OK, if its not too late to toss a few more ideas into the ring!
I love my Thinkpad, its got the best keyboard one could ask for, keep that in mind if you are going to be spending quality time with it.
I love Apple Powerbooks, for another non-adult project I want the 12 inch Powerbook, high speed, low drag! it does everything I want it to do and more.
However keeping with M$ Windows, since I have all the software, have you looked into the
Alienware Area 51 notebooks?
They are overbuilt for graphics and gaming, I'd really love to have that as my dedicated Window$ laptop.
