Originally Posted by
number_6
Light, cost-effective, moderate work: Lenovo X201
Assuming the screen real estate is not prohibitive, the X201 was nearly as powerful as the highest-end machines of that last generation. It is (or was) available with the i7-620m, which was pretty close to the fastest processor available in a notebook up until this past January (the first generation mobile-quad-core i7s were very specialized chips.)
There's no quad-core option on the X220 (which replaces the X201) but for most people, the top of the line processor available on it (the i7-2620M) is a very heavy duty processor.
Heavy work: Mac Air 15"
ITYM MacBook Pro 15" - there is no "Air 15"
I'd suggest the 11 inch MacAir or the Lenovo X201 (opposite approaches to the same thing), but they are not high-powered laptops. Adequate for normal use but not for running demanding software.
The 11" MBA has basically got a netbook processor, or a subnotebook processor from about 2008. VERY slow.
The X201/X220 are high-powered if you buy them with an i5 or i7 (and fairly powerful with the base i3 in the X201i), comparable to any other dual-core on the market. They're as fast as the last-generation Macbook Pro 15" and 17" (and the X201 was that fast before Apple even rev'ed the MBP) and the X220 is as fast as the current MBP 13".
For people who need a quad-core CPU (not many) or a dedicated GPU (gamers, mainly) , they are not a good choice, nor is the other higher-end machine I'd suggest looking at - the T420s which is a full-power (no quad-core, but the full range of dual core i3 to i7) full-screen-size 14" model but very thin/light.
Originally Posted by
willyroo
Lenovo X220.
The end.
Very hard to beat it.