With my main Mac in the Apple shop, and my loaner a hard drive-based machine with 2 GB RAM, I am going to see how far I can go with using files from the cloud. Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, email.

What I want to be able to do is get my machine back and just turn on wifi, let things sync, and I'll be back in business.

This also means using my iPad for my bulk email, this hackintosh for any word processing editing (sorry, iPad, you are not as good as the cheapest netbook with a decent trackpad).

Any other tips from those who just flit between machines like bees on flowers?

Appreciate any advice.