Found the Thinkpad collector who is afraid of competition. Just kidding… 🙂

I haven’t had much experience with the newer models, so what you say may be true.

Don’t know if it’s a good deal.

As others here I will recommend also looking at other brands. I think that you get the best deal by buying used business laptops. They are cheap, good quality, built to last and often repairable.

Brand-wise I think Dell is OK, while Lenovo Thinkpads series T, X, W and carbon are even better choices, IMO.

EDIT: Spelling.