Ipad or Notebook

My 2 cents - turn off that 3G; use wi-fi (pronounced 'wee-fee' in Europe). Which is 'more effective' for you at home? Are you planning on putting e-books (especially guidebooks) on it? Do you intend to carry it around, or just use it in the evenings to catch up on email and upload that day's photos? How heavy is your HP? IF something happened to it, losing which one would make you cry? Leave THAT one home LOL! For just web searches and email, I'd pick the lightest one.

Jeff, As Eileen mentioned, taking the lightest unit would be a good idea, but which one to take will depend somewhat on what you'll be using it for. If you plan on Blogging or sending a lot of E-mails, taking the unit which is most comfortable to type on would be something to consider. I would also suggest switching off the 3G and using only Wi-Fi, as accessing the cellular network could become VERY expensive! My choice for travel these days is a Netbook, which is not only small and light weight, but comfortable to type on and provides much greater storage capability for photos. Happy travels!

iPad! Hands down.

...and aren't you GLAD you asked LOL?!?

The ONLY thing an iPad has going for it is it's light weight. If all you are doing is sending email and playing on the internet, it will work (so will Internet cafes). Since you've already wasted $500-$800 on it, you might as well take it along and get some use out of it. (Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will steal it.)

Lee, I like to use my ipad to book hotels on Tripadvisor and buy rail passes so I can ride the Eurorail trains.

Notebook (netbook) would my choice, as it's less trendy and desirable so less likely to be attractive to someone wanting to steal. Easier to use than IPad for typing, uploading photos, etc. but, IPad has GPS (I believe) so that could be a plus for IPad. If you have the right accounts that allow reading on any devices, notebook would work as well as the IPad for E-books.