Alternatives to the X220/230 that has either expresscard and/or thunderbolt ports

This time I'm doing a search for my own needs.

I've been highly interested in the X230 for some time as I'm looking for something lighter than my Dell M4400, with good battery life, and a decent keyboard. I'm interested in using an external GPU for gaming purposes when the urge rises so it seems that an express card or a thunder bolt port (in the future?) is a must.

X230 seems to have all of these as its small, light, good screen, and has an express card slot, but are there any alternatives to this?

preferably within 12-14" screen size
prefer either higher than wxga resolution and/or IPS screens
battery life over 5 hours
sd card reader, express card or thunder bolt port
under $1200
willing to wait until December at most

It seems the thinkpad series are the only notebooks that offer these but want to make sure.

 

The trend is smaller notebook these days is thin, which rules out ExpressCard slots and good keyboards. Probably the notebook that's closest to your needs other than the X230 is the Air, but that presents its own set of problems. Maybe when Windows 8 hits the market, some better choices will avail themselves.

 

The X230 has direct competitors from other major business notebook vendors.
Dell Latitude E6230 Worse screen (though moddable to the X230's IPS panel), worse keyboard, better touchpad, a bit heavier
HP EliteBook 2570p Worse screen, worse keyboard, better touchpad, a lot heavier, has optical drive bay if that matters

Also
Fujitsu P772 Worse screen (quality wise, resolution wise it is 1280x800 16:10 panel, yay!), worse keyboard, better touchpad, a bit heavier, has optical drive bay if that matters