A cryptographer in the market for a notebook.

Good afternoon. First, I'm a cryptographer. Second, I'm in the market for a notebook that meets a fairly basic set of requirements. Primarily, this machine will be used for preparing research papers via a typesetting engine (i.e., LaTeX), which isn't CPU-intensive by any means. Consequently, because of this use, other subordinate uses come into play, such as sharing this research at conferences, in briefings, and so on and so forth; as such, having an ample supply of the right ports is important (i.e., HDMI, VGA, et cetera). Obviously, a lot of web-based research will take place, so being able to multi-task is important, which is why I would prefer no less than 2GB of RAM, which isn't asking more than what's already standard these days. A Windows 7 environment is important, as I'll be testing quite a bit of security hardware and software implementations, so the notebook should be able to handle such an environment conservatively and with ease. Core 2 Duo or i3 would be more than enough, with a little extra horsepower if I need it.

I have various Macs and Linux-based machines for various other purposes, so I'm looking for a Windows-based PC this time around. As for brands, I'm open and not exclusive to any in particular, but I have been considering a ThinkPad -- however, I'm uncertain as to how their reliability has transitioned in parallel to the transition from IBM to Lenovo. Understanding that comparison metrics should be taken with a grain of salt, I've read that Asus, Lenovo, and Apple are the poster children for reliability; is this something that would hold true across the board, for the most part? If yes or no, I'm all ears for your thoughts as to why or why not, along with any suggestions you might have. Oh, and price-wise, I've been able to configure machines to my liking that average around $699, but I might be willing to go up another $100. Finally, to throw in the rest of my requirements, battery life is important, gaming is not, screen real estate should be in the 15" range (not much more, and certainly not less), and the keyboard should be a pleasure to type on.

A huge thanks, in advance, and I look forward to your advice. Cheers!