That was a dick move. 5 days are not enough to go through debugging, coding, reviewing, testing, and deployment of a complicate software like Windows. 2 weeks to 4 weeks are more reasonable.
Lenovo/Thinkpad are usually more expensive than the others. However, I bought the cheap version of Lenovo ($350 after rebates) last xmas as a replacement laptop. It's one of the best laptops I got over the year. The specs can't be beaten, and screen and build quality are superb.
California government did one thing right that few other states can match to encourage innovation - California Labor Code Section 2870. This single law negates many of the bullshit employment contracts required by companies to confiscate new idea and innovation from employees working at their home and at their own time. This actually helps to spawn off new startups. I will never move to and work in another state that doesn't have similar law.
How I started my company is kind of funny. While talking to my friend, I had this idea I thought was great. I tried to sell it to him and asked him to develop it, but his heart was in doing another project, his own idea. I told him, it's not hard at all; let me show you. He was still not interested. I proceeded to do a design and built a prototype. One thing led to another, it became my product and my company.