Last year we were all given the choice of either a T41 or an X31, I went for the X31 because I prefer the smaller size, but that big T41 screen sure is nice.

People seemed really polarized towards the T41 or the X31 - I couldn't imagine lugging the bigger T41 around while the majority of the company choise the T41, a few even swapped out their new X31 for the T41.

The machines seem identical inside, I even swapped the hard drive from my X31 to the T41 to try it for a few days and didn't need to change any drivers or anything.

In any case, I've tried a lot of laptop brands and I really think the IBM ones are the best. Sony looks sexy but their quirky, Dell isn't bad, the rest (Toshiba, Compaq, HP, etc) are crap. Quirky, limited support, not so durable, etc.

We went through a big thing here when we went out and bought about 300 new laptops and a bean counter said we could save "tons" of money by chosing Dell over IBM. We brought them in and had them reviewed by senior management and field folks and I was willing to go either way to control costs, but they all liked the IBM models better, even at a cost increase. Dodged the bullet that time.

The only dislike I have for the X31 and the T41 is the port-replicator thing, they really suck compared to Dell's, for example. The Ultrabay isn't bad, but aligning the pins or whatever on their dock is awful and everyone here complains about it.