I have some CNS damage. Nothing serious - I live a perfectly normal life, can operate a bicycle, etcetera - but a medical procedure means my manual dexterity isn't quite what it used to be. Using a smartphone smaller than a Galaxy S3 is difficult, and if I'm to touch-type, a netbook is out of the question.
I currently have a Macbook Pro, but it's over three years old and starting to have issues (the optical drive will no longer write, for starters.) I'm a bit sick of Mac-land, and the secondary concern - display quality - is now in favor of PCs thanks to the amazing IPS displays on upcoming Haswell laptops.
Here's my basic requirements. Can anyone make a suggestion? I'm really keen on the upcoming T440s, but having the used the T430, I'm not a huge fan. Perhaps I just need to get used to it?
-13-15" laptop up to 7 pounds
-$900-$1200 budget.
-High quality keyboard, preferably of the "island" style. The lack of haptic feedback on cheap keyboards combined with tiny key size is a problem.
-Battery life of 7+ hours. A weight-adding extended battery is no problem.
-Should have display quality equal to (or greater than) a Macbook Pro. Not the Retina; just a Macbook Pro.
-Durability, performance, and battery life are greater concerns than size or weight. As such, I'd prefer to avoid "Ultrabooks" in favor of larger machines in the size category of the old T430. Of course, the Sony Vaio Pro is supposed to have a decent keyboard and battery life; it's presumably not alone.
-I won't be gaming on this, so graphics hardware isn't a big deal.
-If it can run Linux, that would be really splendid.
I currently have a Macbook Pro, but it's over three years old and starting to have issues (the optical drive will no longer write, for starters.) I'm a bit sick of Mac-land, and the secondary concern - display quality - is now in favor of PCs thanks to the amazing IPS displays on upcoming Haswell laptops.
Here's my basic requirements. Can anyone make a suggestion? I'm really keen on the upcoming T440s, but having the used the T430, I'm not a huge fan. Perhaps I just need to get used to it?
-13-15" laptop up to 7 pounds
-$900-$1200 budget.
-High quality keyboard, preferably of the "island" style. The lack of haptic feedback on cheap keyboards combined with tiny key size is a problem.
-Battery life of 7+ hours. A weight-adding extended battery is no problem.
-Should have display quality equal to (or greater than) a Macbook Pro. Not the Retina; just a Macbook Pro.
-Durability, performance, and battery life are greater concerns than size or weight. As such, I'd prefer to avoid "Ultrabooks" in favor of larger machines in the size category of the old T430. Of course, the Sony Vaio Pro is supposed to have a decent keyboard and battery life; it's presumably not alone.
-I won't be gaming on this, so graphics hardware isn't a big deal.
-If it can run Linux, that would be really splendid.