What Configuration for Thinkpad T400 running Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit?

Question

Hello,
I will soon be assisting in the purchase of a new T400 for a friend of mine to use mainly for finishing up her Masters thesis on and also to use for her work as a teacher.
She will be going from an old Dell latitude x300 (which died of course) that ran Ubuntu 8.10 32-bit. I have finally convinced her that a Thinkpad T series is the way to go and that it is worth it to pay the extra money for durability and quality.
It will be pretty much a base system as she doesn't have a whole lot of money to play with but right now with the pretty huge sale going on I hope we can get a good deal.
 My question is what kind of configuration should I go for while customizing the system? I don't want to opt for a wifi card that's going to cause problems etc.
I did look at the thinkwiki.org site and it looks like most things work fine but some things may have issues, though I'm not sure how up to date that information actually is now that Ubuntu 8.10 has had some time to mature a bit.
 So what I would like to know is if there are any little things that may not work that I should know about:
Bluetooth - Looks like it works according to thinkwiki.org
What wifi card to use?
    ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III  
    Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology [add $20.00]  
    Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology [add $40.00] [Lenovo recommended]
 I'm thinking stick with the base option but maybe having AGN functionality will be worth it for somewhat of a futureproofing idea. Is the Intel 5100 worth the extra 20 dollars? Is it fully functional now? What is better about the 5300 chipset that makes it more expensive than the 5100 chipset? Are either of these worth it? I don't want them if they are going to need some kind of hacking to get to work.
Understand this computer is not for me. It's for an english teacher who is Not a techie at all. But is comfortable using Ubuntu for basic things. I just don't want an update to break wifi everytime like it did on her old dell with the boardcom chipset.
I'm thinking pretty basic for the screen: 14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight, Camera
How well does the camera work? Looks like it should work fine but I want confirmation of this. She will be using Skype with it preferably with video conferencing so that her 1 1/2yr old daughter can talk with her father when they move away this summer. So functional video is a must.
For card slot I'm thinking:  Express Card Slot & 7-1 Media Card Reader
How well does the media card reader function? She will be using this to transfer photos off her camera. Regular sd cards work fine?
I appreciate everyone and anyone's input on this especially with this being a somewhat time sensitive purchase as the sale will end this week and she needs a new machine ASAP for her thesis writing.
Also, should would be getting the 6-cell battery instead of the default 4-cell. How much wiggle does a 6-cell have in the new T400's compared to the 9-cell in the T61's?
I purchased a T61 with 9-cell battery for my mother last summer (Running Ubuntu) and I must say the battery wiggle is absolutely horrible! One of the mounting hooks on the battery itself has become damaged and it's not from over abuse. I can't imagine the massive amount of flex/wiggle helped it at all.
I'm thinking a 6-cell on this one would provide decent enough battery life but not protrude as much as the 9-cell and hopefully be a bit more durable as I am not impressed with the 9-cell.
Oh and by the way, the video will just be the base integrated intel video, not switchable graphics as that will be unneccesary.
Sorry for the long winded post but I (we) certainly appreciate any clarity we can get!

Answer 1

I see you have already purchased your T400. But for others reading this, I'd recommend going with the integrated (Intel) graphics rather than the discrete or switchable graphics. As jrsmartyn said, cutting-edge hardware can present a challenge with Linux. But Intel is much more active than ATI/AMD right now with Linux driver development. That doesn't necessarily mean smooth sailing with either choice: you'll need a recent distro for Intel graphics support as well. But the near-term future looks better for Intel than for AMD graphics support.
The switchable graphics is interesting if you require higher performance than integrated graphics can provide. But it's complicated and new and I've seen many complaints that it doesn't work smoothly, especially with Linux. Another disadvantage to switchable graphics is that it seems only the ATI graphics have access to the digital video outputs (integrated DisplayPort and DVI on dock). A better option than switchable graphics may be to use an Advanced Dock with PCI express video card.
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