Just a minor followup on my next laptop given the the dead Thinkpad, because I know you were waiting with baited breath on the decision.
I've decided to go laptopless for a while. I'm something of a quiet contrarian which motivates the decision. Once upon a time, I'd be one of a small handfull of folks who'd pull into the cafe and crank away at getting stuff done. Now you've got gaggles of teenyboppers copping all the good tablespace, not to mention outlets, with 5 laptops for 3 people. I kid you not. Time to move away from the herd a bit so I can regain that smug feeling of superiority.
Also, I've been laptop primary for close to 5 years now, and a lot has changed for desktops in that timeframe. Heck, mongo flat panel LCDs are cheap now!!
Lastly, I really want to get back to MacOS for the next laptop and figure I'll slice a few fingertips off as a frontline adopter when the Intel based PowerBooks come out.
Oh and no smilies for the humor impaired.