[sciguy125]

My general recommendations about laptops:
- Don't get a Celeron, the extra ~$150 for a Pentium M is worth it. You'll get better performance and better battery life. The Pentium M has throttling, so it can slow itself down if it's under low load and subsequently use less power.
- Even if you don't think so now, size will be important to you. If you want, go to a store and check out the laptops they have to see what size you like.
- The screen is also important. I love widescreen. I can open up a bunch of windows and have plenty of room to work. Of course, your usage might be different from mine, so it might not be of much use to you. As for "truebright" (different manufacturers have different names for it), it's a preference. I'll admit that it makes the screen look better, but I don't like the reflections. Without it, however, you get general glare (like a haze) instead.
- You should also decide if performance or construction is more important to you. For computers in the same price range, you generally have a choice between better performance or better construction. IBM Thinkpads are rock solid. You can drop them and not have too much damage. Dell's on the other hand are garbage. I've had my Inspiron 630m for a little over two months and it's already suffered some cosmetic damage. I also opened it up earlier today to tighten some loose screws. Performance-wise, however, you just can't beat it.