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I recently picked up a ThinkPad T420 with a dock for around $1000. Adding in an mSata 80 gb ssd for $200. i5-2540, 1600x900, 8 gb ram, 2 batteries (9 cell for 9-10 hrs working in a VM, 6 cell gives around 5-6 hours).

Like you, I enjoyed OS X and the fact that everything worked so well. But it came to a point where MBP's hardware limitations just got too much (no dock so I had to plug and unplug peripherals 2-3 times a day, battery not swappable so 5-6 hrs was the maximum I could get, no way to have two hard drives (SSD + HDD) without voiding the warranty etc) and I decided to switch.

So far so good, the flexibility and build quality are great. Lets see how long before Windows 7/Debian start to become annoying though ;)

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I have been working on a hackintoshed Dell for the last year or so. Initially, I tried to work with Windows 7. It really is not bad at all, but my brain seems to be hardwired to use a Unix command line (and Vim) at this point, so after a while, I had enough and sought refuge in Linux-land. It didn't last long though. After fiddling with the Nvidia drivers for a while to get a multi-monitor setup working, I decided that I could just as well invest that time in getting it hackintoshed. Amazingly, that worked flawlessly (nearly: network and sound didn't work. A USB-ethernet adapter and a USB sound card did the trick, though). Then came Lion and that broke my App Store on the hackintosh. So it's back to a genuine Mac for me.

It nearly worked, though. I wish you the best of luck.

"Initially, I tried to work with Windows 7. It really is not bad at all, but my brain seems to be hardwired to use a Unix command line (and Vim) at this point, so after a while, I had enough and sought refuge in Linux-land."

Have you tried Cygwin? I've been using it for years, with no problems. Unix command line goodness in Windows.

Also, you can install vim from the Cygwin packages, or install native Windows vim. Both solutions work well.

I have used Cygwin for a while, yes. However, I found it to be slow and just... alien, from a Windows perspective. My main gripe with it was a different thing though: Its package management is atrocious. Packages are outdated and there is no simple way to fix them. Also, it installs its own versions of common software, that are only usable from within Cygwin, but not from CMD. Honestly though, I never bothered to investigate further after being annoyed by it a few times, and just used a Linux VM instead.

Gvim works fine on Windows, though. Also, ViEmu has had my love for many months. It's not like you can't work productively in Windows. It's just that I am more comfortable elsewhere.

I suggest running a VM in Linux when developing. It kills battery, but not as bad as you'd think unless you're doing intensive work. It has been the best of both worlds for me on my home projects.

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