x230 vs s431..cant decide

For my 850 budget, i can get an i5 x230 or an i7 s431.

X230 pros: more durable
S431 pros: faster cpu, better gpu ( thoughh i wont game), comes with 24gb ssd, looks cooler, 14 inch screen size is a huge deal, HD res (although x230 has IP)

I cant find any reviews on the s431. Does aybody have them yet?
Any reason not to get the s431 besides its relatively lower durability?

 

X230 all the way. For most uses, the better CPU won't make a lick of difference. The mSATA SSD on the X230 is far better than the cache on the s431. You also get a better screen. Whether something breaks down the road is probably more dumb luck than anything else, but if I were to guess which will last longer, I'd pick the X230. You can break anything without much force if you hit it the right way.

 

The only practical differences between those two (for your wants/needs) is the durability and the screen resolution vs IPS. The 24GB SSD is really just a SSD cache, so you can't actually install the OS or programs on it, so it's not that much better than a regular HDD anyway (also, the X230 has a mSATA slot that you can install a "regular" mSATA SSD to).

The S431 has a slightly higher screen resolution and slightly higher PPI (125 in the X230, 130 in the 900p S431), though 900p is really just a slight improvement over 768p and I would say that build quality is the more important factor, so I'd go with the X230.

 

Stick to the X/T/W series. Upgrade RAM and HDD to SSD.

 

It would be better if you give us more info about your use case.

 

For what it's worth, I bought an S431 as a replacement for my Dell XPS 1530, which lasted 6 years thanks to timely upgrades to the hardware, and I think it's a very solid little ultrabook. Definitely not a traditional looking Thinkpad; it's a much sleeker design than you normally see from most of the Thinkpad line. It has a very nice build quality. I swapped in the Samsung 830 SSD I put in my XPS last year before it died.

Not pushing you one way or another, and I'm far from an expert, but I'm pretty demanding when it comes to tech products, and I think the exterior build is first rate, Just my opinion.