ThinkPad T430, T430s, and T530: 14-inch and 15-inch thin-and-light laptops. Lenovo says the T430s is the lightest 14-inch ThinkPad with both docking and vPro (Intel's ). Currently, the T420s weighs 3.68 pounds--almost a pound less than the 4.6-pound T420.

Shaving the weight off, however, will cost you: The T430s starts at $1399 versus $879 for the T430. If you want a bigger version of the T430, Lenovo offers the T530, with a 15-inch full HD display.

You can take one of these laptops on a long distance round trip and never worry about battery life; the laptops are rated for up to 32.5 hours of battery life with a battery slice.

Budget Thinkpads:

ThinkPad L430 and L530: Affordable business laptops starting at $879. These "value" laptops are rated for up to 9.5 hours of battery life and have optional discrete graphics cards.