I can't phrase it without being overly cryptic, so YGPM! Suffice to say it would be much easier and better if I had a Lenovo laptop over an HP one. If 32GB in a 12.5" footprint wasn't so damn compelling it wouldn't have made the list!
I don't know if it's a bit overkill but the Gigabyte P34W v3 is currently serving me very well. A little bigger than you want (14") but extremely portable and powerful.
The HP isn't a flyer (and it would be the same case for the Dell) Looks like it's going to come down to a toss up between the Lenovo T450 and a MBP 15"
what do you want it for, 32GB ram seems overboard paired with wimpy ultrabook cores. whatabout something like this i7 4712MQ quad core, 2 sodimm slots, 1080p IPS screen standard 2.5" bay and there is supposed to be a msata on there as well
I must say I am disappointed to see Lenovo to have failed pretty hard here. When I read the first post "thinkpad" just came to mind, I love both my X61-T and X220, and lusted over the X1 for waaaaay toooo long, but digging into the new X1 (2015 model), to find that the memory is soldered on, goes against everything thinkpads were. Thinkpad's don't die, they find new parts and the service manual guides all.
The X1 is part of the Carbon line, those have always traded upgradability for vertical height. That was kind of their entire point. The T4xx, X2xx and W5xx lines are still solid reliable machines (apart from the T420's dodgy fan batch. That was a pain to swap out over a large install base). Lenovo's consumer lines are unfortunately trash, but so are the consumer lines from everyone else.
A thought apparently shared by the manufacturers themselves. RAM and CPU are entirely different resources though, It's like asking why anyone would want a 1TB SSD with only a 12" screen. I'm using an application that consumes around 8-12GB of memory and It's best when run in a VM. So 16GB is passable, but only just, and would leave me micro-managing memory between the host machine and the VM, so 32GB would be ideal. The application analyses/visualises a dataset pulled from a live environment - the live server needs more CPU grunt, but when you're looking at the data offline "wimpy ultrabook cores" are just fine. I'll also be travelling with it a fair bit at busier times, so I'm looking to get a minimum of 16GB of memory in the smallest package possible, without extraneous bulk present for inflated specs which hold no value to me. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the input, but it kind of misses out on one of the two core requirements (being thin/light). I've found the T430 to leave a little to be desired in terms of build quality to be honest - a little bit creaky, finish rubbing off in places and overly floppy screen. I'm currently using a Yoga2 11" and it feels significantly more robust. I tried out the Yoga2 Pro though, and that felt as if it would last around a week before snapping in half. My wife has a Thinkpad Yoga, however, and that's just what I expect from a Thinkpad. Sadly no SO-DIMM slots though, otherwise another one of those would be perfect :/ You're quite right that consumer laptops are generally awful though - I'm pained every time friends or family ask me which laptop I would recommend in the £3-400 price range.
cant say I'd accuse an ultrabook style machine as being heavy or thick. 25.4mm at its thickest and 2.2kg. which is practically the same as a macbook pro. reason I throw that up is its fairly configurable as to whats required, if you dont want quad core there are dual cores that'd probably make it cheaper
A few mm here and there leaves it at around 50% larger from a volume standpoint than either a MBP or T450 (not taking into account tapers), and 30% heavier than the latter. It's a good shout for thinking outside the box, but where the customisation options are likely of value to most, all I need that's outside of the norm is memory, and being haswell, it won't support the 16GB sticks like the T450. As it stands I've asked nicely for either a T450 or a MBP, so will see how that goes.
Quick thread bump - have gone for a Lenovo T450s and 20GB (4+16GB) in the end - good compromise of light plus power. I've since found out there's a maxxed out W541 in the team doing floating duty if for whatever reason I need something with more go-juice, but shoulder-friendly it is not
