I too have always brought my laptop and found myself on many occasions working instead of gathering information.  But hey, it's not my dime paying for the conference.

This year with the changes made to checked bags, etc on the airlines.  I now have an excuss not to take it.  I have informed my boss that laptop will be staying at the office and some one there can fight the fires.

Of course my golf clubs are still making their way to Vegas....

I'd bring it to Vegas, but don't like lugging it around the conference. Unless you like to fight for power outlets or have big batteries, the things become dead weight pretty fast.  Just my 2 cents, though

last year they had PC's setup to check email but, in my opinion, there were not enough.  If you really really need to keep up with email, bring the laptop.

For notes, here's what I'm bringing:

http://www.livescribe.com/

It works pretty well.  We'll see how it works for Vmworld when i really need it.

Interesting thought for sure, considering it's Vegas...  there might be a few extra things you might want to see without having the extra weight of a laptop.Here are some of my thoughts:

   1. Do I want to blog and do some picture uploads and edit a few things

   2. Will I be bored in some of the sessions and want to surf.

   3. Who do I want to chat with online and do I need to do facebook updates

   4. Do I want to write any code, be in any online contests

For me, I think Vegas is one of those places where I might want to go lighter, but since I will be working at the show, I will be bringing my MAC.  

Glad I thought about it though. 

Dang it! i posted several paragraphs but then the stupid app lost my session.  Lovely.

Shows in the past I have used the old fashioned pen and notebook, however always get behind when trying to keep up with the topics. This year I will be bringing my LiveScribe pen so that I can record the audible session while taking notes. I will also have my laptop with me, but mostly for online communications throughout each day.

Really?  I've always been able to download the slides but, I've never seen the audio for those slides.  My idea was to just take some general notes with the slide numbers with my pen.  then, when the slides are available, piece it back together.  We'll see.