Take mine onboard with me although I do have a very tiny laptop maybe 4 lbs with a very slim design. My DD3 likes to watch DVD's on it during the flight. I always try to take a new Disney one or something. Also we use it everyday down there just to clean off the memory card for the digital camera so the next day we are free to shoot a lot of pics again. If possible grab a small lock for it and stick it in a drawer "out of sight" in the hotel room just to be a little safer.