gdgt

The Lenovo ThinkPad E220s, as I've said many times before, is my absolute top pick. Not only is it a GREAT SMB laptop, it's just generally a badass machine. Mine was around $1,150, and it's got a 12.5" screen, Intel Core i7 sandy bridge CPU, 4GB RAM, and Intel HD graphics with 320GB of storage (this can be upgraded to an SSD when customizing, or you can manually insert a larger drive. Lenovo makes it pretty easy to do.) It's got 3 USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 3.0, VGA, HDMI, webcam/mic, ethernet, fingerprint scanner + lock slot (good security) memory card reader, not to mention Lenovo's legendary ThinkPad keyboard and trackpoint. Battery life, on average, is about 5 hours on max settings (full sandy bridge 150% performance setting). Take all that and add it to Lenovo's build quality (military grade spec on some models) and you've got yourself a killer ultra portable and SMB machine. It handles everything I throw at it with ease. I've owned mine for two months, and in that time it's been punched (long story), hit, flung around, and dropped, and it's never gave in. No scratches. No errors. Nothing. Oh, and it's really quiet. One fan and it's never hot or loud, even when running intense applications. Now, you won't be able to game on it at all, but for EVERYTHING else, it's absolutely great.

PS: Sorry if that sounds like an advertisement for Lenovo, but honestly, you should seriously consider a ThinkPad, especially the E220s!