[Longstreet]

Not sure if this would suit your needs, but you might want to check into a nettop computer. I purchased an Acer One 'nettop' computer last September and must say it is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time.

It is extremely portable (the screen is 8 inches) and is the size of a large hard cover novel (it fits in the thigh pocket of a pair of the old BDU's, but you cannot button them up).

It does not have an uber processor so playing the latest games or graphic intense programs is not possible; however for Internet, word processing, playing movies and presentations it is an awesome little computer. There are a number of operating systems that it can be run on (not Vista) including Windows XP - which I use. It has an amazing battery life of four hours. Mine has a 120G HD and 1G ram, but the newer one has a 160G HD.

I will admit though that if you have extremely large fingers, it may not be for you. The keyboard is little and when I use it for a prolonged period of time I use a Bluetooth mouse due to the size of the touchpad. Also, it does not have an opical drive so installing programs can be tricky. Still for the price ($350CDN) I cannot complain.

As mentioned I think this computer is great and because of its size, I take it about everywhere I go. With a USB GPS plugin I have used it in the car and will be taking it on my next backpacking trek.

You mentioned the Dell mini which is Dell's verion of the Acer One. These computers have been increasing in popularity due to the $100.00 laptop computer program for African children. What is great about the Dell computer is that it has a flash HD. This makes it more rugid since there are no moving parts. The down size is that the HD is limited to 16G (last time I checked). Flash drives have been predicted to be the future of HD's, but you may find it too limiting in size.

One last thing the Acer one comes in a variety of colours including: brown, blue. white and pink for those of us in touch with our femine side . . .