Thinkpad 400

Note: I use my T400 for entertainment purposes all the time. However, my content streamer does a better job of that, since that is what it was designed for (especially when using a 42" plasma). My ThinkPad, on the other hand, does a million things the content streamer cannot.

I've used the recent Vostro 1520 and 1720. They aren't bad laptops, to be fair. However, to get the same features in one (minus the better keyboard and TrackPoint) I'd need to pay as much as I did for my T400, which I've found to be a bit sturdier, and I'd rather have the ATI graphics. The Latitude E6400 is a good, solid comparison (I've used the E6400 and 6500 as well and really like them), but would have cost me hundreds more for a matching configuration.

My point to Mwok though, is that he was expecting entertainment features on a laptop designed for business professionals. At some point, those featuresets will likely merge, and it is also true that if he was willing to wait until January/February, he might see those become a reality in the ThinkPad T410/510 line. However, buying a system and then griping about what it doesn't have is silly --if it doesn't have what you want, you don't buy it, you find a system that does have what you want. In his case, that sounds like an E6400 or E6500, assuming he would be willing to pay several hundred dollars more to get the eSATA and HDMI port