linux on a laptop

[wolf_bluejay]

I find Debian to be great for a server type system, but really not the best for laptops.

Kernel module building can take a lot of understanding to actually to get right. debian installs modules as part of individual packages, do playing with a "non-standard" kernel can be a pain.
As for the wifi, sometime the wireless drivers in linux work, when they don't ndiswrapper is there for you. I will install the WinXP drivers and use those instead. This is what I have to do with my broadcom wireless card.

Personally I like gentoo, it is what I run on my personal systems, it is too much for a production system. I would really use gentoo over LFS. you can expect to learn a lot from running gentoo. And as a added bonus, gentoo's portage system will install 3rd party programs without having to install with each programs installer. IE google-earth, vmware, etc. similar to running ubuntu with the restricted drivers turned on.
If you post a "lspci" list I can tell you if the linux drivers will work for your intel wifi card or not. Or you can just google the EXACT model number and find out for yourself.