I picked up a "backup" machine, a Lenovo T410 Thinkpad. with 4GB RAM, 1280x800 display, Intel Video, awesome sound, 249GB Disk, Core i5-560M (Dual Core / 2 threads per core aka Hyperthreading). $200.

Had Windows 7 on it... bleah. No, I don't like it either. It wasn't the official Lenovo Build Either, since the machien came with WindowsXP originally (after looking through Lenovo support)

I first installed Debian Unstable/SID from a Sid-di image... meh, to hard to piece together to get a working one the way I wanted. I then played with Xubuntu 13.04... Please NO! It fights me at every turn.

I downloaded the XFCE variant of Wheezy. Installed Wheezy on it. Changed the stuff to Unstable, added Deb-multimedia (Christian Marrillat's stuff) and updated.

Only 1100 packages to install or update... and the t410 is faster than my t61 by a long shot. It just has smaller display and smaller form factor. Still works with my T61's docking station... as will my T530.

Cheers.