Mod note: I moved your thread to this forum.

Small light vs performance - its a trade off.

I have an HP Compaq 8710w as my main work unit. It is actually a 'Mobile Workstation' as I do things technical (software etc). It has a 17" wide screen and is a heavy sucker. Not fun to lug on trips etc. But plenty of power for Adobe products.

I grabbed a work Toshiba Portage for my trip last week to Canberra - just email and browsing. Gutless, with a small screen - but very light. Handy to store photos on your travels.

A group of friends here at work are going to Japan for a holiday. One of them just bought a EEE pc with a 160Gb drive for browsing email and dumping photos.

So from your post I recommend a light / small unit for you. You need to try them in a shop. The small screens cheeze me off - but I also hate lugging the 'mobile data centre' as well. Maybe I get a PC back pack for my wife?