Thanks ya'll for the input, and as of yesterday the purchasing has begun.
Yesterday: one 19" Hanns.G monitor (HG191) -- 800 yuan.
(Thanks Spag for saying "Hanns G")
And thanks to everyone for saying Dell and Aspire. I did check them out as a way of getting ideas and prices. It turns out however I really was hellbent on a Thinkpad. Today I ordered an SL500. T'is thus:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (specifically, a P7370)
RAM: 2Gb
HDD: 250Gb SATA 5400rpm (dunno the brand, but it's not special)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS (256Mb)
Screen: 15" TFT LCD
Network: something built in, with Wi-fi and Ethernet doodads
DVD: a player/burner of some description
OS: WinXP (English, pirated--just say no to Vista)
Beijing ticket price would be 7100. I'll be coughing up 7650. (There's a handful of overpriced non-essentials in there, like a mouse and a carry bag n stuff, and without them the guy was saying 7250, which it seems is ticket+the extra Gig of RAM.) In any case, I'm a sap and the price is what it is. My impression is a really hard bargainer might have gone 6800 or less.
You can get SL500s with crappy processors and integrated graphics for 5000. I going for high end crappy.
Passing on the chair option for myself. Suggested some for the foreign affairs office.