On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:26:31 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

It is now possible to buy a brand new laptop for well under $500, some
with a built in GPS. With free software and charts it really doesn't
get much better than that. I did several Newport-Bermuda sailboat
races a few years back with a laptop wrapped in Saran wrap. It
worked just fine.


I was thinking the tablets would not take up the space of a folding laptop.

In practice it doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I've used my
laptops on boats as small as 24 ft with no problem, keeping the cover
folded down when not actually using it.