Advice on thinkpad purchase-T61p or T500...or W500

[Saxman]

Buying a thinkpad for a student commencing university who will be taking theatre/set design as part of her degree, so will be doing some CAD and 3D stuff ...she is not a big gamer, basically will use the pc for school, and surfing, and photoshop . the prof suggests a 17 inch laptop with dedicated graphics, but I know she won't carry that size laptop around campus, so guessing a 15.4 would be a compromise, and even that's a bit heavy...anyways like the T500 because of switchable graphics (not always doing CAD work)and battery life (so could lighten it with a 6 cell battery)- but is the HD3650 able to do general CAD/3D stuff, or do I go to the tried and true T61p with a 9 cell...the W500 still seems a bit high on price... any advice out there?

[phr]

I don't have a real good answer except even a T61 is a bit much to carry around campus. If the prof says get a 17 inch, then I'd get a 17 inch (W700) and plan not to carry it around too much. Get a second machine for portability, if necessary.