Light weight laptop for around the same price as a surface pro 2

[revenup]

Hi,

I am looking for a laptop at around the same price as surface pro 2 (about £650 in the UK). I need it at least for the next two years and it is an upgrade from a 7-8 year old Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook E8310 (Still works but rather battered). I'm hoping for the best value for money suggestions.

It has to be windows, as some of the programs I need are not available on Mac.

I don't play games, and usually use the laptop for the usual browsing, watching movies, youtube... a bit of editing movies (sports clips mainly shot from a action cam), nothing heavy.

on the work side, I need to run process simulation softwares (runs on my fujitsu with 4GB Ram, but its fairly slow).

MATLAB (I have a i7 16GB RAM 3.4 GHz Desktop for running the calculations in case it gets heavy, but most of my claculations aren't that complex)

Visual Studio - Same as above, non graphic calculations.

I am thinking of coupling the laptop/tablet with a 23" touch screen (I believe the newer ones can be connected with USB 3)

I have looked at the Surface Pro 2 and the Lenovo Yoga 2. I am not in a hurry, and need the laptop by end of March so I can wait for new releases either to buy or cause a price drop in the current models. Battery life is fairly important.

I am a student and can spend about the price of a surface Pro 2, however the cheaper the better.
anywhere above 1.4 kg isn't desirable as I will be doing a bit of travelling this year.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Many Thanks

 

[star293]

You should check out Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15.

http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Ultrabook-59390990/dp/B00F32Z7QM/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=informazcom-20

-Intel Core i7-4500U 1.8 GHz (3 MB Cache)
-8 GB DDR3 RAM
-15.6-Inch Screen, Integrated Intel HD 4400 Graphics

 

[revenup]

You should check out Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15.

http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Ultrabook-59390990/dp/B00F32Z7QM/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=informazcom-20

-Intel Core i7-4500U 1.8 GHz (3 MB Cache)
-8 GB DDR3 RAM
-15.6-Inch Screen, Integrated Intel HD 4400 Graphics

This is a bit heavy, looking for around 3 LB, also they seem to be not as widely available in the UK and with that price listed in the link. Also most laptops are about 30-50% expensive in the UK despite no import duty and only a 20% VAT.