Originally Posted by
chgoeditor
Mine is three years old. (Must admit that I'm hard on my computers, but slow to learn lessons. I'd bought a succession of HP laptops that often spent weeks at their service center and needed to be replaced every year to 18 months. Finally got wise and bought a Dell with the extended in-home warranty. The hard drive died on me in the summer of 2012--got repaired in my living room the next day--but it's otherwise been a great machine. I'm now a Dell convert.)
I've been very pleased with Dell warranty service, and in a day when pretty much all the build quality is bad (even on Lenovo; maybe not on Apple but the hardware is not directly comparable) being able to get repairs quickly and without a lot of headaches is the best of a couple of not-so-hot options.
I've got an M3800 on order, which is the "professional" version of the new XPS 15; I got it because once I bumped up the warranty it was actually cheaper on my company's corporate discount. Looked like a very nice system when our rep brought by a pre-release sample, although I only got to play with it for a few minutes, and BOY are they pricy (on the open-market price, essentially at cost parity with a comparably equipped MacBook Pro 15".)
Depending on which way you're rounding, a 3-year old XPS 15 could either be
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/lapt...ll-xps-15.aspx or
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/lapt...dy-bridge.aspx -- the former should be pretty easy to replicate the power level of (the i7-640m or i5-540m/460m are all pretty basic by today's standards) while the latter will depend on how big a processor you put in (the quad cores are still pretty comparable with today's high end, the duals with today's midrange.)
--
antichef's idea about remoting is not a bad one, and while I'm with you on not wanting a tablet, a lightweight, less powerful notebook (whether technically an ultrabook or not) might be very good for that.
I'm pretty fond of some of the business-class ultrabooks; the new Lenovo T440s, or the Dell E7440 (aka "7000-series 14-inch" with their new branding) are both going to be fast enough for most people (and more importantly, certainly fast enough for remoting), ergonomically better than many 13" consumer ultrabooks, and very very thin and light.
I've had very good luck with Dell refurbs, and they have 15% off on all refurbished Latitudes right now:
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/28/c...52&lid=5071718 -- theit last-generation business ultrabook, the E6430u -- did not have as nice design as the new one, and it will be a little slower, but it is extraordinarily cheap for a business-class system as a refurb ($636 after discount, before tax if applicable in IL, for the cheapest model with an i5.)