Thinkpad or Macbook Air

As mentioned on http://hendry.iki.fi/about/, my computer for last couple of years has been a X220 and I've been using Thinkpads since 2001, erm 14 years!?

I resisted the X230 upgrade because of the inferior looking chiclet keyboard and the X240 had a serious issue with the mouse pad, so that was a no go.

Like many, I've been hanging on http://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad feeling a bit miserable. Almost accepting that my next computer would have to be a Intel from Apple. Though the comparable models like the Macbook Air, which I extensively tested runs Archlinux... I really didn't like the keyboard and most importantly lack of Trackpoint.

Waited long enough

Lately I've been developing an Android app. My 4GB of RAM of my X220 is simply not enough. I need an upgrade to be productive!

Seriously.

Generation 2015

Thinkpad Keyboards now with physical mouse buttons

Thankfully Lenovo reversed their earlier poor design decision and re-introduced physical mouse buttons across their Laptop product line up, which I have been studying.

Naturally I wanted to upgrade from my X220 to the X250, but on closer inspection I'm put off by the X250's:

I'm sore that Lenovo seem unable to make a Thinkpad where there aren't huge bezels on the side of screen and keyboard. Shame they can't make it flush and like the original design intention of a Bento box. :/

X220 to ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3rd Gen) ?

The Intel Broadwell based ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3rd Gen) i5-5300U or i7-5500U looks like the one.

Can't help but think a high resolution screen 2560x1440 will be an absolute pain to setup with Xorg and likely to drain my battery faster.

My concerns with going for the X1 Carbon is that the hard drive is not replaceable AFAICT. A reddit user says the hard drive is a standard M2 and therefore should be replacable. I inevitably want to upgrade the hard drive like I've done on every Thinkpad I've owned.

I'm worried that the external Ethernet is just a poor performing USB3 to Gigabit adaptor. I'm assured the ethernet port is a real one. I prefer to work on a wired connection.

What next

Apple have yet to update their Mac product line to Intel's delayed Broadwell generation. Apple might be getting better Broadwell reference hardware from Intel than Lenovo... or have some other hardware innovation. I really like Apple's charger cables and that would make like easier around my family since all have Apple hardware.

Nonetheless even though I'm a ashamedly happy IOS iPhone6 user, I do want to use the best alternative to Apple hardware and software. Got to Think different!

Will that be the X1 Carbon Gen 3 & Archlinux? I'll let you know. A lot will depend on reviews and price points of the Air vs X250 vs X1 Carbon Gen 3. I can tell you I'm not looking forward to ordering it on Lenovo's horrible Website and I won't be purchasing an extra plan since Lenovo are absolutely hopeless at service & support.

Update: Although Dell's Broadwell Ultrabook, the XPS 13 lacks a Trackpoint, it looks worthy of a mention. Carbon fibre and the low bezel screen looks amazing.

Update: DoubleDown pointed out that Intel's next next generation Skylake is due in a few months (Q2) since Broadwell has been so delayed.

Update: Despite emailing Lenovo Singapore and asking about the X1 Carbon Gen 3 and their sales guy saying they will let me know as soon as it's released... I've just noticed http://shopap.lenovo.com/sg/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/ for 2433SGD. GULP! More expensive that a http://store.apple.com/sg/buy-mac/macbook-air.

The price has shocked me a little:

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