I had a latitude before my current thinkpad, it was a good computer. Only thing wrong with it was the touchpad- who ever thought those were a good idea? Certainly not anyone who knew how to type.

For a touch typist, it is all to easy for the warmth of the hand (even if you don't quite touch the touchpad) to highlight and then delete large chunks of text. And, when doing graphics, my fingerprint got worn down (a benefit for mafiosi I guess).