To sum up my needs as basically as possible, I am trying to find a 13-15 inch laptop that has put excellent design above all else - excellent ergonomics, chassis, keyboard etc - with HDMI and a great screen.

To go into more depth, i plan to use this laptop at home attached to a monitor (for dual screens) and a full size keyboard and mouse. So I want a laptop that combines consumer market features (HDMI, great screen, attractive body) with professional features (excellent ergonomics, chassis that does not flex, keyboard that does not flex, ability to easily connect to an additional monitor/keyboard/mouse), while still maintaining excellent design attributes throughout.

My last laptop was an IBM T42p and I loved it. At that time i was less interested in the consumer features and just wanted a rock solid laptop that had excellent design features and ergonomics.

Most manufactorers have been producing lack-luster products in my opinion. I walk through best buy and am turned off by every PC based laptop they they produce because, while they have all the consumer based features that I want, they couple it with horrible design and ergonomics.

When i look at business-oriented laptops, i usually see better design, but they lack the crisper looking screens, HDMI, and many of the best costs in the $2,000+ range...

The only laptop that really speaks to me is the 13 inch Macbook Pro. Compared to many of the business oriented laptops it actually seems like a good value at $1,200 to $1,400 and with its excellent design and beautiful screen (even though it lacks HDMI) it fits.

The Macbook Pro is an option, but I am a PC guy and love Windows 7... My perfect PC would look/feel like a Mac, have HDMI, and use Windows 7... Are there no PCs made for me??

not really anything that hits your ideal... but then again the mac an run windows 7 (or will be able to shortly) via bootcamp or other means. you can also buy an HDMI adaptor for it to give it proper HDMI (with audio) capability.

I figure, but thats really a shame...

As far as having HDMI audio and video on a Mac, i do not believe there is one adapter that provides this. The mini DVI to HDMI converter will only display video for some reason (at least thats what has been coming up on various google search)...

there is an adaptor because i use it on my 13 inch pro to attach to my LED tv, its made by kanex, can be found at

http://www.kanexlive.com/

i have the 1080p HDMI with digital audio, works great.

Have you considered a Dell Latitude? They don't have native HDMI but you can get a Display port to HDMI adapter cable when you order for $5. Also, the DPort Plus port replicator has an HDMI port on it (along with Display port and two DVI). The keyboards on the new E Series are top notch too. A friend of mine has one of the cheaper E Series systems and it's keyboard is 1000x better than the one on my D820. The E Series Latitudes also have eSATA ports on them.

I found out that investing in a VGA/DVI to HDMI "converter" (instead of an adapter) for around $50 makes great sense; working very well for my old XP comps that only have VGA output!

cheers ...