I work overseas from Australia for short and long term trips - Pacific, Asia and Middle East mainly. Need new laptop and new phone. Trying to decide between Mac and PC - IBM, Dell etc. Have not used a Mac before. Anyone care to share their views or give any advice on this? I do not run heavy duty applications on it but want speed and reliability, 2 or more USB ports, as light as possible but must have regular keyboard. Cost is not a major criteria.
The phone - was planning to just get a regular cheapie and use local sim cards. Not interested in PDA/phone or photo functions - unless anyone has any tips which would lead me in another direction. Blackberry?
Finally- does anyone use their mp3 players as backup - or do they prefer other options - cds, external hard drive - and why?

Many thanks

Do a search on the Everything Else forum and you will find some discussions of these topics - I have not moved them to this forum yet. You might get some input from them.

I travel with a Sony Vaio sub-notebook (3 pds). Not a full size keyboard, but almost. I love it. My husband uses an IBM sub-notebook. Dell makes a good one too.

Everyone likes MACs but they do not have a big market share - so you would not be using what most people use.

I use a regular world phone and switch SIM cards.

I back up on an external hard drive. They make small ones now that attach thru a USB port. I carry it with me when I travel.

ahhhhh - the classic "Mac vs. PC" question.
this can sometimes be classified as a religious question depending on who you ask.

how savvy are you on a computer, first of all?
do you know how to use a Mac OS? Windows?
do you know how to troubleshoot either?

someone once told me, "Macs are for people who don't care how their computer works, they just want it to work." it's somewhat true, but don't tell a true MacAddict that.

i'd look at the software you'll be using for work, and see which, a Mac or PC, supports that software best.

Pauline, we too have a Vaio sitting in our living room. it's our "surfin' machine." small, light and for mild use. it only has one USB port, but more can always be added.
My personal preference for a work machine would be a Dell. i have a desktop at work, one in my office at home, and chewed thru one in college. They've always served me well, and the service is great.

we use an external hard drive to back up our files. if you travel, you may look into the memory sticks. these i wouldn't use as a permanent back up solution, but good for temporary back up and travel.

well, there's my two, maybe three, cents.
good luck!