Have another think Ghengis. I have pocketfms on a Fujitsu Pocket Loox with the vga (high res) screen. It is the daddy of Pocket PC's with a built in GPS and frankly I really dont like it in the cockpit. In fact it was a waste of money buying the PPC for this use.
I also have pocketfms running on my fujitsu siemens Lifebook 1610 tablet pc with sunlight readable touchscreen and that is simply awesome. You need a seperate bluetooth or connected GPS but they cost buttons. A bluetooth solar powered one would be best to leave in the plane if you can.
Its a huge screen and the device is easily strapped to your leg. If you want any info just PM me.
I am also the happy owner of a 296 having upgraded that from a 196 so I know the differences and I can safely say that the 296 is awesome and much better that PFMS on a PPC. Now on the Lifebook its a different story and running Pocket FMS (after learning how to use it properly) it is great.
Another favourite that I use is Memory Map on either my PDA (the loox) which on that screen is much better than PFMS or on my lifebook where the shear size of the screen is to behold.
The lifeboox only has a 9 inch diaganol screen so the device is fairly small (size of a book) but the resolution is so high it is amazing.
For planning spin it around and you have a keyboard to enter date. In the cockpit spin the screen around and it is a very large small touch screen pc. I have replaced my laptop with this device and have not looked back. It wieghs a whopping 2 pounds and with the extended battery last for several hours (about 5) without plugging in. I also have a plane charger for it.
Also I downloaded all the approach plates from AIS and have them stored. A plate will display just fine on the screen whcih flips from landscape like a normal laptop to portrait in the blick of an eye when you rotate the screen.
I paid £1300 inc vat for mine so it is a little more than your budget.
Pocket Flymap also looks good but I have not tried it because it is a little expensive for the software in my opinion.