fyi: all notebooks use unique components, there are no standards each OEM makes their own plastics. All of the HDD, CD and floppy mechanism are the shared, but how they are packaged are different. Cooling systems, motherboards, etc.. are all unique.

As far as quality...MMmmmm you would have to point to a specific piece of equipement, but you can't make that arguement as a blanket statement. I have had them all, and work with all of the companies in moile design, they all use differing qualities of parts. I have had Toshiba boxes break as well, as IBM, Sony etc... The customer support will be want you want to work well, and with the major players in the notebook world you have a good product no matter what. Drop down the list and you might have problems.

dell also makes some sleek products, as do each of the big 5 OEMS.

If you value traveling and battery life.. then the CMT machines are going to be outstanding as well as high performance for the Ghz.

gus