I'm leaning currently to biting the bullet and ordering a new Samsung X360 34P (see The Hunt for A New Laptop Continues).
It's slightly cheaper than the comparable new Lenovos, but a little more expensive than some versions of their referbs. I have faith in the Lenovo referb, but not the third parties offering referbed Samsungs, so it would have to be a new one.
The reasoning behind this decision is that the Samsung wins on weight and battery life, has a 128G SSD, and at least ties on almost everything else I care about, except processing power where it lags a bit but still seems adequate. The reviews suggest the build is good; not as good as the tank-like Lenovos, but good enough.
There are just three things I need to get over:
1. The Samsung isn't as Ubuntu-friendly as the Lenovos (which are champs in this department) and won't have anywhere near the installed base if issues come up. (I'm thinking of dual-booting.)
2. The Samsung doesn't offer an XP downgrade, and the do-it-yourself version sounds like real work. So I may be using Vista Business pending Windows 7, which itself sounds like no great prize for a laptop. I have not used Vista yet and had hoped to avoid it.
3. This latest trip made it clear to me how crippled my Dell 300m has become; it's barely usable. I really can't afford to wait much longer to do something. Trouble is, it seems that Samsung was dumping the X360s with huge rebates a few months ago, so that they ended costing about half the current stratospheric price. Not only does it gall me to pay so much more than the old price, but I can't help thinking that maybe if I wait a bit the price will come down again?
Update: Then again J&R has the Lenovo 301 on sale for less than the Samsung. Good config except for the battery. Light weight — almost as light as the Samsung with the 301's three-cell battery. Solid. Three year warranty of some sort. Horrible battery life, especially with the tiny 3-cell battery, but even with the six cell (which I'd have to buy extra).
