The screen does come in for some flack, not just because it's shiny but it also seems to have poor viewing angles and isn't very bright, because they put a cover over it. It's a Hi-Definition screen though so it must be at least a pretty sharp screen.
Before he bought the iMac the top of the wish list for a while was a T42 Thinkpad. My sister used to always swear by them too but shortly after that period they seem to have gone down the pan. Seems to be the same with most brands of laptop, Toshiba or whoever will make really good ones then they'll muck up and bring out a range of mediocre ones. The alarm bells started ringing about this HP one because it doesn't seem to have been on the market for very long, about a year if not less. To me that suggests that there is something wrong with it. It is missing bluetooth, which is an odd omission at this price level and may be why it was hurriedly replaced.
HP seem to be making solid laptops just now though so still looks like a good buy. I can get it for £550 incidentally.
