I've looked into them, and they make pretty good products, but I'm just too hooked onto Thinkpads' timeless design, and of course, the TrackPoint, to switch.

Yes, the TrackPoint is a serious problem. Once you're addicted, there is no going back to a lesser solution.

Agreed. I tried the Retina MBP at the Apple Store when I was getting my iPhone fixed and kept hitting the G and H keys out of habit. I tried to get used to the multi-touch trackpad; after all Apple does make the best in the business, but it just didn't suit me. I just don't see how repeatedly swiping your finger several times to move across the screen is more efficient than a simple shift of weight across a red dot.

It's like the convenience of a mouse and the versatility of a trackball, just better. I got so addicted to it that I had to buy one of these (http://shop.lenovo.com/us/itemdetails/55Y9003/460/60AC6A0372...) for my desktop.

Why, this looks like the very same keyboard I'm typing on :) Except I bought it before the laptop out of curiosity.

The CD/DVD optical drive is a nice touch, if it were 2005. Seriously, why would anyone ever need an optical drive on a laptop? You can bundle an external one for much lover price if you want and save the space for something better: battery, better dimensions/weight, 2nd hard drive, cooling, whatever.. just not this device straight from the 90s.

(It does not say anywhere that I can replace it with battery or hard drive bay as I can on Lenovo/Dell notebooks).

I've been looking into them, and i like what they are trying to do. their laptop are just too awful though

Their battery life has usually been pretty low, has that changed?

getting 4 hours minimum with lemur ultra i7 ssd 8gb ram. I'm satisfied with that.