I purchased and am quite satisfied with the IBM ThinkPad G40 PC. There are many models, differing in the clock speed of the Intel chip, the size of the hard disk, whether there is a wireless card built, in, etc. My comments relate to the whole family of G40 ThinkPads.  
 
Prior to purchasing the G40, I was also interested in, and tried out, several Sony Vaio and Dell notebooks.  
 
The Sony had a sharper, glossy display and is much lighter (the G40 is rather heavy), but the typing keys were too close together and shallow, and the Vaio can only be booted with the latest Microsoft system (XP). In contrast, the G40 can be booted with 98SE, 2000, and both versions of XP. This was important to me because I purchased several PCs with Windows ME, a defective, unstable system, and only after purchasing them found that the machines could not be formatted for W98 because the chips in the machine expected the ME junk.  
 
Despite what many people claim, PCs are not a commodity, in that the feel of the keyboard and the resolution of the screen differ from company to company and model to model. I was attracted to Dell because it offered customization over the Internet. I could select what I want (more memory, better screen) and dump what I did not want (overpriced high-end Intel chips, Humvee-sized hard disks). And I would not have to spend hours on the 'phone, during inconvenient times, with an idiot specifying each part, I could just enter it via the Internet.  
 
But if you want to actually touch a Dell, in most of the world, forget it. I called Dell from a Chicago location and asked where I could see a demo model, and was told that the nearest location was Florida. Since the operator was in an Indian call center, he mentioned the Floridia location as if it were the next street down from me, because he had no idea of North American geography. I began to wonder what would happen if I had a technical question and had to talk to someone in India. I finally managed to play with several Inspirons in Tokyo, but was disappointed by their cheap, creaky plastic parts and the keyboard with substandard key spacing and key travel. Too bad, otherwise the Inspiron 8600 is a nice machine, but I type lots of reports and articles, and I need a machine with a superb keyboard. I don't have space to add a separate keyboard on my desk.  
 
Here is where the G40 shines. It has a wonderful keyboard at an ergonomic angle. I use my PC mainly for reports, comments, spreadsheets,etc. I don't use it for games (that's what a PlayStation-Game Cube-Xbox are for) and I don't use it to read email while I travel (that's what a PDA is for). The G40 accepts a PS/2 plug for keyboards, although the built-in keyboard is excellent by itself. The PS/2 jack is being phased out of notebooks, like the serial port, but there aren't that many USB keyboards available and who wants to use up all their USB ports with basic equipment?  
 
Besides the keyboard, I was attracted to IBM's responsible service. IBM has always had well-trained, courteous help staff, and has repaired or replaced problems immediately in past IBMs I have owned. Sometimes, the repairs were free. Other times, they were not as expensive as elsewhere.  
 
If one ignores the keyboard and the service, the G40 is a plain vanilla PC. It is only 2.4GHz, it only ships with 256MB memory (upgrades to 1GB), this model has a 40GB hard disk but that only spins at 4200 rpm instead of the newer 7200 rpm, the memory cache is on the processor and not separate, etc. Since memory and drives are commodities available cheaply, one wonders why IBM doesn't splurge a bit and include the latest stuff, but IBM was never the low-cost leader.  
 
The G40 model I purchased (2388-4XJ) comes with 4 USB 2.0 ports. Other PCs have only 2, and trust me, they will be full from the first week of use. It also comes with CD RW/DVD, 1 PC card slot, parallel, monitor ports, built-in floppy drive, built-in T100 ethernet, audio jacks and a modem. I did not want a built-in wireless card, they typically are incompatible with third-party transmitters.  
