So here's my 2-day out report on my laptop. I got everything transferred over today and yesterday, and I'm using it full-time now. Giving my 7-pound loaner back tomorrow.
In case you aren't tracking from above:
Lenovo X61
12" screen
<3lbs
80G Hard Drive
2.1Ghz Duo Processor
2 G RAM
Windows XP
I got almost all of the standard features, but I did pay about $30 to double my RAM and also opted for XP (I'm not up for helping Bill Gates de-bug Vista). The total came to about $1050, before shipping. There's a big sale going on until April 7, which is why it's so cheap. I looked at the same model last year, which was running about $1600 for comparable features.
I've only been really playing with it today, but so far so good. It's so tiny it feels like a big remote control or Gameboy or something. I like the nubby and don't really miss the touch pad. Heat seems fine and it's super-quiet. Battery is what I expected. I was also pleased that it didn't come with a bunch of pre-loaded junk software.
My complaints:
While the tiny keyboard is mostly ok, the side keys are definitely smaller and some are not where I am used to. I'm sure I'll quickly get accustomed though.
What I do miss about the track pad is the integrated scrolling. This sort of has that with its middle button, but it's not quite as nice. I'm already getting used to it, though.
I also wish it had an integrated optical drive. The Lenovo option was stupid-expensive, so that was out. You can buy one for fairly cheap, but I just copied my Office CDs onto a computer with an optical drive and then copied them to my MP3 player and then installed from there.
Finally, the most annoying part is that this doesn't have a wide screen. I really like those and regularly am looking at two windows, so that's going to be a bit of a drag.
Oh, and I wish it were cuter. I appreciate the engineering and reliability that Lenovo offers, but do I have to look like an engineer when I'm using it???
Overall, things look good. I can throw this baby into an oversized purse and manipulate pivot tables to my heart's content.