I'm looking to get a new laptop. Is the centrino chip the way to go even if I do not need extensive mobility?

There's no such thing as a Centrino chip!

Centrino is the overall technology of the laptop. The processor itself is a PentiumM. It does the same amount of work at much lower clockspeeds than a Pentium 4 M(obile) processor, and a 1.6GHz PentiumM is about equivalent to a Pentium 4 M 3GHz chip

The technology is great, the performance matches, and yes, I'd consider it to be a worthy purchase. Except for this:

If you're going to be doing a lot of very heacy number-crunching, and you're going to be ties to a desk most of the time with it, you're probably going to be better suited to a heavier, hoteer, high powered 'desktop replacement' style of machine, with the best Pentium 4M chip in it you can afford.