Debating between getting a T430s or a Mac Book Air

I'm in the market for a portable laptop and was wondering how the T430s stacks up against the MacBookAir? Also, are people generally happy with their laptop now that Lenova owns the previous IBM laptop brands? Curious to know if quality has gone down. I use to own a T41 and it still runs today but slow. I spec'ed out a T430s below and the price seems like a good deal.

ThinkPad T430s - 1 Year Topeseller Express Depot Warranty
Processor: Intel Core i7-3520M Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz)
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
Operating system language: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Display type: 14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 with Intel Core i7-3520M Processor
Total memory: 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard: Keyboard - US English
Camera: 720p HD Camera Mic
Hard drive: 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Micro hard drive (mSATA): 16GB mSATA Solid State Cache Drive
Ultrabay: DVD Recordable
System expansion slots: Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
Battery: 6 Cell Lithium Battery T81+
Power cord: 90W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN
Integrated mobile broadband: Mobile Broadband upgradable
Language pack: Publication - US English

Accessories and options:
3Yr Base Warranty Extension Edit
4Yr Battery Edit

Price: $2,398.00
Web price: $1,515.23
After eCoupon: $1,172.98
You save: $1,225.02

Total $1,172.98[/SIZE][/SIZE]

 

The lenovo's are still a fantastic machine in most cases, some of the cheaper consumer models arent exactly " classic " thinkpad quality.
I would not hesitate to get a T430 over a MBA , heck I basically replaced a MBA and a MBP 13" with my x220 last fall since it could not get beat for battery life, storage adaptability and durability.

Now if you filled out the form over in the WNSIB forum I and everyone else would be more than happy to try and assist you in an ideal laptop for your current needs.

 

I pretty much did the same with my army of Macs by replacing the entire fleet with one x220.

The MBA is a nice machine (my brother has one and loves it), but in reality, it's not any more portable than a T430s unless you go around the country with your laptops literally in your hands. You are going to be dragging around the laptop and accessories in a bag, and the extra half-pound/half-inch is not going to be the reason why your shoulder or back aches or cause you to wait an extra second in the security line. If you do get a T430s, I would forgo the mSata cache, and spring for a much larger (albeit more expensive) mSata drive and do the upgrade yourself. Rather than just serving as a cache, you can use it as the boot drive and install your apps on to it; then you can have the benefit of two hard drives. As an aside, I am finding 80GB to be a bit small for my needs and wish I had a 120 GB mSata.

 

I got an X220 over MBA because 1) the low voltage cpu in MBS and 2) IPS display in X220. Very happy with my choice.

 

we are getting a bit OT but hey others experience is good. one big downfall of the MBA is actually its portability or lack of in some cases. Its not exactly the t430s exactly but a great analogy I lived.

The Thinkpads and some elitebooks, probooks etc can be MUCH more portable and lighter than a MBA, now before we get into the " your freaking insane! " comments hear me out.

I need roughly 8-10 hours of battery life in a day ( not light use ), and I need a decent amount of storage ( about 400-500GB on average ) plus Lan connection and VGA to hook to projectors. for 2 years I used the MBA thinking that was the way to go like most people but soon learned the MBA + charger + external HDD + multitude of adapters + vehicle charger + padded carry case = not so freaking portable and alot of charging during the day

now I'm a woman and a tad stubborn, ( ask my husband ) but he convinced me to try a bit heavier so I don't need to lug " crap". So last fall I configured the x220 up you would think an x220 and a battery slice would be cumbersome. Its not and you exceed 20hrs if battery, 15 or so if you work the crap out of it.

With the mSATA SSD and full volt CPU it makes a MBA seem sluggish, and then still having a 2.5" HDD bay for a large data drive = one thinkpad and a light case if you need it, absolutely nothing to pack around for the whole day, an extended business trip you pack your charger and your done.

end result was the x220 is lighter, faster and more portable than MBA once your done packing needed accessories for your day or trip.

as an afterthought 16GB of RAM can be an advantage on something other than MBA

can the t430 do the same thing .... I would certainly think so

the 120 is a fantastic compliment to a thinkpad that supports mSATA

 

I have a T430 review unit right now. It's very solid. I consider my X220i to be as good as any ThinkPad I've used. Probably the one downfall of the T430 is the screens. They're OK for Office and Internet type stuff, but underwhelm for anything where image quality is important like movies or photos. I guess you'll have to be the judge on that one. I think the X230 is the best notebook being sold right now when you consider it's light and durable, has a great screen and keyboard, gets very long battery life, almost everything is upgradeable and it can do dual drives with the mSATA + HDD. Some don't care for the HD resolution, but you'll again have decide what's important. If you're looking for a PC that resembles the Air, the Samsung Series 9 is worth a look. It's got a PLS LCD, which is close to IPS. The Air is certainly a nice notebook and a worthy contender.

 

What was the last MBA you tested?

 

2012 13" and 11" units. model numbers MD232LL/A and MD224LL/A. I still have the 13"

 

I was a little surprised you thought the MBA felt a little sluggish compared to the ThinkPad. I thought the 13.3" was very fast. I was testing the 8GB RAM 256GB SSD model and it was very fast on both OS X and Windows 7 Ult x64.

 

Just don't get the T430s with the NVS5200M 'upgrade', it's performance is on par with the integrated graphics and it limits you to two external displays max (for which you need a dock), it's like they charge you for a downgrade

 

were you using the i5/256 variant or the i7/256 custom variant? i had the i5 model and as soon as I was out of what I consider basic applications ( word, excel, pages, itunes, chrome, mail, outlook etc ) or got into memory or drive intensive applications the previous gen x220 ( i7/120mSATA/750hdd/16gb) was easily 15-45% faster. and still had roughly 50% of the battery life with the 6 cell loaded or 1/7th with the 9+slice

 

Here's the MBA I am talking about along with it's Windows 7 WEI score. I don't dispute the X220 with the specs below was faster. I just wouldn't call this MacBook Air sluggish. At least mine wasn't. It was far from that. The performance rocked as far as I am concerned. Also, this MBA profile is likely the same profile I expect to purchase in the X1 Carbon.

 

yep, about the same scores as mine. Identical system BTW

I called my husband for my x220 scores

Windows Experience Index

Processor: 7.3
Memory: 7.6
Graphics (Aero): 4.7
Graphics (gaming): 6.1
Hard disk: 7.9

one thing to note is in CPU intensive applications the general rule of thumb the design community has dreamed up is a 17 watt IB ULV is about on par with a 35 watt SB i3. and the 17w IB ULV i7 is roughly as fast as a 35watt i5. and I am certain the 16GB helps in many applications too. benchmarks tend to be inaccurate for real world applications especially WEI

 

So back to the T430s.

I have owned the T400, T400s, T410s and T420. I used a T410 and a T420s for a little less than 90 days. If the T430s follows in the footsteps of the T410s and T420s, it should be a good little machine. They aren't cheap though and it's the primary reason I decided the T420 was a better choice over the T420s. With the loss of the eSATAp port, the decision and feature set isn't a slam dunk in favor of the T430.

It's too complicated now.

 

AGREED! too many good choices now. I hope our rambling is of some help to the OP

 

Thanks everyone for their input. To be honest, the more I research and read about the various laptops the more confused I am with what I should purchase. Just Lenova alone has so many series. I think I'm going to have to digest all of the various trade-offs before going forward with a purchase. I thought buying a laptop was going to be an easy task. It's more complicated than my car purchase