That's not bad.. but still quite pricey (and for the US too..)
What kinda batt life are you looking at here? Why do you NEED the long batt life? (Don't forget that all modern PCs will throttle CPU performance to conserve batt life once you're away from the mains so you'd be taking a performance hit any way..)
512Mb ram is OK but you'll want more.. no o/s isn't too much of a prob but don't forget a legit copy of XP Pro still adds to the price (unless you're going Linux)
5400RPM HDD is the minimum spec you'll want in that thing too..
Here in the UK I've just found this puppy for you.. for £940 = $1650
# 15.4" WXGA TFT Widescreen
# 2GHz Intel Pentium-M 2MB Cache Processor
#100GB 5400RPM hdd
# Centrino Wireless LAN 802.11b/g - 54g Network Port
# 3 x USB 2.0 Ports
# 56K Internal Modem
# Glidepad with 2 buttons & scroll button
# 1024MB PC2700 333MHz DDR RAM
# 1 x Type II PCMCIA Slot PCMCIA Slot
# 1 x IEEE 1394a Firewire Port Firewire Port
# 128MB ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Graphics
# 1 x Mic-in,1 x H'phone/Speakers
# DVDR Multi Burner
# S-Video Out Port (NTSC/PAL)
# Widescreen - up to 1280 x 800
# Weight - 3.5 kg with battery
# Dimensions (mm) - 32h x 353w x 250d
# 12 Mths Return to Base Warranty
Are you gonna get a CPU upgrade, a bigger HDD and double the RAM for less than $300 more????
This is the top of the line in that range but you could dial down the specs if you needed to stay around $1300...
Marc_D