The T400's battery does stick out the back though... so you're not making an oranges to oranges comparison. I, for one, don't like the idea of the battery sticking out the back. I'd prefer it to be a nice neat package (removable or not).

It's worth mentioning, but indeed not a straight comparison. The extended batteries on a Thinkpad aren't exactly pretty: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenovophotolibrary/2774790879/

I was kind of curious about the T400 so I tried to spec one out close to the MBP 15" and I have to say Apple's machine holds up surprisingly well. I was expecting a much larger price delta but if you match the two machines it's about $100-$150 difference. T400 obviously wins on customization and, IMO, the MBP wins on design and software. (Vista Business + Norton AV // OSX + iLife)

Back to your core point though of this reviewer ignoring the competition I think part of that may simply be that Lenovo does a really poor job advertising their computers whereas Apple does a really good job at it. I kind of doubt it's any pent up Apple bias simply because this site primarily covers PC hardware. Most likely the reviewer just had no clue the T400 could be configured to, more or less, match the MBP 15"

I also tried pricing out dell studio 15" comparing it to my current macbook 15" pro (8 months old, not unibody, 2.4Ghz w/ 2GB of ram) and it costs $900 vs $1400 when I bought the macbook pro. It also has 4GB of ram, I couldn't get a 2GB option, the HD is bigger and getting a 1080p screen on it just costs $50 more.

...although it is on offer at the moment. Generally I'd be wary of comparing a dell to a macbook pro, given the formers' tendency towards plasticy tat. A high quality laptop like a T400 seems a more reasonable comparison.

Does the T400 actually match IBM's claims though? My understanding is that the new sealed battery MB & MBP models achieve the number quoted by Apple, which is generally a rarity in notebook battery claims.

It sickens me to see this sort of pandering to Apple. I'd expect a reviewer on a respected site such as AnandTech to at least maintain a semblance of neutrality.

In this case, the reviewer is the very same Anand that built the respected site.