Need help w/ purchasing decision

[Knucklehead]

Apologies for placing this on both the T41 and R51 forums, but...

I am about to purchase an IBM Thinkpad laptop (no need to go through all the details of why Thinkpad, but the pricing seems adequate and the convenience is right as well as the reputation of the Thinkpad brand).

The machines will be used for, well, the sorts of things college students typically use computers for, with the exception of video gaming (hey, females don't seem particularly interested in that stuff) but watching movies on DVD, while not essential, will almost certainly occur.

What I cannot determine is which particular "model" or option makes the most sense (T41, R51 are the choices available to me).

Why would I/she prefer a T41 vs. an R51?

Why "Intel Mobile Pentium M w/Centrino" vs. "Intel Pentium M"?

Why "14.1 in. XGA active matrix" vs. "14.1 in. TFT" vs. "15 in. SXGA+ active matrix"?

Is there any large difference in battery life among those models?

Why "Intel WiFi 802.11b" vs. "802.11b, 802.11g" vs. "Intel WiFi 802.11b/g"?

In the case of the wireless questions, I understand b/g, what I don't know is why I might prefer Intel WiFi b/g vs. whatever the unnamed version is and, additionally, and information you Thinkpad experts can provide regarding the capabilities of Thinkpad built in WiFi. The reason I mention this last is that I use a laptop (Toshiba, company supplied) that has built in WiFi of some sort but the range is completely inadequate - if I wanted to sit next to the bridge I'd just use an ethernet cable) and I have to use a WiFi card anyway just to have reasonable mobility.

Any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any experience with different drive sizes is welcome. The models available have 40 and 60 GB. Either size is adequate, but I'm not finding any models on IBM's site that are 60GB so I'm wondering if the 60GB drives were discontinued due to any reliability issues or such.

Last, but not least, from poking around on the web it seems that IBM does not include recovery CD's (all models are XP). Since my experience is that ALL Windows systems require occassional re-install even when screwed down with personal firewalls and virus software, how difficult is it to get re-install CDs from IBM?

[awolfe63]

Why would I/she prefer a T41 vs. an R51?

Better construction - smaller size

Why "Intel Mobile Pentium M w/Centrino" vs. "Intel Pentium M"?

No reason whatsoever

Why "14.1 in. XGA active matrix" vs. "14.1 in. TFT" vs. "15 in. SXGA+ active matrix"?

Do you really need help with this? 15" is bigger. 14" is smaller. Which do you prefer? SXGA+ is more pixels.

Is there any large difference in battery life among those models?

Why "Intel WiFi 802.11b" vs. "802.11b, 802.11g" vs. "Intel WiFi 802.11b/g"?

In the case of the wireless questions, I understand b/g, what I don't know is why I might prefer Intel WiFi b/g vs. whatever the unnamed version is and, additionally, and information you Thinkpad experts can provide regarding the capabilities of Thinkpad built in WiFi. The reason I mention this last is that I use a laptop (Toshiba, company supplied) that has built in WiFi of some sort but the range is completely inadequate - if I wanted to sit next to the bridge I'd just use an ethernet cable) and I have to use a WiFi card anyway just to have reasonable mobility.

The IBM branded stuff is at least as good as the Intel.

BTW - you reinstall XP from a special partition - you don't need CDs.

[mrbjr]

I won't answer any of your questions because if you browse this forum you will find them all with much elaboration. Also check with the owner of this board for prices and availability. He probably has the best prices in most instances and does not charge state taxes unless you live in Florida.
bill@thinkpads.com and his website www.thinkpads.com He has a great buy on a T41p 2373GEU. I have one and it really is a great machine that will do everything you want and the some.