Netbook vs Epson Multimedia

I've done some traveling this last year and I'm planning on much more in the next year and half. I'm tired of dragging my heavy laptop around for pics so...the question is which would be better... a netbook or the epson multimedia storage? I'm not very tech savvy so I'll just put out my thoughts during my research and ask that anyone please chime in to help me make up my mind!!!

Weight: netbook slightly heavier
Size: netbook slightly larger
storage: 160 GB epson 250GB netbook
Memory on netbook 2GB Ram
Jpg/raw...both
internet...netbook...not epson
epson...external hard drive for home computer
webcam...netbook (to see my grandson!!!)

COST...Epson is about $150 more than netbook.

I don't understand how the Epson can charge such a high price but that's what it is.

So..I'd appreciate any feedback, other ideas to consider etc.

As always, I appreciate the thoughts. Thanks.

Since I bought an ASUS netbook (250gb/2gb, too) on the recommendation of a friend, my Epson storage machine stays home and gathers dust. I bought the accessory DVD burner/player, which furthers its usefulness. I'm a columnist for a couple of newspapers and have to file weekly no matter where I go, so the wifi internet access is critical for me.

I also purchased an ASUS netbook. The netbook is very easy to travel with. I have Lightroom and Photoshop loaded plus I take a 6 gig drive. Although not as fast as a larger
laptop it worked great on a recent photo seminar.

Bernie

Thanks, Hank and Bernie. I think I'm leaning towards a netbook just for the fact I can use it for internet as well as photo.

Beth, I also recently purchased the same ASUS netbook that Hank describes. It comes with a 250gb hard drive and 1gb ram, but you can add 1 more ram to it. It cost $358 and the DVD burner/player cost $50 on Amazon. I started out with an Epson storage unit, but didn't like viewing my images on such a small screen and wanted a netbook so I could do other stuff with it as well. I can surf the internet (NPN of course), download ebooks on there to read while on a trip, download movies to watch on the plane and keep all my travel notes on on the netbook. It's a perfect size for us photogs who already have so much photo gear to tote around.

+1 on the Asus netbook that's been described here. I love it *BUT* my experience with Photoshop Elements has been different. The graphics card for the netbook has only two resolution settings- 1024x600 and 800x600. While you can open Photoshop Elements and work on images, I wasn't able to work with RAW files. The problem is that the dialog for ACR is too large for the netbook's screen so you can't access some of the buttons and controls. If Adobe only had added a scroll bar to the dialog!

I also have Pentax's RAW software loaded up and it crashed on my only attempt to work with a RAW file. Despite that, I do find it valuable to offload images daily. Anyways, I've been happy with it overall.

More insights Beth:

The track pad on that little machine makes me NUTS! The solution was a $20 investment in a wireless mouse from Walmart. And as a writer I'm not real fond of the little tiny, TEENY shift key on the right side of the keyboard. Small matters for sure, but factors in happiness.

Thanks everyone. Hank...I ALWAYS use a mouse on my laptop...big hands!!! I've decided to go with a netbook...just more versatile for the money than the epson multimedia storage.