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jbk

The MacBook Pro 13 has an option to get 512+16GB. It's a bit heavier, but not that much.

The Asus Zenbook UX303LN has 12GB (it's better), but only 256GB of SSD.

I don't mind the price, I need a powerful tool.

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The MBP is a different class of machine. This thing is roughly the size of an 11 inch MBA.

There is definitely a market for a slightly heavier, slightly thicker, but easily upgradeable machine. I know of at least one physics student who can live with 16GB, but would rather have 32GB.

I would love to find a 13" form factor convertible tablet PC that's just a bit bulkier than a Macbook Air, but has something equivalent to a Wacom stylus.

(EDIT, Actually, there are plenty of situations where more RAM but not more CPU would be of tremendous benefit.)

Sure, there's a market, but the question is whether there's a large enough market to justify building it.

Either way, I'd say the high end computing market (which I'd say needing 16GB of RAM falls into, personally) is currently different from the ultra-light, ultra-portable market.

I mean, if you need 16GB, you probably need more than a low power dual core CPU anyway, and that's not realistically going to fit into the form factor of this machine today.

The weight isn't that different, though.

Current 13.3" Macbook Pro weighs 3.46 pounds. The Dell XPS 13 weighs 2.6 pounds. The MBP thus weighs 32% more (0.8 pounds) than the Dell. That's a big difference to me, and to lots of people.

Something a bit bulkier, but a lot lighter and more durable would be great.

The upcoming Lenovo LaVie Z machines will weigh 1.7 lbs but be in a bulkier (tough) Magnesium-alloy case. Not sure if they'll have enough RAM, hd-storage, or battery-life for many, although if they're that light I'd probably be happy to carry an ac-adapter around for periodic charging: http://news.lenovo.com/images/20034/Lenovo%20LaVie%20Z%20Spe...

You'll never heard about it in North America, but the most gorgeous laptop right now IMO is the Panasonic CF-MX3: http://panasonic.jp/pc/products/mx3s/

It's tragically expensive to import, though.

I want one of these, but I have no idea where to get it from: http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/notebooks/l...

I'm not sure how you can say that with a straight face. The next MBA is going to basically be a netbook, the MBP is already thin enough / light enough / small enough to qualify as an ultrabook in my view.

"BTO"[1] is a laptop brand originally from The Netherlands which allows you to configure your laptop before purchasing it. I own their "X-BOOK 13CL58"[2] model with a 13.3" IPS screen, 16 GB RAM and an i7-4700MQ processor. It works pretty well for me and the screen is beautiful. I think they also ship to other Benelux countries.

[1] http://www.bto.eu/contact

[2] http://www.bto.eu/bto-x-book-13cl58-ips.html (click on "Zelf Samenstellen" tab to see self-configuration options)

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