This laptop (like mine) is what I like to call a big honker. It's got a 15" screen, weighs over 7 lbs, and has a Pentium 4 processor. There's nothing wrong with this, especially since I have one, and it's a good way to get a lot of features for not too much money. Downsides are that it's heavy and the battery usually lasts about 2.5 hours at most.

The other kind is more portable-oriented. It has a Pentium 4-M processor (designed specifically for mobile applications) that generally runs at a lower clock speed, weighs usually under 6 lbs, and has the potential to get a shitload of time out of a charge.

I went with the big honker because I can tolerate the extra couple of pounds and I wanted to get the most performance for the price. However when I'm running from class to class with the thing on my back I do think about how it would be nice to have something smaller and with longer battery life. But hey I was on a limited budget ($1500) so I got what I got.

Oh and there's also Apple which are really nice but kind of pricey for the amount of stuff you get. I don't have anything against them and they're sexy as hell. It was just I could get an 833 MHz iBook or 2 GHz HP big honker for the same price.