Good advice there.

BUT I've had to go back on my pledge to buy an Asus... it's not because it's not suitable - it's fantastic - we have one to play with in the office... however.... look what MAY be coming next year...

Mac Rumors: Apple Ultra-Portable MacBook Rumor Roundup

So I'll just have to wait and see because an Apple designed and built ultra portable with Flash memory is going to win hands down over the Asus.

m

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Thanks for that tip, Matt. Being a Mac guy it's exactly the kind of macine I would buy for travelling. Having used Macs from the beginning, I'd wait 6-12 months of course and let others work out the bugs. Let's hope the rumors are true!

Yes I know what you mean... I've bought pretty much every first generation Apple product for the last 8 years and I've paid the price - having said that the software updates always work and the hardware never fails... so I may just take yet another leap of faith and await the stunning 12 inches I'm sure Mr Jobs will provide

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But can you make him drink?
IBM Thinkpad X40 PM 1.7GHz<br>(2371-8EU) Grade B
ThinkPad X40
Shown on docking station but works fine without(no DVD). Comes with the docking station.
Click on photo to enlarge.
8x10x0.5 inches
Windows XP Pro
40 Gig HD
USB will power an external HD
Wireless
Phone Modem
Travel charger
2.5 lbs.(removes from docking station)
Fall protection on HD.
$370usd

Very nice to use.
Quality.
b.

Cracking kit - and of course I could happily instal a decent OS on it and it's very light - but I'm afraid it falls at the first hurdle having a standard HD rather than a flash based one.... which is one of the major things I'm looking for.

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matt,
With memory limited to 8 gigs and no Windows, what's to want?
Gonna be an antique when you get it.
Flash memory is coming but it isn't here yet
What don't I understand?
At least the ThinkPad is aging gracefully.
Please explain.
b.

Hey Bill,

Well with the mac you wont be limited to 8gb of memory (flash memory is now faster than standard HDs - it's also being made in chunks of 20gb+)... and actually having no windows is a bad thing!?!?!?!

Having said that of course macs will quite happily run windows as it will Mac OS X as well as BSD or another linux variant. Why take one OS on the road when you can take three?

The thinkpad is a really nice machine - no question. But having already trashed 2 hard drives on the road my next laptop is going to have to have flash memory.

Plus it'll come with all of those modern gooddies like USB 2 which will make the transfer of photographs significantly easier and faster, not to mention 802.11b/g so faster connections to the network when I do hit somewhere that needs it - mainly at home when I'm pushing the large photo files around.

But it's very much horses for courses with these things. I don't need massive HD because I drop my photos off in 4gb chunks and post them home - once I know they've arrived safe I drop them off the laptop - the last thing I want is to have the kit nicked or for it to break with ALL my shots from the trip on - so a massive HD is overkill for me.

For example on my last trip I had one of the first Samsung Q1 Ultra Portables with a 10gb HD and at no point did I come close to filling it. It's not my main laptop - it's my kit for the road.

Then the rest of the HD is just taken up with my silly scribbles about 'life on the road' and how tough it is which, as it's text and uploaded to the blog all the time hardly takes any room up at all.

I'm not one of these people that takes films (movies) with them (what's the point!?) but I do like to have space to download useful doc / pdfs if and when I need them.

The nice thing about flash memory is how easy it is to upgrade / add to. If I need more space for something specific I just plug in an 32gb SD card (£120 from play.com) and I've instantly got more space. Or just a cheap £15 8gb jobbie from play.com.

I carry an iPod too of course and if I really need the space that has 160gb (40 taken up with my music) - but even though I love my iPod I still don't trust that it wont die on the road so wont put anything essential on there.

Now I think I'm rambled on enough and I should leave you to your breakfast!

m

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..You can use Ozyexplorer over linux and run garmin information at no problem over this OS.
Also you can download geo-* linux utility for gps. geo-*: Rick Richardson's Linux tools for geocaching
Also always you can googlear and find a cheap (and legal) xp original copy, mostly times come from corporates versions.
At the time you add external gps and bluethoot and other stuff you ended whit similar cost than a zumo 550.
Just my .2 cents.