Laptops

[BEVERLY FRIEND]

My school just bought Tanden laptops. They sell for $2,700 (that is
with the educational price), and are 386 machines. The weight is 6 1/2
lbs, but It seems a bit heavier to me. I think that is probably
without the battery. They have 40 mg harddrives, and area very
impreseive, able to run Windows 3.0 and Pagemaker 4.0. The school
bought 9 of them and we can take them out. I plan to request one for
the next conference (Associated Collegiate Press and College Media
Advisers Joint meeting, Washington D.C. early August, directly followed
by Associatin for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications in
Boston. Last weekend I attended the Science Fiction Research
Association meeting in Denton, Tx (not the greatest spot in the USA),
but didn't feel like dragging it along. It would be more useful at the
Jrn conference. Questions: Is there a problem taking a laptop through
the airport x-ray? Any problems with the magnetic doohickies? And -
what precautions can be taken against theft from the hotel room? They
don't seem equipped with chains. I also looked at the Texas
Instruments machines. They are lighter by virtue of not having any
floppy disk at all. A separate floppy can be bought and just plugs in.
 I wonder if it would be worth it to avoid the weight. The 286 only
weighs about 4.5 lbs. Anyhow, I plan to make the decision before my
next sabbatical in Jan. Until then I will try the
tanden.Tanden and hope I don't get too spoiled by
the 386. How much is really necessary I don't know - it would be nice
to have the design capababilities, esp on the sabbatical when I will be
looking at technologies in differnt colleges. What do you think?