replacement work laptop

[S. Wong]

My Thinkpad T61's HDD died, so the question is what should I use for replacement?

Purpose:
I'm a TPM consultant, so clients aren't always super quick with providing one of their computers for me to do my work.
Home computer for movies, internet, any real computing that I shouldn't be doing with my work machine, editing movies/audio for my wife
Mess around with Linux as a home OS
Anything that's too big for my Samsung Note

1. Cheap
- purchase an SSD, and get it back up and running
- get a used Latitude/Thinkpad and be thankful for quality keyboards

2. Intermediate
- Purchase a modern $1000 laptop - XPS/MBAir for Win 7/8.1/10/linux
- Would like 16:10 for the height
- 14"-15" for screen real estate
- 1920x1200 resolution, or as near as I can get

3. Whole Hog
- XPS/Thinkpad/Latitude/MBP
- Don't settle for budget hardware
- 4k resolution
- dual/triple boot

 

[Aurelius]

I'd go mid-tier. You don't do a huge amount of things, but media editing demands more than just a basic machine. I'd be tempted to suggest a MacBook Air so that you can get iMovie, iPhoto (soon Photos) and GarageBand for free, since they kick the snot out of the basic media editors you usually get on Windows. However, it has a 1440x900 screen... that's fine, but you're looking at $1,300 if you want a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a higher-res display. I have an MBP, it's awesome, but I know it's not for everyone.

If not that? I'd seriously look at a Dell XPS 13 (non-touch is fine, but go Core i5 if you can). Great display, uncommonly good construction for Dell, and the latest hardware in a relatively affordable package.