Another vote for the ThinkPads. X60-series models are dirt cheap right now, and pretty much impossible to beat on the combo of cost, performance, portability, a

Another vote for the ThinkPads. X60-series models are dirt cheap right now, and pretty much impossible to beat on the combo of cost, performance, portability, and ruggedness. My recent-model MacBook Pro has a wonderful display panel, good discrete GPU, and a decent-enough keyboard, but it's big, heavy, throws off tons of heat, and lasts at best four hours on a battery. My old ThinkPad X41, on the other hand, despite being almost five years old, beats it in basically every category other than screen size/brightness and raw CPU/GPU power. T-series units are even sturdier and definitely keep up in CPU/GPU specs, but there's just something about a 3-pound laptop that pretty much removes the excuse to not have it with you all the time. (That may or may not be a good thing for your lifestyle, of course.)