As the title suggests, my question is not entirely unique.  However, searching a couple other threads on the subject hasn't gotten me much closer to an answer, so here goes...  

I need a new laptop.  I haven't had to buy a new laptop in a LONG time, so I'm completely out of the loop on what's hot and what's not. My current Sony is a dinosaur, and it's HUGE. It was their top of the line when I bought it, but that was literally like 13 years ago.  Worked well for me in the past, but honestly, I haven't used it for quite a while. I use iphone at home and ipad at work, and if I need more computer I go sit at the desktop.

I am a corporate pilot, so I do travel a fair bit.

The reason I am shopping now is because I was just elected to an officer position at my home range, so I'll be needing it for meetings and projects for the club.  Lots of email, possibly some website and newsletter work, I can see some light photo editing and other things going on as well.  Heavy document use, legal briefs and the like are in my future also.  It will also be nice to take quickbooks with me outside the home office, and run power point for firearms safety classes (NRA Instructor).

Ok, what do I need? Thanks in advance for the help.

Lenovo ThinkPad.

What ever is on sale at Frys with at least 500GB of hard drive and 4GB of RAM.  One other thing I will look for next time is a machine with a power adapter smaller than a house brick.  

Be prepared for the Suck of Windows 8.

+1

 

Budget?

I'd look into a Dell latitude.

15 inch (E5550)

$1089 config

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-e5550-laptop/fs?3x_page=1&filterCollapsed=false&pf=v

14 inch (E5450)

$1149 or $1249 configs

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-e5450-laptop/fs?3x_page=1&filterCollapsed=false&pf=v


12 inch option: (E5250)

$1069 config

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-e5250-laptop/pd




Lesser budget:

Hp probook 650/640

http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-k4l00ut-aba~7HEWW5YP.htm

or

http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-k4l16ut-aba~7HEWW5YJ.htm

13" Macbook Air or Pro.

i love my lenovo along with my sister and aunt loves theirs. they have a g500 series and it sounds like something you would want.

imo looking to getting the Lenovo z50 - 59436273 for $609off lenovo website.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/

Well, I ended up with the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. So far I'm happy with the computer, although I'm not yet a Windows 8.1 fan. Need to get rid of some more junkware and replace with the stuff I will use. It is plenty fast, uber light and the display is fantastic.

remember to put classic shell on there