Rather than taking my expensive and somewhat fragile laptop with me, I decided to simply buy a small netbook.  I settled on the HP Mini 1030NR.  Not for any reason other than it had everything I needed and was cheap.

This small notebook has a 10.2 inch screen, webcam (for my live-from-the-field reporting…or saying hi to Mom), and a 16GB solid state hard drive.  Small drive, yes.  But I really don’t need much on this device.  I will bring along an external hard drive with all my music, videos, and space to save things.  The solid state hard drive makes it much more durable because I can shut the lid and go, not having to worry about the hard drive reading or crashing.

I will be using this to blog, follow GPS maps, and watch the occasional movie.

$265 used (barely) on Ebay