Advice on Thinkpad purchase

[dick@cats.ucsc.edu (Dick Terdiman)]

Dear Thinkpad users,

I'm hoping for some advice concerning a new Thinkpad purchase, and I'd
appreciate responses to the questions below, or any other ideas you have.
Please respond directly to me (dick@cats.ucsc.edu) to save bandwidth
on the net.  Thanks very much for your help.

1.  I'm looking to buy a 755-series machine with an active matrix screen,
a Pentium processor, 
and a large hard drive.  I understand the CD-equipped Thinkpad (755CD)
is now a Pentium machine, but does NOT have the DSP features or the
SVGA screen that the 755CX has.  I have a SCSI-II 3x external CD player
that I could connect via a PC (PCMCIA) card as I do with my current
720 Thinkpad.  How important is it to have the CD built in vs. the
DSP and SVGA capabilities of the 755CX?  Is the SVGA screen really
dynamite?

2.  Are there further developments about to happen (new processor 
speeds; possible integrated "bay" arrangements [CD player; extra
battery; floppy drive as on the NEC Versa 4000 series]; new screen
resolutions or sizes; price changes) that I should know about to time
my purchase right?

3.  I can get an "education" discount from IBM PC Direct (4 percent).
Where do you think I should look for best price among other vendors?
Any vendor who consistently undersells and provides reliable sales?

4.  I work with many people in the Windows environment.  With my new
machine should I expect problems upgrading to Windows 95?  Is anyone
selling the 755s with Windows 95 already installed?  I know many people
in this newsgroup love OS/2.  But is it worth migrating?  

5.  How much memory should I get with my new machine?  Who sells memory
cheapest?  

6.  Where is best source for an Ethernet PC card for the new machine?
How much should I expect to pay.  

Sorry about how elementary some of these questions are.  I don't usually
spend $5000 at one time, so I'm a bit timid, and I know there's lots
of knowledge out there that could help me make the right choices.  
Please share yours with me.  Thanks for your help.

Dick Terdiman
Literature Dept
UC Santa Cruz
dick@cats.ucsc.edu