While ThinkPads are great machines (I just bought a cheaper one), I'd consider Dell XPSs as well, for the much better trackpads alone. Only two or three years ago, the displays on ThinkPads were absolute jokes. A traditional ThinkPad is a somewhat "masculine" and bulky thing, and the trackpad button layout really gets in the way of a fluid workflow for me. I bought mine because my XPS was dying (the XPSs' weak point is the battery, with high failure rates), but I'm planning to buy a new XPS later this year anyway.
