I don't buy that thin-and-light requires glued batteries, soldered ram, and proprietary hdd connectors. As exhibits A, B and C I cite my Thinkpad 420s and the machines I almost got instead, the Samsung series 9 and Sony Vaio Z.
Every MBP since the unibody design is 0.95" thick(of course except for the new retina one) and the T420S is 21.2mm-26.0mm thick, how is it slimmer?
When I got a T420s, I was surprised by how little of an improvement it was in terms of screen, weight and thickness with respect to the T40 series. As the standard bearer for quality PC laptops, Lenovo has had years to come up with an answer to the Air, and I think it has failed.
Thinkpad 420 - Core i5 versus i7. Only up to 8GB. 3cm versus 1.8cm.
Samsung Series 9 - 13inch. Much slower i7 CPU.
Vaio Z - 2.5cm thick at max point versus 1.8cm.
As I pointed out to another response, I'm talking about the 420s model, not the 420. The 420s is substantially slimmer, and mine has an i7. I believe the 420s does max out at 8GB, but it's a year old at this point; the replacement 430s does accomodate up to 16GB.
There is a 15" model of the series 9. It's a full pound lighter than the retina mbp. I strongly suspect it can be ordered with the same i7 you can get on the mpb, but I don't remember off the top of my head.
No idea what you're talking about with the Vaio Z. This is the one I'm talking about: 2.6 pounds, 0.66" thick. Yes, this one actually is a 13" machine, but before you go setting up a straw man remember that my point was about thin-and-light engineering, not about 15" laptops. http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/04/sony-vaio-z-series-ivy-br...