I think Kevin is a bit polemical here, when he says "crap" in regard to the laptps ability to show colors EVENLY on the whole TFT screen (colors/areas on top and bottom differ slightly as the view angle is a bit off and differ even more if you move your head up or down in regard to the screen, I have to say you should get a second oppinion on this if "color" is an issue.

No problem for modeling, although I'm not sure what its like to model with maya on a regular pc. But the price issue is perhaps the biggest concern I think.