$900 for a 2.5yr old Laptop "too much"?!?!

[2kwik4u]

Some of you know I am a BIG fan of digitizers to take notes with in class. I've been rocking an Asus EP121 slate for the last 24 months or so. It's an Excellent machine, Core i5, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD. I've been fighting it a bit in the last few months. The battery life is less than stellar (+/- 3.5hrs), and I've finally filled up the 64GB drive with data and programs. The form factor hasn't been working for me all that well either, as my classes have moved from physical note taking to more of a "work during class" paradigm. Kind of hard to explain, but as the classes progress, we are expected to be working in class, while we're going through the concepts (project management classes, design and evaluation classes, etc). The slate has me carrying the tablet itself, a bluetooth keyboard, stand, wireless mouse, and spare battery setup. It's getting heavy, and tedious to "setup" when I need to work.

I've found another tablet PC that I think will fit the bill for me. It's a Lenovo X220T. Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD HD. It also has the more traditional laptop with "swivel and lay" screen for note taking. The extra horsepower would be nice, but it's not the end goal. The form factor, and battery life is what I'm after. The deal I have found is on a used device. It comes with the extended battery that "snaps" onto the bottom of the machine, and the current owner claims nearly 10hrs of usable battery life. Originally this would have been a $2,500 machine. It's listed at $899 through a vendor on Amazon. I can probably get $500 out of my current setup, so the total cost out of pocket is even less all said and done.

My hesitation is in buying a 2.5yr old used device. I know Lenovo's are known for quality, but there is still that thought that something might fail in the near future, and suddenly the deal isn't so great. I can do some simple repairs myself (HD, RAM, etc), but some of the moving parts of the newer setup has me somewhat concerned. With that said, it's not really founded in fact, but a gut feeling. All the reviews I have read on the machine show it to be a quality piece with no real hints at long term issues.

Anyone have any thoughts on making the move? I have cash in hand to pull the trigger, just not quite comfy with the idea yet.

[johnwartjr]

I've never heard anyone say Lenovos are known for quality before

Having said that.. my lifecycle of a PC laptop is 3-4 years. At that point, it seems stuff is either obsolete, or is worn out. Seems like a pretty hefty investment in old technology...

[OregonS10]

Not having had any experience with SSD's, the fact that they have no moving parts enhances longevity add to that 4 times the capacity. I haven't heard of any thing on the horizon that would replace the "disc" system. So all in all it should be a win, win.