I bought a refurbished Thinkpad X230 earlier this year and I'm very happy with it.
What tipped me over the edge is the repairability and modifiability of the laptops. After an ASUS laptop broke and I was only able to fix it because some random eBayer was selling a working keyboard, I swore off non-business laptops. There's a whole community of people who do nothing but mod Thinkpads, and companies that just refurbish ones (which have often been sitting in some office somewhere and are in great condition). Linux runs fantastically on it as well.
As for the trackpad...well, it's not great, but I use the trackpoint which I've always preferred. The keyboard on the other hand is amazing.
What tipped me over the edge is the repairability and modifiability of the laptops. After an ASUS laptop broke and I was only able to fix it because some random eBayer was selling a working keyboard, I swore off non-business laptops. There's a whole community of people who do nothing but mod Thinkpads, and companies that just refurbish ones (which have often been sitting in some office somewhere and are in great condition). Linux runs fantastically on it as well.
As for the trackpad...well, it's not great, but I use the trackpoint which I've always preferred. The keyboard on the other hand is amazing.
reply