I have an interesting alternative to a laptop that some of you might consider.

Although I have a notebook PC that I use on the road, and a networked 64-bit
Asus MB machine with Windows/Linux dual-boot, I rarely use either of them.

I have a machine (actually two machines) that I built myself, originally
configured these machines to be telephone PBXs running free Linux/Asterisk
telephony software, but I created an additional SUSE Linux boot partition in
one of them and it is now my primary machine. It is based upon micro-ATX
motherboard made by VIA in Taiwan. Motherboard is only about 5 or 6 " square.
All audio and video and networking is on the motherboard. There is one
available expansion slot. It is not super-fast, currently runs at only 1GHZ,
I think, but it never slows me down for anything I do on a daily basis. I
have a 24" Dell LCD Monitor on it that I picked up cheap on EBay, and it is
super-comfortable to use.

The beauty of this VIA motherboard is that uses something like only 7 Watts of
power; it is fanless. There is no noise, no clue as whether it is running or
not. I have a 114GB 2.5" Seagate SATA notebook hardrive in it currently that
also sips electrons one-at-a-time. I store important stuff on-network so the
hard drive is still mostly empty. Wanted a CD/DVD R/W in chassist, so the
entire unit has swelled to about 2 X 10 x 12".

So it has been sitting here running silently 24/7/365 for a few years now
without hicking.

I purchased the components: MB, box, RAM, HD, DVD, and put it together myself,
$400 maybe ???

Love it

Robin

I have one of those.
Here are a few pictures. Works great. Runs Linux Ubuntu 9.04 real time.
Cost $80 bucks with the processor. Includes the processor.
George Lazik is helping me do an EFI system using it as a base.
Can you do "C" Robin? We might need a bit of help.
I also want to get my NC mill running with it.
http://www.rotaryeng.net/Nc-Mill-How-To.html

Intel now has a competing mother board for about the same price.

Paul Lamar