X30 would give you 8 hours battery life (10+ if you stretch it) and probably indistinguishable performance from your T30 (also 2 pounds lighter!). I also have a T30 (97U, sounds like same model that you have) and don't usually travel with it -- not up to snuff for my taste. It isn't my primary desktop (that is a dual xeon intellistation). I view the X30 and equivalent machines as an adequate solution to the battery problem, thus I'm sorry but I have no sympathy (the solution is within your control). As for not having a backup while you travel, you will be happy to know the T30 is spec'ed to take a 3 foot drop with the drive running and no damage (thanks to its unique drive bay cushioning -- don't know of any other notebook that has that). Microdrive 4GB version is announced, will ship in a few months. I've had to solve the version control problem long ago as I use multiple computers, and find I almost never have more than 50MB of work to back up, and that is all the microdrive needs to hold. Most of the time it gets used for taking photos instead.
Good point about AA having reliable power. I've had several BA flights with the inflight power not working, so I view it as not something to count on and CX not really being behind the rest of the industry. Sorry for the diatribe, but battery life happens to be a pet peeve of mine (along with lack of 802.11b, soon to be .11g).