oooh- I knew there was a catch
I did end up buying a Toshiba from Amazon, but then I was thinking "Why don't I get myself a $30 netbook." I am fairly sure I would have caught on, but having the math in front of me sealed the deal.
Can you buy some sort of mobile device so you can have computer access anywhere on a pay per minute or hour deal without a plan? Kinda like a prepaid cellphone? I travel some and having internet access on my laptop would be great.
You can always pay by the MB used, which will get expensive quickly if you're surfing the web or downloading a lot of information. Like Okieland said, most airports offer free Wifi in the terminals, most hotels have Wifi for pretty cheap and some airlines are offering Wifi access on a per flight basis.