sweet dude.
You still doing design, or is most of your day in google docs / microsoft word? I am currently running adobe softs from 3 versions ago. my biggest processor hog is compilation time, and the number of safari windows that I need open to various API documentation. other than that I am not really hardware bound.
my biggest hardware bounds are:
1. my laptop harddrive dies once a year on average. I am now using an SSD, and it is fucking amazing. When these are standard, peoples minds will be blown. However, it cost more than some of the computers on your list. Also, I am a non standard user in a lot of ways, I don't treat my computer with the respect that it should get. Mine is a kingston SSD-Now V, with 128GB. Highly recommended, now in the 300 dollar range.
2. Screen size. After working on a 24in screen all day at work, my laptop screen feels kinda cramped. I can't have 2-3 docs open side by side, and working on programming with the editor in one window and the API in another sorta sucks.
3. Battery Life. I am on my second battery, but the first one lasted a few years. that was nice.
4. Part / repair manual availability. So far I have done the following repairs on my laptop:
- new fan
- 4 new harddrives (replaced the optical disk when it died too)
- new ram (my ram died, and wrote corrupted data all over the hard drive)
- new keyboard, I blew out the last one playing far cry 2 and pressing control-z really hard.
I know you are going lenovo, because of your discount, but I am pushing hard for you to look into the aftermarket parts now so that you know where to go when things go south. Also, I imagine the lower end ones will have more integrated components, so it will be like, "you need a new keyboard, well you are going to have to replace the wifi card too".
too much? not enuff?