So they don't make Netbooks anymore, need help finding a small light-weight laptop - Hardware & Software

So my current Netbook for out and about is a Acer Aspire D255 which has served me well but I believe it is now time for it to move onto somewhere better in life. To my surprise it's still one of the best netbooks around because they don't make them any more in favour of tablets and ultrabooks. I'm not interested in tablets and ultrabooks seem far to expensive for what I want (which is a small computer for me to take around with a good battery life and is on Windows). So my question to you is to help me find a laptop type thing which fits the following categories. - 13 inch screen. It can be 10.1" and 15" but for my bag and me 13" is pretty much perfect. Also the screen must have a larger resolution than 1024x600, it's just too small to get stuff done. - Weigh less then 2kg, I carry a lot of books so less weight is better for me. - Reasonably powerful, it doesn't have to be amazing but enough to watch things at like 720p and do some basic multitasking, as well as using Visual Studio 2010 for basic stuff. - Cost under <£500. I can do £550 but it'll have to be worth it. - Looking nice would be great too, I'm not a massive fan of the cheap plasticy rounded corners you get on some laptops, this laptop will have to serve me well for the next year or two so eye candy wouldn't be a bad thing. My current Acer D255 has a great little compact build and is nice to hold so something like that would be nice. - Playing games isn't essential, as long as it can do Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 I'm happy. Otherwise I'm open to whatever. I'm able to pick up an Acer Aspire S3 for £520 and that looks alright but I don't want to dive into a purchase like this so I thought I would ask for opinions first. Cheers for any help.

I believe a few of the upcoming ultrabooks actually fall within/close to your price range. I'd wait for the huge wave of ivy bridge ultras to land before you make a decision, since they provide amazing specs as well as meeting all of your other requirements.

None of them really look like they're going to be in my UK price range. If i had the dollar equivalent in America then I could but alas not. The Acer Aspire S3 for £520 seems like an alright deal even there are new ones coming out (for reference it's £700 new over here yet $850 odd new in America). I'm not sure why don't they just make netbooks :v:

How about [url=http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computers/ultra-portable/NP305U1A-A02UK]this[/url]? I know someone with one of these and they love it. It will probably run RCT2, too. If I were you I would wait for someone else to come and tell you what is better than that, as there will almost definitely be something that is.

[QUOTE=Chubbs;34417714]How about [url=http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computers/ultra-portable/NP305U1A-A02UK]this[/url]? I know someone with one of these and they love it. It will probably run RCT2, too. If I were you I would wait for someone else to come and tell you what is better than that, as there will almost definitely be something that is.[/QUOTE] 4-cell battery, OP wants good battery life.

I've been looking and honestly, it just seems like the cheap Ultrabooks are confined to America. Over here we're getting near on $=£ which is annoying. I'm at a complete loss now, it seems like no one does the thing I want and ever Laptop feels the need to be 15" which is too big for my normal usage.

Have you had a look at the Lenovo X120/121, depending on what they have in your country?

I just thought fuck it, and bought an Acer Aspire 5733 with 6GB ram and an i3 for £330 at my local sainsburys. I reckon when the new Ultrabooks come around, I'll pay a little extra and get one of them because they seem more worth it than the current ranges. Cheers for the advice and help guys, has been helpful.