You can buy a small-screen tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for as low as $250 ($200, if you consider the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet, devices that have some e-mail functions).

Although small, the screen is clear and bright, and the full-size keyboard is as good as one from a bigger computer.

As Google claims, this Chromebook can play 1080p video, but the screen resolution is only 1,366x768 pixels, so it's not displaying full HD.

** Screen/Resolution:. >> Higher resolution on the 13" Macbook Air which i believe was greater than the 15" regular MBP definitely looked good.

Powered by an Intel dual-core Atom processor and backed by 2GB of memory, integrated graphics, and a 16GB solid-state drive (SSD), the system does what it's designed to do-run the Internet.

I purchased the MBA 11" with standard 1.6 gHz Core i5 and am happy with this.

Chrome OS is a lightweight, web-based operating system so you would think Samsung would know the deal: simple dual core processor (Atom N570 1.66Ghz - tick), usable amount of RAM (2GB - tick), minimal fast storage (as mentioned, 16GB SSD - tick), integrated 3G to make the Chrome usable on the move and decent graphics for all that Adobe Flash and HD streaming video you’ll be watching.

I know it sounds nuts, but the new i7 Dual Core MBA with 4 GB of RAM seems to be as fast as my 27" i7 Quad Core iMac with 16 GB of RAM, when it comes to managing RAW photos in Lightroom, and editing RAW photos in Photoshop...I kid you not!

The processor and the added RAM allow more windows to be open at once and better handling of documents and files: 1080p video can stream smoothly,albeit at 1,280x800 pixels, and some basic Web-based games run passably.

When it comes down to a choice between quicker processor or more RAM, I've been advised to always go with more RAM, and I find this to be good advice.