You should probably be looking at the R and G series Thinkpads. The R's are larger, cheaper, and will fill in the lowend. The G's are the biggest, but closest to desktop performance. The X's are the small 12" ones, and the T's are the most expensive.

I love my T42p, 2GHz, 1.5GB, 128MB ATI FireGL video card, but only two USB ports, one parallel. No serial or firewire. The port replicator has a single serial port, and works great with the laptop stand I have for more USB.

But I'm not a code monkey. The developers here are always whing about how a laptop just isn't fast enough when it comes to real world tasks like compiling. The raw CPU speed doesn't seem to correspond to the performance difference between their work on a Thinkpad vs. a Dell Desktop. I guess it comes down to front-side bus and things like that.

If you're considering Thinkpads make sure you take a look at the master guide which came up recently in someone else's laptop quest.

Also, there are some subtle variations in port replicators/quick docks/docking stations that may sneak up on you, like 2 USB ports vs. 1, and a security key lock vs. not. Also, some of the new Thinkpads don't have the jack on the bottom to use =any= of the docking stations, and our Levono sales person was incredidbly difficult to work with about correcting that.

--Nathan