Help with Ultrabook!

pinchharmonic

Honorable
Nov 15, 2012
1
0
10,510
I'm looking for something between 600-1000

the purposes of this ultrabook are simple, word processing, web browsing, excel, etc. Nothing fancy.

The wish list is something light and fast (bootups, opening web browsers, etc)

Also, I'd like something that'll really last for years -- I don't mind if technically screams past me, I just don't want this thing breaking!

13.3" is the sweet spot for me.

i've considered the macbook air, but at $1200 it's a bit pricey
i've heard good things about the Lenovo Yoda (never seen in person)
i really like the Sony Vaio T series with the I3 processor, only $699 at a local store

any other ideas?
 
How about the Lenovo 14" ThinkPad T430s?

It is not an Ultrabook, but it starts at 3.9lbs and is basically a full fledged laptop complete with a DVD drive Priced at $807 and it has a 1600x900 resolution screen. It can be configured with a 128GB SSD instead of the 320GB HDD for $220. An since it is not an Ultrabook it has a standard mobile Core i5-3210m CPU rather than the slower ULV Core i3 / i5 with lower clock speed to further reduce power consumption.

The DVD drive can be removed to save some additional weight. A battery (sold separately) can be inserted in place of the DVD drive for more battery life (and additional weight).

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=625170B995934B6EFED1F0FA956B4E9A#.UKq0s2cinp2

Here's a review:

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-t430s.aspx
 
Generally speaking the ThinkPad T series are pretty durable. My IBM ThinkPad T40 from 2003 still functions; except for the original battery. I replaced the original hard drive back in 2011; it works fine, but at 8 years old I didn't know how much life it still had in it. And I didn't want to find out by losing data.