Lenovo Thinkpad L540 vs E540

Yeah, they seems very similar. Other than what seems to be very minor styling differences and a version of the E540 with a touch screen, on paper both appear the same.

However, the difference is in battery life. According to the features tab the E540 lasts up to 6 hours. The L540 lasts up to 11 hours. The ThinkPad L series also had enhanced security and manageability features which the ThinkPad E series lacks. The features are mainly used in large corporation to ensure data does not get stolen. From a personal laptop perspective, these features are of no use. Lastly, the ThinkPad L is built for durability due to the MIL-SPEC / Military-Specification Testing. This means it can take some abuse and still function properly.

The ThinkPad L is a recent economical version of the more well known ThinkPad T series that has been around for over a decade and are known to be able to withstand some serious abuse. The T series is designed to be able to survive a 35 MPH impact and still function (although it's a complete wreck) long enough for data to be retrieved from the hard drive. Less dramatic tests include dropping the ThinkPad T about 9 to 10 feet on a carpeted floor and dropping it from the height of an average desk on to a hard floor with no apparent damage whatsoever. Note that they were dropped so that it lands flat on the floor. If dropped so that they land on one of the corner, then I am pretty sure there would be some cosmetic damage.

Does this mean the ThinkPad L is designed to be just as tough as the ThinkPad T? Unknown.