A friend recently asked me what laptop he should get. I have a few of them gathering dust (ThinkPad X20, ThinkPad R32) but I told him he should get himself a ThinkPad with a new warranty on it because that’s important (and IBM has good service generally). I wouldn’t really look at anything other than a ThinkPad because the ergonomics are so much better. Except I don’t use them anymore…
The truth is my laptops are gathering dust because I found something much better. My Fujitsu Tablet PC is my main machine, for everything. I have a powered USB hub at my office desk with seven devices coming off it, including a trackball and keyboard and CD burner, and I just plug it into the tablet when I’m working there. I keep a small USB keyboard and folding stand for travelling if I need them, along with a second headset for voice recognition (Plantronics DSP-400, which folds up into a bag). And I use the pen interface all the time in meetings, for diagrams, etc.
I am sure that using it instead of a mouse/trackball is much better for my wrists.
So I guess that laptops are fine for folks, but I’d hate to go back now.