Hey Rob, I've a T41 as my "daily driver" and absolutely love it. The thing is built like a tank (durable-not heavy). The dock we got has 4 USB plus all the other standard stuff. Beautiful screen & resolution options. Love the power control/options.

I've recently had in-laws buy a new laptop--they went through three different ones (Dell, Toshiba, <no brand>) before settling on one--not a Thinkpad, but they've given up. Totally different application than your usage. I played with each and they are varying grades of cheap when compared to Thinkpad units.

Good luck,
Tim