[ltp] Fastest Lenovo laptop I can get

[John Jason Jordan]

I am shopping for a new Lenovo laptop. I currently have a Thinkpad T61,
now approaching five years old. Other than the SD card reader (which
never worked worth a damn) and the optical drive (which I beat the hell
out of), it has performed flawlessly. I am impressed with the quality
of Lenovo laptops, and want to buy another. Any other brand is junk, in
my opinion.

My problem is that for nearly five years I have paid no attention to
what is available. I don't even know what is the latest and greatest
CPU. There is a bewildering array of acronyms out there of which I have
no ken.

The new laptop will probably run an Xfce spin of Ubuntu or Fedora,
or possibly Mint. (Can't stand Unity or Gnome 3.)

I use apps that tax the CPU and graphics heavily, so I need the fastest
CPU available, cutting back a bit to the current "sweet spot." I'm
seriously considering a solid state drive, although a hybrid would be
even more enticing. I want 15.4" at 1920 x 1080, or as close to that as
I can get. 

The budget is open.

So what do y'all recommend?