Well, it's not the notebook I would buy. These are the downsides I see looking at it's specs:

It has a desktop P4 which runs hotter and lacks the battery optimizations of the mobile P4.

The Radeon graphics chip is a generation behind the Radeon 7500 and GeForce 4go chips that are in most newer machines.

I consider a 15" XGA screen to be an absolute waste on a laptop. You pay the price of a larger machine and worse battery life while not gaining any additional resolution. Most people find XGA to be comfortable on a 14" or even 12" screen. For a 15" screen SXGA+ or UXGA are more appropriate resolutions, IMO.

I'd suggest looking at the Dell 8200 or Compaq 2800. The Dell is an "everything but the kitchen sink" kind of machine. It's big and has a cheap feeling plastic case but it is very flexible with 2 bays that let you use a combination of a second battery and/or optical drives. If you are going to be doing a lot of ripping and burning you may appreciate having two internal optical drives.

The Compaq 2800 is much lighter, thinner and sexier than the Dell. But it only has one modular bay and lacks legacy ports and FireWire (but it does have USB 2).

-Dylan