Re: 1000 quid!
That's a clumsily shaped brick. Even the Apple 15" is thinner, not much wider or deeper and weighs only 20 grammes more. The specs, even with customisation, do not seem especially wonderful and running BSD or Linux on it requires reinstallation by me, with all the nuisance that involves of finding drivers, codecs etc.. OSX is BSD based, is fully supported and the hardware is actually a pleasure to see and touch.
I buy a notebook for its portability/power mixture and like my personal things to look good as well as be good. I use the business equivalent of your suggestion, all day, every day and have to carry it about too. There is just no comparison.
As for the price: you get what you pay for and, as I tend to keep my kit for several years, skimping to save three or four hundred now makes no sense. Of course, with a cheap notebook, one skimps as it will almost certainly need replacing or upgrading after one to two years, espeically with the bloating effect of Windows patches and upgrades and even Linux new releases.
Thanks, you removed any doubts I had, though I shall upgrade to either a top end MBA or the 15" mac pro.