T61 14.1 vs Sony Vaio C240E

[jimmers]

My T61 14.1 package arrived few days ago (I placed my order on May, 30 when Lenovo offered good prices). I am still not sure if I should open or return it because of mostly negative feedback about T61 I found here. Currently I have Sony Vaio VGN-C240E laptop and I am not happy because it has short battery life, produces high pitch sometimes when on AC power and some other small things are not OK. My question is if the T61 is better - does anyone have experience with both?

I am a Unix user, so I plan to have dual boot configuration with Solaris/Fedora and run Windows XP inside a VMware if I need it. I work with text editors mostly (programming and reading) so keyboard and screen quality matter. Also I need long battery life (I ordered 7 cell).

Here are specifications of the box:

• 1 SYS.7662CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
  7662CTO CTO THINKPAD T61
  42V8190 SBB INTEL CORE 2 DUO
  42V8012 SBB MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC
  42V9597 SBB MSWIN VHB32 US ENGLISH
  42V9324 SBB 14.1WXGA +TFT,W/OCAM
  42X0906 SBB NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 140M
  41W2063 VBB 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
  42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
  42V9329 SBB UN(TRACKPOINT+TCHPD)
  42V8705 SBB 100 GB HDD,7200RPM
  42V8715 SBB DVDREC8XMAXDUALLAY,UBAYSLM
  42X0903 SBB PC CARDSLOT ME CARDSLOT
  42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
  62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
  42V9339 SBB 7 CELL LI-ION BATERRY
  39T6442 SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
  27R1769 SBB PSTN CABLE
  42V9391 SBB LANG.PACK US ENGLISH
  42V9428 SBB PACKAGING US
  42V9647 SBB 14.1WXGA+W/OCAWWAN,W/BT11N
  39T6440 SBB 56K V.92 DESIGNED MODEM
  42V8646 SBB CL.PLATE T61WLANANDBLTOOTH
  42V9665 SBB FCC, LABEL
  42V9667 SBB GEO LABEL US, WLAN,BT
  41W2300 SBB LOGO PLATE
  42V9631 SBB INT WLAN ANT 14.1" 11ABGN
  42V9658 SBB MT 7662 SYSTEM LABEL
  42X0929 SBB MECH MISC PARTS
  42V7973 SBB MS LABEL (VISTA BASIC)
  42X1232 SBB NEWINTELLAB_DUALCORE/CEPRO
  42X0914 SBB NO SIM MODEL
  42X1354 SBB PC CARD SLOT MEDIACARDSLOT
  42V9633 SBB STAND LCD C/B:14.1"W/O CAM
  42X0915 SBB WLAN MISC PARTS
  42X0922 SBB NVID QUADRO NVS XXXX W/AMT
  42X1482 SBB BLUETOOTH W/ ANTENNA
  42X1702 SBB BLUETOOTH SCREW
  42V8063 SBB MS WAU ENGLISH NA-U MODELS
  42V9341 SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM

BTW what is "SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM"?

Thank you
Martin