Comparing new Acer TM3204 with CL56 and Sony S360

I'm a college student looking for a powerful thin-and-light notebook with good battery life and dedicated video. This will be my only computer, used mainly for programming and school work, but also for occasional graphics work and moderate gaming. All three of these use the ATI Radeon 9700 with 64 MB.

Contestant #1: The Acer Travelmate 3204XMi-XPP.

It has great specs and weighs just under 5 lbs. (14" XGA TFT, 1.8 Pentium M, 512 MB, 100 GB, ATI 9700, DVD-RW). I have a few concerns, however. The HD is 4200 RPM, but I've read that Acer has replaced the 4200 RPM drives in previous TM3200s upon request. Anyone know if they are still doing that? Also, the default resolution is 1024x768, which seems unusually low. Even some 12-13" screens use 1280x1024. I've never owned a laptop, but I've been told to look for a high default resolution. Can someone explain if/why this might be a problem? The TM costs almost $1800. Does Acer (or online resellers) offer rebates, academic discount, or anything to drive down the price a bit? This is a fairly new model--would it be worth holding out for a couple of weeks to see if the price drops?

Contestant #2: Sony Vaio S360.

This model has slightly lower specs than the Acer, but also weighs a bit less. The screen is slightly smaller at 13.1", but it uses 1280x1024 and looks absolutely incredible. The battery life is supposed to be 6 hours, which is outstanding. Unfortunately, the HD is 4200 RPM. (When will these people learn?) Two rebates--$150 from BestBuy and $100 from Sony--bring the price down to a very reasonable $1649. The BestBuy rebate ends today (Feb. 5), so I'd have to make a quick decision. The only thing holding me back is that I've been told to beware of Sony. Supposedly their batteries are very expensive and the notebooks are relatively fragile and costly to repair.

Contestant #3: CL56.

You can configure this one with monster specs for a low price. The screen is a little bigger than I would like, though, and it weighs over 6 lbs. I'm a student and prefer a lappy as portable as possible. The reviews I've read also seem to imply that the screen quality leaves something to be desired.

I've also given some thought to the 12" G4 Powerbook (15" is prohibitively expensive). I'm interested in the Mac OS and Apple's reputation for quality design, but I'm not sure if I'd be happy with a screen that small. And gaming would be pretty much out of the question. Decisions, decisions!

Anyway, I'd like to hear from anyone--especially travellers or students--who owns one of these machines; or naturally, anyone else who has an opinion.