Recommendations on non-Apple high quality laptop form factors?

[natchela]

I'm trying to find a laptop with high-end quality hardware that is not Apple. I will be using it as a development machine.

It's okay if it comes with a linux distribution since I'll be able to add my own OS. I also don't care that much about how heavy the laptop is.

I'm expecting to spend in the $1500+ range.


* quality high-resolution screen -- this seems to be one of the hardest things to shop for. The more pixels the better.
* keyboard with minimal (non-existent?) accidental "clicks" due to typing. I like keyboards with flatter keys that don't take much effort to push; and keys with smaller gaps between them are great (I'm female with female-sized hands)
* nice trackpad
* numpad presence preferred
* no "sharp" edges at the laptop's front end where my wrists rest
* 16gb+ ram
* modern i7 CPU
* 3+ hours battery life

Any recommendations?

 

[PlushyG]

The Lenovo Carbon X1 might interest you. It's a business class laptop. Pretty sure the higher end ones have a resolution above 1920 x 1080.
http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/

Outside of that, you might want to try this to narrow down your laptop search: http/wuggee.com/find-a-laptop.html#

I can't really help you with the keyboard thing. You should probably go to Best Buy to try some of the floor models to get an idea of keyboards.