Well, the above paragraphs assume that the pb *has* f11 and f12 buttons and that other people also care for extended battery life, but I've never touched an apple notebook with which I could play for more than 1 hour. :-)
I can't speak to the battery impact of an external mouse, but I can assure you that the PBG4 has F1-F12. I use F10 & F11 for the mouse myself, since F12 it set up as the media eject key. I've gotten so used to it that I find myself occasionally punching those keys instead of control clicking when using the Other OS.
I can also report a battery life of 3 1/2 to 4 hours under Linux and normal usage (editing in Emacs, running compiles, and browsing with Mozilla). In fact, I have a bad habit of forgetting to plug it in when I come to work in the morning. Thank heavens for pmud.
Besides, I actually like tapping the trackpad as a substitute for clicking (which I'm also assuming is possible with the pbs and ibooks).
Yes this is possible, if you swing that way ;) -- ______________________________________________________________________ Eric: I want to live in a world where software doesn't suck ////////// Richard: Any software that isn't free sucks ////////// rafial@well.com Linus: I'm interested in free beer ///// <http://www.3roses.com/> ////