I'm going to be traveling and would like to have a computer with me.

I used to use an old Thinkpad but the tent I was using it in got hit by
lightening and the screen and HD got fried.  I can still use an external
screen but I'm told by two local vendors that new hard drives won't be
recognized by the BIOS to be bootable; a designed-obsolecence feature.

I don't need a true laptop.  I would like something that fit in a
briefcase, text screen (although basic X would be nice for light
browsing), keyboard, and some disk space.  My 486 does everything I need
except I don't get USB since it has ISA bus.

Hard drives seem to be what dies on a computer so the ability to use new
drives with old hardware would be good, just like I can put an 8 GB
drive in my 486 box.

Short of building my 486 main board (with on-board S3 video) right into
a briefcase, what have others used for small boxes?

Ideally, the box would have built-in basic video, USB, serial port (so I
can attach my Courier modem), CD drive, hard drive, and be silent.  As
much as possible, I want to be able to use off-the-shelf components like
drives (so that means 3.5" SATA), standard LCD monitor, standard (mini?)
keyboard, mouse, etc.

Finally, I want it to be chaaper than a used laptop.

Does anyone have any links to such a beast?

Thanks,

Doug.