Just wanted to give an update. I found a pretty good site just devoted to putting LInux on Laptops.
A database on getting Linux on specific laptop models:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/
Tools, how-tos and guides on getting Linux on a laptop and mobile devices (pda, cell phones,etc).
http://tuxmobil.org/
As for which distro I'm going to put on the laptop, I'm leaning toward a Debian installation. Debian's apt-get is so very convenient. Ubuntu seems like a good & easy Debian distro that is fairly user friendly like Mandrake. The latest Ubuntu release that's about to become available, v5.0 "Hoary", has some nice features including the ability to resize partitions during the install (NTFS and FAT32).
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/
But i'm open to try other distros.