Not sure what do do and looking for suggestions

I bought a 5790 last year. Good laptop. A few complaints, but not enough to be disappointed with the the purchase. The one complaint that just doesn't go away is the size and weight of the thing.

Sitting on my desk at home is fine - but ask me to carry the thing for a few hours through an airport and I am going to be a sad man. It isn't a feat of strength to holster the thing on my shoulder for a few hours, but it sure is a pain in the ass. So I am looking to get something smaller for travel. I like the Dell XPS M1330 because it looks good and is nice and small, I really just don't like DELL. So here are my questions:

• Is there a reseller that makes the M1330 or is it DELL Exclusive?
  
• Are there any other small/light/slim notebooks that don't look terrible that you can recommend?

Ultimately I don't want to drop $1,500 on a laptop that will only be used for travelling. I work from home and 90% of my work time will be in front of the 5790 (sitting on my desk).

 

you can get a cheap acer for less than 600$

 

have any suggestions? from my experience the acers are all pretty ugly. i could be wrong though.

 

yes they suck.. yes they are slow... yes they are ugly... yes they are very cheap

 

yeah, thats where i am torn. i want it to sorta look nice. thats why the dell m1330 was so appealing.

 

visual appeal and under-the-hood appeal are two different things.

 

If you just want something basic for travel, head into a local retailer and check out a few of the options.

Acers are indeed ugly, Gateways generally are too. Sony's are hit and miss. The 14" HP models are very portable and can look rather nice - in the past HPs have been plagued with MB issues though, so I'm kinda turned off by them, but they may have gotten better in the last couple years.

If you want ULTRA portal, you could look for a used Sony SZ series in their 12" line, but a new one would be outside your price range.

Here's a nicely equipped HP for under $1000: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8675212&type=product&id=1197074865130
(I don't care about people's BestBuy opinions, this is just an example )
Or this Gateway that actually looks very nice but is a little larger at 15.4":
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8651069&type=product&id=1195599779501

Both of these have decent processors and 3 gigs of RAM for under $1k.

 

You can get a 12" Sager 7260 for just over $600... Can't get much more mobile than that without going ultra mobile... and the price is hard to beat.

 

i was actually looking at those, but the specs are so low for that price i figured i might as well look around and see what else i can get.

 

agreed. im just looking for random suggestions here to make sure i haven't missed anything out there.