True. Thinkpads are in a league of their own. You can consider Thinkpad X300, the best thinkpad currently available.
Don't go for T60 or T61. They have huge number of issues.
If you want a thinkpad, go for either T-series or X-series. Others suck.
if you are ready to pay a premium, check Thinkpad, XPS and Toshiba Satellite Pro/Qosmio models.
But none of the Thinkpad's or Toshiba laptops have dedicated GPU to run latest games.
PS: Posting from a 3yr old Thinkpad which runs Vista without a hiccup
