I've had my eye on the precise laptop that you mention! In fact I've read about it for over a year, but strangely its release had been confined to Germany (or some other European state), and it was near impossible to find in the US. Of course the 3820T was easy to find, but lacking the crucial Radeon 5650. I'll give it a second look! Thanks for the recommendation. I'm really interested to hear more about the refresh of this line.

The LCD panel is one area that Apple consistently slays the competition. There are other options that offer high quality panels, but Apple seems to get the balance of form, battery life, screen, power just right, and other manufacturers make one or two huge compromises. At least this seems to be the case with the MBP. Don't even get me started on the HP envy line; so much potential, so many mistakes.

I'd jump on the latest Macbook Air, but something tells me that battery life is seriously going to be compromised with Ubuntu (if it indeed is easy to install). I'm also not sure if the LCD is as good as the MBP line.