Light laptop with backlit keyboard AND good battery life?

[ibex333]

I am having difficulty finding a laptop which combines light weight, good battery life and a back-lit keyboard for $1000 or less.

I know a MacBook Air or even a 13" Pro can be had for this much during sales, but I feel like Macs offer too little for the price. What are my OTHER options?

I am looking for something where the keyboard backlight is strong enough to clearly see the keys in the dark without having to use a table lamp.

Battery life must be at least a solid 4 hours.

Thanks.

 

[snoturtle]

Dell XPS 13?

Can be had from the outlet for around 650 or so after the 25% off coupon going on right now

 

[TheStu]

I am having difficulty finding a laptop which combines light weight, good battery life and a back-lit keyboard for $1000 or less.

I know a MacBook Air or even a 13" Pro can be had for this much during sales, but I feel like Macs offer too little for the price. What are my OTHER options?

I am looking for something where the keyboard backlight is strong enough to clearly see the keys in the dark without having to use a table lamp.

Battery life must be at least a solid 4 hours.

Thanks.

For what you are looking for, your choices are (in my opinion) between the MacBook Air or Pro, or the Asus Zenbook Prime. They are the best ultrabooks out there, and the Air in particular is just about the best balanced one, at least based on every review I have seen.

Using the machine for anything in particular, or just an all-arounder?

 

[ibex333]

For what you are looking for, your choices are (in my opinion) between the MacBook Air or Pro, or the Asus Zenbook Prime. They are the best ultrabooks out there, and the Air in particular is just about the best balanced one, at least based on every review I have seen.

Using the machine for anything in particular, or just an all-arounder?

Mostly coding on the long train rides and late evenings before sleep. ; )
Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS.

 

[TheStu]

Mostly coding on the long train rides and late evenings before sleep. ; )
Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS.

So, keyboard and screen readability are paramount then, more so than your usual general purpose machine.

Ok, then we are back at the MacBook Air. Though you may want to consider a Thinkpad, depending on the cost.

Though in the $1000 range you are looking at the 11" Air, so not sure how you feel about that.

Also, since it is code, it is OS agnostic.