Handsomedan:
Wade:
If you are prepared to take a punt with warranty etc consider importing a Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 12.5 or 13 http://www.mi.com/en/mibookair/
I have the 13" version and it's an awesome device that actually feels "Apple" premium with full metal body... for me battery life is probably closer to 7hrs than quoted 9.5hrs
I have read about those, but not seen one in the "flesh"...
Even the website screams "APPLE"...
Nice looking piece of kit.
It actually feels as premium as they make it out to be, the design is clean and minimalist. My work supplied Toshiba ultrabook is some form of magnesium alloy and by feel it's hard to detect if it is plastic or metal, with the Mi there is no question that it is a metal body and solid. one thing to note is I don't believe it is upgradable beyond changing out HDD (or adding a second HDD), ram is not user changable
If i had to gripe about anything it would be the glossy screen is prone to light reflection as they all are and secondly the silver keyboard, the keys are back-lit and in bright light conditions the lit keys can make it hard to see which button is which (back-light can be toggled on/off by F10), a black keyboard would have been a far better choice in day to day use
I doubt that there is any better ultra book available for around the $1k mark