want/need. My brother has a Dell, and though it is a cheap Dell, it always feels very flimsy when I use it, so I was worried about that, though I will say that that thing has gotten a lot of abuse and after more than two years still works. I just felt like Lenovo was probably a better option for me.
Did not go with a Thinkpad because the ones that were within my price range did not have an optical drive, and I use mine like crazy. I ended up going with
this one because it was within my price range and basically had everything I was looking for: touchscreen, backlit keyboard, optical drive, intel core i5 processor, 6 GB ram...everything. It does feel very solid. I love the 2-in-1. I watch a lot of movies and Netflix on this thing, so I love that it flips backwards and basically becomes a TV. I use it in "stand" mode a lot more than I initially thought I would. The display is also really good, much better than my old laptop. Keyboard is extremely comfortable for typing, which is good since I'll use this thing to type long papers. I did not realize what a lemon my HP was before getting this one
My only real complaints are the battery life and that it feels a little heavy and bulky. Not nearly as heavy and bulky as my first laptop, but a little more bulky and heavy than I would have liked. And the battery life is not 6 hours as advertised. More like 3. Max. But I have a Surface RT for portable use. This will mostly stay at home and other than that will go on vacation and maybe to school once in a while. Maybe. But overall, so far so good...