ideal laptop recommendations?

[mc at hack.org]

"Jesse D. Guardiani" <jesse at wingnet.net> writes:

> One word: Backup.

I see. 

I use rsync over SSH myself to synchronize my home directory on the
laptop with my home directory on the fileserver whenever I get to a
decent network connection. It's a pretty fast and pretty simple
solution.

> It would be nice to burn photo DVDs too. I have a Kodak DC3400
> digital camera and over 2G of jpg photos right now. CDROMs can't
> store enough.

Ah. I don't have that problem myself. Do you use this at work much?
If not, perhaps you should look into buying another machine for home
use instead?

>> Perhaps it would help if you told us what /kind/ of developer you
>> are?
>
> I don't see how that is important, but I am a software developer.
> I develop software for various server systems using C, C++, Python,
> Perl, etc... etc...

I asked because I guess it /would/ matter if you, for instance, did
some very heavy graphics work, doing stuff in, say, VRML, OpenGL or
something else I have no knowledge of. Presumably, people who are
developing support for these things might need different hardware than
your avarage kernel hacker.

> I want to replace my desktop with this laptop

I have used my Thinkpads exclusively for the last three or four
years. I don't travel much either, but when I do, I might do it at a
moment's notice and I want to keep my workstation with me.

> My son is more than 25 lbs and I lug his little butt around with me
> all the time.

Heh... I'm glad my own sons (eight and ten years old) walk by
themselves.

> If I fall in love with an IBM, then I may just have to wait a few
> months for the prices to go down and DVD burners to become available
> or something...

At least in Sweden, where I currently reside, the Thinkpad X series
aren't that expensive. You should check it out.