While I haven't yet gone touring, let alone touring with a computer [I plan to soon-ish], I do commute 11 miles each way 4 days a week to college/ work with a computer and other various stuff. I typically bring one of my lighter computers, either my newer HP Slate 500 [8.9" atom based N-trig pen and touch device], or my Fujitsu P1620 [8.9" ULV Core 2 Duo based resistive touch convertible], or my heavier HP 2730p [12.1" LV Core 2 Duo based Wacom pen equipped convertible].
If I was touring and I was bringing a computer with me I wouldn't hesitate to bring the P1620 with me because its cheap [easily under $200 from ebay], runs pretty fast, has an excellent keyboard, a pretty great little screen [not really outdoor viewable though -a good AFFS+ screen is what you'd want there], near perfect tracking on the resistive panel [it even works acceptably well in One Note -hand written note books and SO much more], good battery life [5hrs to 7hrs of use depending], is light [~1170g and 327g for the power adapter -so just at 3.3lbs], and it is versatile in that it can be used like a netbook or you can put it in slate mode and use it in situations where it needs to be used differently [like reading a book/ comics/ manga, or viewing photos or I suppose a map from some program or online], and it is a full computer that can do anything I might need to do while on a longer self supported tour [Windows 7 runs just great on it, it has 2 fully powered USB ports, headphone and mic port, a SD card slot, VGA out, Ethernet and modem, and a PC card slot]. Below are a few photos so you see what it looks like
I wouldn't consider using an apple product or one of the 'entertainment tablets' as their functionality just isn't there and they are delicate, other netbooks are typically kinda bulky, and of lower quality than the P1620 [I am not too surprised, it had a $2,000+ list price, and people paid it gladly!]. I'm sure it wouldn't be for everybody, but it works great and is defiantly worth pondering, or even picking up and trying it out.