Help Deciding on a Notebook

After a lot of messing around , am trying to decide between:
1. 1 of 2 IBM thinkpads with a similar price and
T42 with 735 Dothan 1.7 Ghz , 14" TFT 1024*768 , ATI 7500 32 MB or an
R51 with 725 Dothan 1.5 Ghz , 15" TFT 1400*1050 , ATI 9000 32 MB .
There are other minor differences , but these are the main ones for me . Would have liked a better ATI , but it just brings the cost up too much .
a) Is there any real noticeable performance difference between the 735 and 725 ?
b) Will the 15" SXGA here combined with the stronger ATI give a significantly better picture than the 14" XGA ?
c) Are there any other siginificant advantages of the T42 over the R51 here ?
and
2. An Hp nx7010 which costs less than the IBM , has 1.7 Ghz Dothan , a 15.4" WXGA , and an ATI 9200 with 64 MB .
I need one from these 3. The HP has better specs and is cheaper , but am a bit wary of the wide screen maybe causing problems with formatting to printer or projector screen , and I have not seen mentioned anywhere on HP's site that they have a similar mechanism to IBM for protecting the disk when the notebook gets dropped (even tho the salesperson said it does ) . I also understand that IBM's may have a better chance of lasting over the years without problems and their service is better .
After all of that , advice would be most appreciated .
Thanks .