New ultrabook - but which one?

[Pulse]

I really need to replace my MacBook Air at some point. It's been going for 6.5 years, and done well, but it doesn't do a few things I'd like. The good thing is, anything after the MBA will be an upgrade (spec-wise, anyway)!

I've looked at the usual suspects, starting with the MacBook Pro. Considerations are:

MacBook Pro - Familiar, fantastic build, but 6th gen and not VFM - top model coming in at £2800!
Lenovo X1 Carbon - Just been updated with 7th gen, but expensive and perhaps has things I don't need, like the LTE and security elements.
Microsoft Surface Book - Book 2 is due in April I'm led to believe, and it doesn't necessarily float my boat, but build is lovely.
HP Spectre 13 (not the X360, I worry about those hinges!) - Looks good value, and I may be able to get a further discount. Very slim, too. Reviews say it's noisy though?
Dell XPS 13 - Lovely form factor, and pretty good VFM - the top model comes in at £1560 for me.

My three concerns with moving away from Apple are:

- Will I get the same build quality somewhere else? Also, whilst something like the XPS 13 looks great, I don't fancy worn out keyboards/trackpads/wrist area, where my MBA still looks brand new due to the all aluminium body.
- Whilst the specs of the Apple machines are much lower, is there an argument to say they perform better due to optimisation of the OS? (This is a question, not a suggestion) But also I understand they may perform far better in other ways - battery life for example.
- Will I miss the OS? Well, only time will tell on that front, but I'm no Apple fanboy, and Win10 looks good.

In order of price (roughly, anyway), starting with cheapest first: HP, Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, Apple.

I'd love to hear others' views. I don't want to lumber myself with something rubbish, and would ideally like something to last the same amount of time my MBA has (but an aim of 4+ would be fine).

[Pulse]

AJB88 said:

Pulse said:

but it doesn't do a few things I'd like.

You need to let us know what these are!

Noted. But by this, I meant it's really old/slow now.

- Decent battery life - over 6 hours certainly, but the more the better. Currently I get... nothing (over 1000 cycles).
- Able to edit my GoPro footage (1080). My MBA won't even run the videos, let alone edit them.
- Less likely, but I'd like to go back to messing around in Photoshop. Not even tried, as it's not worth it.
- Able to run a decent resolution monitor (ideally two, but not essential). I'm thinking of either 2x27s or an ultrawide. My MBA can maybe run a CRT from the 90s.
- Basically, just be a whole lot more powerful, so it lasts a decent few years.

[Pulse]

daemon said:

Try www.dell.co.uk/outlet and search for the XPS 13 there. You can usually save 30% over list price which makes the price of them a lot more palatable.

They have one there, brand new (albeit last year's model - 6th gen, no QHD+) for under £800. That doesn't sound too bad. I wonder if I'd miss the extra power and the nice screen though.