Duude, I have both so maybe I might have som "inside track" on things..I have, like U a i9100 and yeah...it's a heavy machine but it has it's advantages.
And I have a thinkpad x40 too and have some experince with other ibm-models.
But the main point is, be sure of what U need in terms of diffentent ports, like s-video, firewire(something that my x40 doesnt have), bluetooth and stuff like that and go from there.
But the 700 SEEMS to be a quite respectful machine in terms of ports like firewire, s-video and stuff like that and think only sony's vaio and a fue others are in lighter class that has an built-in optical drive..not too many of the thin&light-notebooks does not have one built in..but that's for U to decide.
But I cant tell anything but what I see on "paper" about the dell 700m but what I can give a fue cents of is what I like about the thinkpad line...
Even tho the x40 does not have any dvd-drive, firewire or s-video.
But first off, a small personla taste issue...after I got used to the trackpoint on the dell, I like it a bit and found myself using it more and more than the touchpad on the i9100 and when I got to feel the trackpoint on the thinkpad's I used...dont think I would even buy or could live with a laptop without a trackpoint and the one's found on the ibm are top of it's class...
But something else that ibm seems to beeing a tad king-on-the-hill, is it's keyboard and there is not much to say any otherwise on that point, I rather type on the smaller keyboard on my ibm than the full-sized one on the i9100.
But since the dell was my first personal computer, I had more of gaming-on-the-go in my mind when decided on it, it was one of the first cheaper computers that had and seperate grafics on it so that was the reason for this choice, even if I now in retrospect look back kicking myself a bit for not buying the hp NC6000 but then I would had to lower down the gaming aspect...
But what I like on the thinkpads, besides the keyboard&trackpoint, is the build quality, often that not too many dell's can match, they are built often with nice materials and feel like as plastic and they dont feel as cheap as the dell ones...I saw the small video-clip on c-net on the x40 and was a tad impressed by the looks of it...and even if looks like a blck brick, I like it, no fuzz and things that makes it feel flimzy construction-wise, even tho the design is no show-off, I personally like it...
And something I think anyone should do when they get at new laptop, is to install a clean system and have controll of whats installed on it and now I have so much put in the system that wont do a fresh install before I truly must. And there I found that dell dont have not many advantages to offer. And the hard-drive protections software on the thinkpads gives a feeling of more security when it comes to protecting the harddrive from damage if found myself in those kind of situvations...but ibm includes a recovery-solution on a hidden partition and have not been forced to use that option, and even if it takes out some gigs from the total size, think will be thankful to have it if the day comes to that I have to use it..
The screen on the dell tho is something to enjoy and I might have been a bit spoiled to return, when beeing on the move to a 1024x768 from a 1920x1200 resulution and the screen has quite narrow viewing angle and I find myself adjusting it time to time so have a good viewing angle but that is no biggie for me...but the screens on the bigger machines are better, hopefully the screens are a bit crisper on the x41/x32..
And the battrylife of the smaller battery does not impress me all that much and when the bigger battery is slapped on the x40, it bulks out from the machine..but it gives a nice batterylife for the x40..=)
And not to forget, the harddrive is a 1.8' drive that are not that speedy&upgradable and are not found in larger sizes than 60gb at the moment(I atleast think no bigger has come out on the market quite yet) and spinning in 4200rpm, but then I use the x40 mostly for developing and writing and surfing the web, even tho the jump from the dell's workarea to the ibm's is a quite big one, U learn to live with it. But then, dont think the harddrive-drawback-speed is found only on the ibm, think I read the 700m has a 4200rpm-drive in it too, but dont know if it is a 1.8 or a 2.5 drive..)
But even if the ibm has a screen that wont bring any wow's, performance that will blow me away, but enough for me and have the option of beeing able to upgrade harddrive to a faster one, even if that will propably change in the near future. No cv/dvd built in, have a external usb for that, and dont use it all that often anyways personally. No firewire(well no use for me there either) no s-video output(would had been nice to have tho)...
Even if my x40 has it comes short on points, I personally dont find myself ever buing some other modell of dell, ever even if the price are low and U get alot of "glamour" things built in the specs of the computer. And even if I read that ibm's are easier to sell used than dell...dont think I will ever sell my x40 as I will do with my i9100 soon...and here is where I think that many owners of the a tad higher build quality thinkpads will agree with me, that if they can live with the features and lack of them, in terms of fireview and stuff like that...after using thinkpads for a while, u get the feeling that it's much more of a "keeper laptop" than dell's are and I think that I will still use the x40 until something happens to it and forces me to move on to another one...hte keyboard is leading it's class, the build quality does not feel flimzy, and warranty is of good length, love the trackpoint, like the small features of different kinds in software and hardware...and even if I havent had the thinkpad I have found myself having a feeling that I did not get with the dell and that is that I think that I will find myself having it in my possesion for quite some time and when I move on to better machines, and if I have the option not to sell the thinkpad, it will atleast be my dedicaded word-processor....
And if U found yourself thinking that U can live without a optical drive and want a light notebook, there are, in my personal opinion, many better options than dell, like asus w3v or w5-modell, ibm, hp nc-series to name a fue...
And sure, both companies are reliable and dont think thay will dissapear off the market any time soon, but what all this wirting has boiled down to, in my personal opinion..I cant see myself buying a dell when they are as plastic as they are now..but I could see myself buying thinkpad, hp nc-series and even some of asus models and even if many of them are set at a higher price most often, U see where the money went after having them for a while...because when having tasted the grass on the other side...it is greener, in my case anyways..=)
This was not maybe what U wanted to have input on but hopefully helped your decision..=)
