questions regarding a new (fw) laptop buy

hi, to all. I ve been visiting this forum for quite a while, (but not really posting to be honest) and i m about to buy a fw once the 4650 gpu refresh is out.

I have some questions if anyone can help:

1.It has been mentioned previously in the official fw thread that the replacement series for the fw was expected to be launched q3-q4 2009. But as i see the fw line keeps being refreshed every while.
Do we have any updates on when will the new series be launched? i don't mean the refreshed fw, bur rather the complteley new series
What new features is it expected to carry? Any ideas or rumors? like backlit keyboard? gps? wimax card? am i going to far? lol! ok, ill stop. pls continue reading though.
Does it worth waiting? cause the win7 is also coming, so it seems it'd worth waiting some more

2. With the "loose barrel" problem being brought up by many, i 'm thinking a protective neoprene case is mandatory. which one is better giving a snuggier fit after all? the official sony one,the case logic,macbook case or some else? pls say specific model

3. Does the fw have multi touch touchpad? if not can it be done by modded drivers? i ve read that synaptics do offers such drivers but they are just not factory installed on laptops because of market politics

4. on post 1190 of the official fw thread brave Raps has taken apart the fw and figured out that he cpu is replaceable.that's just niceeee... does anyone know up to what cpu does the bios or chipset support? intel has some quadcore cpus available,that are compatible with the PM45 chipset that the fw carries.A future replacement with a faster cpu and an ssd hard disc is really interesting.

5.money issue apart, will it worth choosing a 35w-consumption cpu like the t9900 over a 25w cpu like the P9700 or will it be detrimental to battery life?

6.Would a 5400 rpm drive save significantly on power consumption, heat and nose? because i have seen some 5400 hdd's benchmark that are comparable to 7200.

thanx in advance, and sorry for all these questions,any help is appreciated
i hope when i get my hands on my own fw i can help too

 

1) It's not really known when the US will get it, but I expect soonish. Not longer than 2 weeks.
All specs can be found on www.sony.co.uk
No backlit keyboard.

Nixon has spoken, he knows what he's talking about.

5) I would always go for a P CPU. Cooler, better battery life and less fan noise.

6) For data on performance and power consumption of hard drives check Techreport.com. Best overall choice at the moment is WD5000BEVT.

 

1. but i was referring on the launch date of the replacement for the fw
5. a P series uh? and maybe later when i upgrade the laptop switch to a quad core..
6. yes, that's exactly the hdd i had in mind. 63,8mb/s for 500gb.quite good

 

1 There won't be a new FW series for at least a year. Probably longer.

Sony refreshes models quite often.

 

i see.ok then, i will go for a fw. anyone can help on the other questions?