[LeifCarrotson]

Many of these are not as much alternatives to the old Macbooks Pro as they are "ultrabooks" focused on imitating the Macbook and Macbook Air.

They make the same mistakes of reducing keyboard travel, eliminating RJ45 ports that don't fit in the chassis, reducing port counts to make the device more wedge-shaped, and reducing battery volume.

I would like to see the Dell Precision, HP Elitebook, and Lenovo P-series included in the lineup. I feel that these mobile workstations are more akin to the old Macbook Pros and better for professional use than an Ultrabook.

Sadly, they seem to be making the same mistakesand regressions that Apple has made in chasing the center of the market. However, if you extend your search space to devices made in the last 4-5 years instead of the bleeding edge, you may drop a few generations off the processor but that just doesn't matter anymore.

[faleidel]

What you are saying is exactly the kind of info I'm searching for. Do you have any links/reviews for the laptops you are talking about? I'll look into them when I have time.

[coaxial]

Most enterprise ThinkPads (X, P, T, W) and their HP counterparts (elite book IIRC) are solidly built and very much user serviceable. Do your research or course but those are solid contenders and easy to find as enterprise customers are leasing new ones.

[eudora]

Also the Dell XPS 15 is usually considered a MacBook Pro equivalent (or better)

[ouid]

I use a 2011 MBP, and it works great. Computers haven't improved very much in the last decade at all.