i'd think that a smartphone - like the new blackberry or an iPhone - might be better for portability. at least you aren't spending 800$ on a decent laptop to have it crap out in a few years.
of course, it depends on what you'd need to do.
zircon, i completely missed your post =) if you're interested, give me a call at some point. i think you'd be surprised how cheap it can get.
as for that oil-cooled fishtank, it's just one of those goofy things that's really, REALLY fun to play with. everything runs pretty hot - i think the stable temp is around 70 degrees celsius - but since the entire system is that warm and there's no hotspots there is absolutely no issues. it's been running that hot for over a year. that's with an e8400 (dual-core, 3ghz) oc'd to around 3.8ghz...which, by the way, is ridiculously fast. it takes almost 8 hours to get up to max temp, too, so if you shut it off at night you're fine. i clocked up the ram and graphics card a bit, but not much. all you need is a few fans to push the oil around a bit, although if you're really into it you can get a pump and radiator to cool things off a little. looks pretty cool, too, with some led fans in the system. runs almost silently.