I finally broke down and ordered that laptop: Promedion (Clevo) 5600 with Northwood P4 1.8GHz CPU, 256MB DDR ram, 30G HDD, 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, 15″ 1400×1050 TFT, 3 year on-site.
When I get the thing, which should be in a week or so, I’ll make sure to write up a detailed review and document the laptop’s transcendence to the next level of computer consciousness (i.e. the Linux installation). Fortunately I didn’t have to pay the Microf*ck tax (the forced inclusion of a Microslop OS) like with so many other mainstream notebooks.