I've been looking off and on for about a week or so; honestly, finding the right one for me is impossible.
When I first saw this at the store about a month or two ago, I was extremely surprised by it's weight and overall construction, but wasn't in the market to buy and thus, didn't really remember anything else about it.
Since then, I've looked at Apple's offerings (Get the Air or the Pro; the MacBook is useless and should be shot off), Lenovo, Sony, HP, and even Alienware. I wrote the last off first, the M11x was too expensive for base price; it's cool looking, but not as fast as the other offerings, and it's made by Dell. No Dell for me if I can help it.
The ThinkPad was a logical choice to me, seeing as I have a 750cs I bought ages ago. Thing still runs and looks almost brand new today. The problem with them now is Lenovo. I'm not 100% sure on this subject, but enough reading scared me off of them for a few years; mainly service horror stories. If I'm going to have warranty work done, it's got to be good. Otherwise, just cheapen the price and let me work on it. So, while I would have really wanted a T40, that kinda scared me off.
HP's Envy was a contender, and I'm still wondering if I should have bought one of those instead. But, I've had enough HP for a while, and while they have given me mostly reliable service, I'd rather just buy their printers.
Looked at Sony's EA and EB series, as the base price on them was a bit cheaper and had a few more features standard. I would have had to order the one I wanted, and it was going to be more pricey than this.
Apple had me stuck in a rut between the Pro and the Toshiba. From a construction standpoint, the Apple edges out slightly. But, the lack of removable battery (or easily and non warranty voiding change) and the $1200 for a Core 2 Duo, just kind of sat off with me. The Air eventually turned me off, with it's soldered in RAM, and rather anemic sized SSD, hence why I was looking at the 13" Pro. Comparing it in the store though, it was heavy as a brick.
Really, I don't have any reservations about this. I wish they would have backlight the keyboard, and improved the tactile response, but I'll be logical; I'll use the screen as my keyboard light and I just won't be able to type as fast on this keyboard as I would my full size desktop.
I think it will be a competent road warrior
