Confused about which TFT monitor to buy

[LeedsFan]

I have a CP I built inside which will be an IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop. Basically the idea is to have an "arcade in the box" kind of thing.

I want to use an external monitor mounted on the back of the CP, but I'm really not sure about how to go about this. The native resolution of the T42 is 1024 x 768. But if I use an external monitor then can I ignore this? I don't want to waste money on a better screen than the laptop cannot support.

I found the detailed specs of the T42 here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-57839.html

.... but I found the resolutions supported to be somewhat confusing. It says that DVI monitor support is restricted to 1280 x 1024 while using a docking station... but then below that it has higher resolutions listed in "panning mode".

I've been looking at some cheap TFT monitors on eBay that match the native resolution of 1024 x 768. The only concern is that the response times can be up to 35ms. Will this cause ghosting in Mame? (This setup will be 100% used for Mame only)