Hi there, I am looking at purchasing a laptop to have on the go at school and for any trips I go on. I have previously had a Lenovo and that thing lasted me a good 6 years - still running windows 7 infact (just). 

My requirements:

• Portable - looking at 14", I reckon 12" will be a bit on the small side and 15" may be pushing it for reliability.
• Decent battery life - preferably 4 hours + with decent usage, nothing less than 2.5 hours.
• Budget is about $1200 +- $200. May have to spend $200 or so to put in an ssd and up the ram to 8gb.
• Performance - as always would love good performance but will settle on mediocre  I am going to be using powerpoint and internet browsing primarily. If possible I would like some medium gaming such as minecraft but as I have a gaming desktop it is not a priority. Portability comes first. 

So, looking at Lenovo's site I have two options: the T430 or S430.



Looking at the specs, the S430 is the clear winner, the thing that is bugging me is the battery life on the S430; 4 cell vs 9 cell... Since the battery is not removable i am worried a lack of battery life is going to trouble me. 

So, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend me either computer, or are there better options that I have missed?

Thanks.