[Eug-lug] Laptop recomendations? Repair?

[turtle at think-electric.com]

My Toshiba A45-S120 laptop has turned into a TRS80.
I have run all the usual tests and no matter what I do it runs at about
1/10 speed. new memory, memtest86, kernel compile's, several heavy
compiles without errors, test live cd's are slow, everything is slow
without errors.
I can draw on the screen with the bouncy icon as a program starts up.
I have been discussing laptops here to:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4391315.html#4391315
and am thinking of a Dell: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.20GHz) 4M L2 Cache,
667Mhz Dual Core
OPERATING SYSTEM	FreeDOS Operating System Kit
LCD PANEL	14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD Panel
MEMORY	2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS	edit
HARD DRIVE	80GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
OPTICAL DRIVE	24X CD-RW/DVD Data Only
VIDEO CARD	Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD	Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Dual-Band Mini Card
Standard Touchpad (hopefully means no fingerprint thinggy)
PRIMARY BATTERY	9 Cell Primary Battery

The only other laptop that I am considering is the ThinkPad X61 Intel®
Core™ 2 Duo L7700 but people are telling me the screen will be too small I
like that is does not have a optical drive (they are like 5.5 floppys to
me) and weighs almost 1/2 of the dell.
although I do not like the think pad windows tax since we are linux only
over here.

My basic requirements are good CPU / FSB,  portable and light yet readable
screen, readable outside / different angles, reliability. willing to
consider anything.I am definitly Not a gamer. Will occasionaly watch a
movie on it. Will plug in to stereo if I want amork tunes etc.
Also any recomendations on a really well equiupd shop that could confirm
the a45 has bit the dust for under $100? Or any warining dont go here's??
as it would be nice to not have a big expense for a wile longer.


cheers turtle