I'm going with Mandrake 10. I have yet to get the video card drivers working - I agree with you - I think 95% of laptops have issues with Linux. Luckily I've got an Nvidia driver so I should be OK - their support is excellent.
Ultimately I'd like to move to Debian or Gentoo - I'd like to pull off all the packages I don't need, Mandrake and Redhat seem (to me) to be pretty "heavy" distros by default. Also, I reckon I'll learn more about Linux with Debian or Gentoo.
You might like to check out
this site for other people's stories with your laptop.
Distrowatch for an overview of the distros that are out there.
--Tim