Hi Graham,

I was/am in the exactly same boat as you. The reason why I switched to Ubuntu and open source full time is about values and principles.

I believe that if it is all about values and principles, it’s also worth to invest time and energy into your values and principles.

Looking at all the pro and cons, I found that that latest Thinkpad T460s hits the sweet spot. i7, 20GB ram (awesome for virtual machines) and 1TB SSD came to $1800. Still cheaper (and faster) than a MacBook Pro 13".

In addition, the T40s has a great 14" screen and is lighter (more like a MacBook 12"). Comes with three years warranty and battery life is good too.

All in all, I’m extremely satisfied (plus at Starbucks you are not one of those Apple people anymore)… :)