XPS range is good, but pushing out your budget and only getting a 128GB hdd on that http://www.dell.com/au/p/xps-13-9333/pd ... ps-13-9333 Lenovo Thinkpad T440 may be more in budget http://shopap.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/ ... ries/t440/ I'd pick the base model on the left (no touchscreen), then bump the RAM up to 8GB then depending on budget, i'd do some the following: -bump the processor up as far as you can -screen to HD -HDD up to 1TB -OS to windows 7 pro (if you prefer it over win8.. personal preference). -Warranty to 3 years onsite warranty (extra 300 bucks, but someone comes out to your house/work next business day and fixes something if it breaks). Warranty is a bit iffy, but I'd personally always go with it for peace of mind as I see plenty of stuff break working in the industry Really just depends on where you wish to invest your money.