An inexpensive, lightweight Chromebook is the way to go. I bring a Surface Pro on my travels, which is nice and light while still being a full-featured computer. But because it's so expensive, I'm always worried about leaving it. I lock it the hotel room safe, but not all rooms have safes, and sometimes I have to leave my bags somewhere before checking into a hotel or going to the airport.

One thing I've done that gives me some peace of mind is encrypt the hard drive (actually, the SSD) and also configure the UEFI (used to be called BIOS) to allow booting only from the drive. Accessing the UEFI also requires a password, as does logging in to Windows. So if a thief doesn't know at least one of these passwords, he has essentially stolen a useless brick. Of course that doesn't mean he will kindly return the device once he figures that out, but it does slightly increase the chances of it being found and returned.

(When a friend recently left his laptop on an AA plane, the agent he spoke with asked him if the computer was password-protected. When he said it wasn't, the agent said that's too bad - the chances of it being returned were very slim, and would be much higher if it had a password. Yes, this is an AA agent essentially admitting that their own employees or subcontractors are likely to steal lost items that have value!)