[YAYitsAndrew]

I bought an asus a6u last year and I've loved every minute of it EXCEPT the weight. It's like 6.5 pounds and it really kills my back after I walk 30 minutes to school, walk around campus, and then walk back home.

I'm going to be selling it to a friend and putting the money towards an ultraportable. Does anyone here know a lot about the ultraportable market and can offer some help for my specific needs? Here is what I'm interested in.

1. A dvd-rom drive on the laptop, not a stupid docking bay.
2. A keyboard with the letters, numbers, and punctuation as close to real size as possible. I program for a living and I can't deal with a moved or miniscule { or } key.
3. A touchpad. Why the hell do laptops come out without a touchpad?
4. WXGA screen (this is the glare resistant one with a big viewing angle, right?)
5. I would be most interested in a turion processor, but battery life is more important so if a centrino is going to double the battery life then I can compromise.
6. No need for an external cooling solution.

From my research, everything else is moot. I'll need at least a gig of ram and a 1mb cache on the processor for compiling, but any laptop can do that.

Thanks for the help.

edit: forgot one last requirement NO DELL LAPTOPS FUCK DELL

[YAYitsAndrew]

I'm currently looking at the following contenders:

Fujitsu LifeBook P7010 - http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/d...d=78&part=full
MSI MS-1013 - http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/d...=128&part=full

[swimtech]

The Lenovo Thinkpad X60 deserves a look, or, uh, ahem, a Macbook (but add the cost of Windows XP SP2 to the price of the Mac - and it is 5.2 pounds - maybe a bit large for what you've asked). The MSI unit looks great for size and performance, but I don't know about reliability or support...

...and you're right, the Dell X1 isn't there at all...

[YAYitsAndrew]

I was looking at the x60, no dvd drive on the unit though without the docking bay. I don't use it in the kind of situation where that is okay. I need a dvd drive.]

I didn't even think to look at macs, forgot they run windows now. I'll see if they have anything light; 5.2 sounds a bit heavy.

edit: They almost had me, except for the part where they want 200 dollars more for the black version and the weight.

[swimtech]

I'm not versed in Mac application software - really, but don't forget that it comes with OSX and the really cool iLife suite - my wife has played with some of them and really likes them...