If so, the only figure of merit that deserves consideration is battery life.

Unless a laptop is going to be used a lot for computation-intensive apps as a substitute for a desktop, the only thing that matters is how long it will run before requiring a recharge. It amazes me how users beg for more and more CPU and GPU power, and then are disappointed when the sucker has to be plugged in everywhere they go - as if their supercomputer-with-a-handle didn't devour batteries.

For my portable word processing and email, I use a 386/16 with 1024k that will run all day without recharging - and it has a spare battery pack that can be populated with 8 throwaway AA cells.

If I'm going to be doing Windows application development on the road, then I take the Vaio - and plan on swapping the battery in two hours. P.I.A.