It is all about real estate… Another hundred bucks would go a long way toward increasing productivity. I would trade that for the CD-RW drive!
Seriously, 1024×768 is just not enough screen – you only get a dozen lines of code with the IDE around it. 1280×1024 is just enough to start with, but 1400×1050 or 1600×1200 is the sweet spot. I guess I am too much of a code junkie, but the extra lines of code go that extra mile towards making code crafting that much easier.
On the plus side, I should be able to land a good monitor – the one that is on my desk now is good except for the severe wobble on the top half (yes, only the top half) of the screen 😉