ThinkPads only good thing is the nipple. Other wise there weak underpowered expensive ugly over heating bastards. (
)
If you want a good valued powerfull but still very portable laptop, id defintly go for the Asus M50SV. Its an excellent laptop.
For $1700:
CPU: Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz
OS: Vista Ultimate
RAM: 2GB DDR2
HDD: 250GB SATA
Graphic: Nvidia 9500GS
up to 896MB Turbo Cache
Screen: 15.4” WXGA+ (1440 x 900)
* 2yrs World Wide Warranty * DVD Burner * 1.3MP Web Cam
* BT * Finger Print Reader * WiFi 11 “N”
* Altech Lansing Dolby Speakers
Its one of the fastest laptops in the market currently in its price range
. It uses a Peryn chip (45nm FTW)
For a good price listing with specs:
http://www.msy.com.au/notebook/notebook.pdf
All prices AU.
Toshiba and LG also make quite good laptops.