well, good information, i appreciate it.
really good to hear about the centrino... i haven't really heard _anything_ about it, but if it holds up that well, i might go for a smaller laptop (like the t40), because performance is an issue. i don't want to really have to shell out $3k every 6 months for an updated machine.
good to know about the *nix stuff, i have someone imma gonna call out now
. i'll be running FreeBSD if anything for a dual boot, no question.
i would still like to know if the ibm's have touch pads yet, most notably the t40. the only other thing that concerns me, ibm doesn't list a video card, so i assume it's fairly generic with shared memory. the dell runs a 64mb ati the way i configured the 8500. it should be a gigantic issue, but it's nice. and, the ibm has a 14.1" screen instead of 15", but i could probably manage around that. especially that the ibm is almost an inch thinner, and a couple pounds lighter.