Technical timelapse assignment - want to help?

Hi readers!

I am fortunate enough to have landed a great timelapse assignment that is slightly trickier than normal. I am 90% sure I have it all sorted but would love some feedback on some of the "tech" parts.

• Camera is to be mounted on a train, which will be travelling all over the state of Queensland, Australia (area - 1.85 million km or 715,000 miles)
• Images are to be captured over a five month period in various increments from sunrise to sunset every day
• Images are to be transmitted immediately after capture
• Images need to be of a high enough resolution to be used as single 'stand-alone' photographs as well as be put together in resolutions from full HD down to YouTube size
• I want my client to have access to any of the images at any time they require

I am fine with the type of camera, the software and so forth but I thought some of you might be able to help with the final transmit part.

The camera will be connected to a mains powered netbook running Windows. I was considering using DropBox and having the camera put its captured photos in the DropBox folder which would then instantly sync with the DropBox web interface and any computer connected to that DropBox account.
The computer will have a 3G wireless data card connected to Telstra's NextG service. The NextG service has excellent coverage (as shown below) however undoubtably it will be out of range at times.

Here are a couple of questions...

• Any recommendations on a particular netbook/notebook? It will only be running timelapse software and wireless connection software as well as the background DropBox software but will need to be on and reliable for five months.
• As the netbook will be unattended have you got any good tips on achieving maximum reliability?
• Any idea of the longest run of USB cable that is reliable? (from netbook to camera)
• Should I set up some sort of remote software so I can log in to the computer and fix any problems?
• Any other things I am forgetting?

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What happened to the Dell 12" notebook?

Explain this to me Dell?  I bought one of your XPS m1210 notebooks recently and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!  I am hooked on the 12" form factor - it is very transportable, has plenty of grunt and a great screen, all the things a photographer who is on the road a lot needs.  So, recently while interstate on a job a journalist eyed off my notebook and instantly fell in love with it.  He decided then and there he had to have one and so went to the Dell site and .................. discontinued.  But not replaced with another 12" but now a 13.3".  Apple have done a similar disservice to their 12" Macbook Pro fans except they have dropped the small form factor totally and just left 15" and 17" sizes.

Dell and Apple - do you realise that now there really isn't a decent 12" notebook on the market?