> decent 4 core Cherry Trail Z8300 CPU None of the Atom chips is decent for anything that requires heavy lifting. You really need a Core processor. > 4Gb of R

> decent 4 core Cherry Trail Z8300 CPU None of the Atom chips is decent for anything that requires heavy lifting. You really need a Core processor. > 4Gb of RAM, 64 Gb of ROM 4GB is workable but 8GB is obviously better. However, I think you mean 64GB of storage. This is usually in the form of an eMMC chip soldered to the motherboard. The performance is similar to an ordinary SD card. It's nowhere near the performance of an SSD. If you want the tablet functions, your best bets are a second hand Surface Pro 2, one of the Lenovo Yoga's, or an Asus ZenBook -- they're all available with SSDs and 8GB or more RAM. The Surface Pro 2 keyboard isn't good and the touchpad is awful, but you can get a nice portable Microsoft Bluetooth mouse instead. If you can live without the tablet functions, go for a refurbished ex-corporate ThinkPad X range with an i5 or i7, and fit your own SSD. The X220 was the last model with a "real" keyboard, but the newer keyboards are not too bad. (Most of the alternatives are worse.) Battery life isn't great but look for a model where you can buy a second extended battery. I spent many years with a ThinkPad X and two extended (9-cell) batteries and I could outlast anybody ;-) I shared your doubts about Lenovo products but you should get over it: I've bought three in the past 18 months and they've been fine. It's the highest-volume PC manufacturer today and nobody else is competitive at the really cheap end of the market. Also, you can often pick up sale bargains when it's clearing out overstocks, which is what I've done.