RE: Opinons?

I'd still say the extra money for 3.4+GHz isn't worth it in your
situation.  You may do better to get an extra GB of RAM instead.  BTW,
Kingston & other 3rd parties have compatable RAM that's a fair bit
cheaper than IBM-brand:
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/modelsinfo.asp?SysID=19842&;
mfr=IBM&model=eServer+xSeries+226+%288648&Sys=19842-IBM-eServer+xSeries+
226+%288648-xxx%29&distributor=0&submit1=Search

Hey, my comments were made as someone who uses a 15K boot disk on his
home PC.  Yeah, it is a ton faster (my wife's PC had a 10K SCSI disk).
The question, though, is how important is disk performance after things
load up?  WDSC, WAS, Java, etc. are RAM pigs; more RAM may be a better
choice than the more expensive disk.

Re: External USB drive for backup: Good choice.

Ah yes, the MS dev thing.  Great choice.  Definitely the way to go for
your needs.