Re: 3550U
You completely missed my point.
The new CPU will be outdated next year, so why bother getting the latest and greatest. Rather get something decent and spend less money (or upgrade more often, if you really need that).
I totally agree on the screen - though I am no longer traveling that often (and much less by plane, for the last two years) I can still remember that. In a plane, even an 11" screen is almost too big, it's a ton of fun watching fellow travelers trying to open their laptops, getting the screen only halfway open, typing with their hands between the keyboard and the half opened lid....