I have seen these:

"and as such a disappointment especially without a built-in AF motor for non-AF-S lenses"
"you'll still need AF-S lenses to autofocus."

to describe the Nikon D60, but I am unsure what they actually mean? Well, I know the AF measn auto-focus but I thought one of the main points of SLRs is that you don't have something that auto focus's the picture, that you did it yourself.

Does the D80 have this feature?

the D60 doesn't have a focus motor in the body - just like the D40, so you can only use newer AF-S lenses to autofocus. This means you can still use AF lenses, but you'll have to manually focus them.

The D80 does have an in-body focus motor.

The D40 basically won't autofocus with the Nikkor AF lens as well as several lens from third parties. As said, you have to MF with these. Majority of these are fast primes.

AF Lenses

AF DX Fisheye-NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8G ED
AF NIKKOR 14mm f/2.8D ED
AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D
AF NIKKOR 18mm f/2.8D
AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D
AF NIKKOR 24mm f/2.8D
AF NIKKOR 28mm f/2.8D
AF NIKKOR 35mm f/2D
AF Micro-NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8D
AF Micro-NIKKOR 200mm f/4D IF-ED
AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4D
AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D
AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D IF
AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8D
AF DC-NIKKOR 105mm f/2D
AF DC-NIKKOR 135mm f/2D
AF NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8D IF-ED
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D IF-ED
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 35-70mm f/2.8D
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED
AF Zoom-NIKKOR 80-200mm f/2.8D ED

Lol, oh man. You'd waste soooo much time just trying to focus your pictures. Imagine trying to zoom, pan, AND focus, on a race car going around a track; that's not going to happen. DSLRs GIVE you the ability to manually focus, but trust me, you'll be using auto focus most of the time.

So the D40/D40x and D60 don't have auto focus? Or is it that they do not have auto focus on older lenses?
Are there many lenses that are around that will auto focus?
As there is no focus motor in the body, does it mean I have to buy lenses with a morot in the lens itself?

Cheers

Correct. They won't autofocus on the AF lens, but will on the AF-S and AF-I. (which have a focus motor in the lens)

Are modern lenses coming out with the morot in the lens or are releases split between AF lens and AF-S/AF-I lenses?

Most are, yes. Don't expect a large refresh of their entire AF lens anytime soon though so that shouldn't be the basis of your decision.

Yes, a lot are. However, some of the best lenses you can get your hands on tend to be some of the older style lenses that are driven with a focus motor depending on the brand. Like, let's take my 50 1.8D and my 85 1.8D lenses. Amazing sharpness, great quality glass, but are not AF-S and are driven by a focus motor in the camera. You can save money by buying good quality used lenses without spending a lot of money on the latest and greatest.