One other thought on my last post about "ruggedness" of Laptops--and I am speaking of off the shelf, not marinized or Mil Specs. Laptops seem to be better protected from corrosion. I had a friend who is a real techie--lives aboard his beautiful 46 foot boat--but never takes it out. In fact at the time of the story I citing he did not even have a functioning engine. He built in a beautiful full size computer with 19 inch screen, extra fans etc. Just sitting at the dock in Long Beach Calif. His computer was useless in about 18 months because of corrosion from the Salt atmosphere. In the mean time I had purchased a laptop in 1992, and used it on a boat that traveled 35,000 miles from close to the artic circle to the Equator in next four years--it was still functioning perfectly. That unit was some "computer fair" special--not marinized. What is the marine environment? Why do copper wires turn green on a boat? How protected is your off the shelf $695 special desk top? What about the vibration from the engines and the pounding from the seas. Is your boat used, or does it sit at the dock. Military ships and the Coast Guard use large computers--but these are very special units--and very expensive. Bob Austin