thanks all for your comments and inputs. we ended up buying an Asus Eee netbook 10" from Bestbuy including sleeve for $249 special, and my daughter loves it. We have an adult friend who got the same one a few months ago, and takes it everywhere. It took all software and kids games we had (which wouldn't have been the case with a laptop running Vista or 7), and just runs great. We even connected it to an external art console (Digital Arts & Craft) and to an external LCD screen and it is working great. Hard to beat the versatility for that price. Bestbuy had the same promotion a few months ago, so they might get it again. We were considering the 12" version, but the online reviews were dismal, due to a different and slower video card. My wife is looking for the next sale to get the same one for herself. I wouldn't recommend that for heavy duty applications like some I need, but for kids and for casual browsing and light applications, netbooks are great. Be careful that those shippng with Windows 7 are much slower for similar hardware, according to some posters on Bestbuy and Amazon forums.
