youre going to go to italy and youre going to waste that time watching dvd's?????
I think it is for the children.
OP, I think that the technology has reached the point where you aren't going to see a significant quality difference between all the various models. So, I would look for something with decent battery life, and a larger screen. It looks like 7" is the main screen size, and they can be had for under $100. If you want a larger screen, like 8.5-10, then you are looking at something above $130 or so. Honestly, once they start getting close to $200 I would almost opt instead for a netbook.
This is $260, has XP SP3 (not crazy about that), and a 160GB drive. You could rip the movies to the drive ahead of time, and use Plex or XBMC as a front end. Then you and the wife could also use it to check email while you are there.