4GB thumb drive for $21

[Xairbusdriver]

External drives have dropped greatly in the last year; 1 TB for ~$250!

If I were you (I'd do exactly what you'd do) I'd update the laptop and use the PB for a small external drive and the travelling machine. Or, update to an iMac and forget about a new laptop. If you're concerned about carrying one now, why bother since almost anything newer than your PB will be close to the expense of a newer iMac and just as fragile as the old laptop.

[LR827]

Update...

I found a brand spanking new MacBook 13" white 2.1GHz 2 Duo Processor 1GB on sale through Amazon, and with about $100 in coupons I had and a $75 rebate, I ended up paying <$870. for it. Brand new, did I mention that?

I couldn't believe my luck.

Until my son called, who is graduating from UMich tomorrow and said, "Mom, can I get a MacBook for graduation?"

Well, we were waiting for something. I wiped a tear from my eye and said, "Yeah, sure."(

I guess I'll go back to the vintage links.

[MamaMoose]

I think that we are seeing the beginning of the flash drive revolution where these drives will slowly but surelyreplace hard drives in our future Macs. The key is the new Mac super thin which does contain some flash drive memory. IMHO, Apple is giving a us a rare look intoits future plans,

Since you can get a good 500 GB HD for ~ $300, the flash drive would have to reach a price point of ~ 60 cents/MB. However, the flash drive has a distinct advantage over a HD in that it has no moving parts so that life, access time, latency, etc, should be significantly better.

The technology to make, say 160 GB flash drives is in place, it is just a matter of, IMHO, when the developers decide to invest their resources.

MamaMoose