Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"As someone who doesn't reside in the USA, I was wondering what would be the best way to get internet for my computer in the US for a couple of weeks? If it were Europe I know I'd look for some prepaid data. Is there anything similar offered by American carriers? A MiFi or a data SIM that I can tether from would work, but I'm trying to maintain a tight budget. Help!"
Adnan has already responded (below), but let me expand upon his comments.
I have a laptop, a very good one, with a 15" 1920x1200 display, 2GB of memory, a DVD burner, and plenty of other bells and whistles. It also was about $3000 and weighs about eight pounds.
As a college student, I lug around about 10-15 pounds of textbooks every day. There is no way that I would add another eight pounds for a laptop, but a netbook which weighs less than 2 pounds is certainly feasible. For other college students (whose budgets are usually tight) a full-price notebook is not always affordable, but a $500 netbook (with internet connectivity and software compatability) is a great thing.
Ugh, the above post was intended as a reply to ngamer007's 10:55 post.