Alternatives to Thinkpad T530/430?

[thinkweird]

I will just cut to the chase and ask what are the alternatives to Thinkpad Laptops which meet the following standards:

1. Matt screen (14" or 15")
2. Good display quality with vivid color
3. Good keyboard
4. Easily Upgradeable (memory, hard drive)
5. Rugged build quality
6. Cheap price from the outlet (refurbished are acceptable)

I am really frustrated my experience on Lenovo's outlet and I am thinking spending my money elsewhere.

[ajkula66]

Dell Precision/Latitude or HP EliteBook, all in 15.6" format.

Dell has a better keyboard IMO, but HP sports a superior trackpoint which will take the ThinkPad cap as well, and likely be as close as one will ever get to the ThinkPad experience on a non-ThinkPad in that respect. You know what's more important to you...

You're likely to do better financially with a Dell than with HP, though.

Build quality is comparable to the higher-end ThinkPads IMO.

Happy hunting.

[pianowizard]

2. Good display quality with vivid color

The vast majority of business-class laptops have subpar screens, especially 14.* inch ones. 15.6" laptops tend to have better screens, but be sure to avoid those with 1366x768 resolution because they have notoriously low quality. If you have good vision, opt for 1920x1080.

5. Rugged build quality

As laptops get thinner and thinner, there are fewer and fewer rugged laptops. Whatever you end up buying, baby it if you want it to last long. In particular, open and close the lid slowly, and when you hold the laptop up, grab near its center of gravity.

6. Cheap price from the outlet (refurbished are acceptable)

The Dell Business Outlet meets this criterion fabulously. Even better, wait for the next coupon to come out. These coupons range from 20% to 30% off. The Precisions and the Latitude E6*** come with 3 years of warranty, though the rest gives you only 1 year.

EDIT: I just discovered that there is no need to wait for a Dell Outlet coupon because there are 20% and 25% coupon codes right now! Check them out at http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/28/camp ... id=4843989 .