I have the same problem. I always end up with 10% of my convention chip purchases ending up accidentially being duplicates. This despite me scanning hundreds of pages of chips and printing them in books for convention use. I wanted to avoid the paper and ink cost and the wife needed a new device anyway. What I did was to buy a 10" netbook at Wally World for $199. A lot cheaper than an Ipad and you have the convenience of a full blown computer (except mine doesn't have a HD). She doen't need the HD for her web browsing and anything I want to put in I use the 8 Gig card from the camera. Works great. If fact I was even able to put MS Office on the card and download it to the netbook. Another advantage over just printing scans is that I can blow up each scan to see details that you just can't see on paper (especially when you are scanning whole pages thru flips and the plastic pages).

So this year I will scan all of the different collecting areas I have and put them in folders on the desktop. Whenever I want to see something I just open up the folder and see if I already have the chip. My only concern is that the battery life is claimed to be only 4 hours but I think if I close the lid every time I am done I will extend it so I can use it all day long. For me it was a no brainer since the wife needed something anyway.