[JamesBrown]

Alright, I don't want to recommend anything special but Lenovo/IBM has been mentioned so I figure I should let you know atleast of my experience.

I have a think pad T-60 running XP I have all of the robotics software on it, including 3d max, Autodesk, and Mplab. I also use Solid works and NX4, I never have any issues. My only complaint about Thinkpads is that they default to using ThinkVantage acess conections for networking which is extremely cumbersome to do alot of things with. However you can uninstall it and just use Windows acess connections instead.

I get bought the 9 cell battery to replace the normal 6 cell, since I am in class all day and need my laptop battery life was important to me. With the 9 cell I get about 5 hours with think pad default settings which is more than enough for using office and web browsing. When I use CAD or compile large amounts of code I put it on max performance which cuts the battery life down to about 3 hours.

Over all I love my laptop and would recommend a thinkpad if you are not planning to spring for a nice Mac Book Pro( they are amazing).

-James