New laptop for professional use

[ZesPak]

Hi, so I'm looking to get a new high end laptop.
Budget can pretty much go up to £2000, but I'm sure for my use that won't be necessary.
I currently have an older Series 9, which has been great but since I'm doing more and more VM's it's become a bit too light (128GB, 4GB ram,...).
What I'm looking for is something that is portable enough yet comfortable to work on the entire day.

I've had a MacBook in the past, but can't be bothered with learning all the shortcuts for Windows (I need windows) again. A MBPR equivalent would be great though.

My minimum requirements:

• not too heavy or bulky, pref sub 2kg and sub 2cm
• 3 USB ports (at least two USB 3.0)
• full HDMI port and/or full displayport
• 13"-15" display
• 1920x1080 res
• Windows keyboard
• i5
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD (I'll happily slot that in myself if possible)

Nice to have:

• Full network port
• Great battery life
• Good, big trackpad
• something that looks good
• touchscreen
• replaceable HDD

Where should I look? Asus, Lenovo?
So far the Lenovo T440s looks like it'll do, but I have to check on how replaceable the HDD is. I'm guessing since it's lenovo it's quite easy?

Edited by ZesPak on Friday 29th August 13:59

[ZesPak]

mikef said:

If it weren't for the third USB port I'd suggest the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-se...

Hmm, I've looked into them because I liked the look, but they are about €1000 more expensive than the equivalent or better T440, with nothing to show for it but design. It would be ok if it then weren't for the compromises.

Hmm, looked at them again, seems that I miscalculated them.
Only a select number of models available here though, is the HDD actually replaceable?

Edited by ZesPak on Friday 29th August 14:28

[ZesPak]

Polariz said:

I hear good things about the Acer S7 - it's that 3rd USB port which is the problem again!

Hmm, my requirement for that might be because I currently just don't have enough disk space, and I have to transfer files between two sources a lot of the time. I also use the mouse most of the time, no matter how good the trackpad on my samsung is.
So on a new machine with 256GB/512GB I might be able to "make do" with 2 USB ports (as long as I don't need one for wired network - a la macbook air).

Just looked further into the X1, if I want 256GB and 8GB, I'll be scraping the top of the budget which seems a bit like an overkill.

The T440 looks great on paper, but having held one at a customer it feels solid but nothing special.
It's just so undeniably good, apparently...

[ZesPak]

sgrimshaw said:

FWIW - You can free up a USB port by using a bluetooth mouse.

I know, but I never seem to find one I like, plus the ones with dedicated connectors seem to last a lot longer on a charge.