I love thinkpad T series. So far I own a T43, T43p, T61p, T60, and an old R31 (not T series).
At work we have 2 T60s, X61t, and T500.
My first laptop was a HP zt1260...i watched that laptop degrade overtime to the point where it now resides in a landfill because it just wasn't usable anymore for anything.
I've had experiences with other brands and model laptops, asus, dell, etc.. I've seen all kinds of annoying issues and in some cases just pure crappiness.
After dealing with/owning a number of thinkpads I have come to appreciate their durability, reliability, design, construction, how common parts are, and how easy they are to work on. I'm to the point where i don't want to buy or recommend any other kind of laptop as i feel it's always a gamble.
It's great knowing you own something that will actually hold up and work reliably for a LONG TIME. I've often seen this to be not the case with other brand laptops. It's also really nice how easy it is to get parts since they are so common. Need a new optical drive, palm rest cover, keyboard, touchpad, screen?? Just hop online.