Take a good close look at Lenovo before you give your money away.

Any interest in a Mac? My 2009 MacBook still runs like a champ.

Newegg has loads of different elitebook configs, they just don't do a very good job of giving you the full specs... There are 8460p's from $600 to $1600 and they won't tell you much of the differences between the two lol.

The T series or even the W series are built like tanks (and are almost as heavy) but they are real workhorses.

If you are willing to spend the money, and you are not like many who want a super laptop for $300, you can't go wrong with Lenovo.

I have a T-520, which I have had for just over a year, and I have a grand nephew who attends Bryant Unversity, where a T-420 is issued to all incoming students. He is impressed with his and since everybody has one, they can see things like how much abuse they take, failure rates, and so on. I pound on mine every day, usually for quite a few hours.

I have a granddaughter who worked for a big brokerage and she said all their big wheels had Lenovo ThinkPads, so they have a pretty solid reputation. I have seen people on the road using company issued ThinkPads who swore by them, so ...........

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

If you go with Lenovo, get the Thinkpads, not Ideapads. I have a T60 that's still going strong. Only thing I've replaced is the battery a couple of times.



My wife got rid of her busted Toshiba Satellite for a Samsung Chronos 7 (15.6) for Christmas. It's a no-frills laptop that functions well, has limited bloatware (which can be uninstalled), and has good battery life and heat management. Matte screen is great, and the back lit keys are a nice touch.

The way I see it you basically have 2 options.

The HP elitebook 8570w or the Dell latitude E6530.

The lenovo's are ut of the running because the t530 runs way too hot and the w530 has that issue along with significant throttling issues which greatly reduces performance.

The elitebook 8570w is the most durable design (and coolest running), but it is more expensive as well.

Elitebook option #1: (1600 X 900 screen)

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=0BUQ7EN5hLsAAAE6aVxmfAGy&CatalogCategoryID=pJoQ7hacBbUAAAE21U9ObPSl

Elitebook option #2 (1080p screen)

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=UVIQ7EN5V98AAAE6s1xmfAGy&CatalogCategoryID=pJoQ7hacBbUAAAE21U9ObPSl


The dell (especially if bough through the outlet (new or certified refurbished)) can be significantly cheaper:

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2801&fid=9390

I see several decent options in the outlet selection all round the $1k mark.

There is one with the 3720qm processor, 8GB of ram, nvidia 5200m graphics 320GB 7200 rpm hdd and 1080p screen for ~$1149. (near the top of 1st page, prices high to low)

There is another with a 3720qm processor, 8gb of ram, nvidia 5200m graphics, 320gb 7200 rpm hdd and 1600 X 900 screen for $1049-$1099 on the top of the second page (prices high to low)

Assuming those two options sell out you want to look for an e6530 with a quad core processor (3XXX series), nvidia 5200m graphics, 4GB ram minimum (8GB preferable), HDD of your choice (avoid any options with dell installed ssd's) and either a 1600 X 900 screen or 1080p screen (stay far away from 1366 X 768 options).

Back to my overall conclusion:

8570w advantages (with nvidia graphics, stay away from amd gpu equipped models):
Best durability (though the E6530 isn't anywhere near being "fragile" either)
Coolest running
Best port selection

Dell E6530 advantages:
cheaper (at least through the outlet)
more options (either through the business website configuration or retail website selection)
Better battery life (with larger than the standard ~55-65Wh battery, like the extended 85wh+ batteries) can get around 6.5+ hours doing basic tasks (due to optimus graphics switching) compared to ~4.5 with the elitebook.


Hopefully this makes your choice easier. (or at leas you are more informed)

Well someone has to do it....

Macbook Pro

#1 you weren't the first.

#2:

Wait for the Microsoft Surface Pro to come out next month.  Under 2 lbs weight, $999 with optional keyboard, comes with MS Office.  Price subsidized by Microsoft.

Look at the build quality. The body for a MBP is milled out of a single piece of aluminum and Apple has one of the best customer service departments I've ever experienced (coming from a guy who used to work for a certified HP resale/repair company). Business PC's generally cost way more than a MBP. The Unix based OSX is also a lot less resource intensive than Windows. I have a 2010 MBP with a SSD in it. I get 8+ hours out of the battery when just using MS Word…let's see a comparable PC with that performance and look at what it costs (I'm not saying there isn't one out there, I'm saying show one if you can find it). I know Asus makes something similar, and I know the cost is similar as well.

I have been using the ThinkPad T series for over nine years.  I have no intention of ever switching to anything else.

I just got the Lenovo Thinkpad X230 and love it.  I use the mSATA slot for my OS, and use the other hard drive slot with a SSD 512GB drive for storage.  Has bluetooth, wi-fi, and the expresscard slot is perfect for using a CAC reader for my military ID so I can do work at home and get my e-mails.  It also has a backlit keyboard and an optional slice battery that adds almost double the run time for your system.  I also was able to install a clean copy of windows 7 without all the bloatware.  Unknown to many people, we users are legally allowed to download the windows OS from the vender that handles Microsoft's online distribution, and the product key on the bottom of your computer will work to activate it again.

Honestly, I think I am in love with this machine.

Actually, you can work with Adobe to transfer your Wintel Photoshop license to a Mac license, and vice-versa at no cost.