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Dakine,
I have a Garmin GPSMap 478 that I use in the Chesapeake. I love it. I generally prefer paper charts and compass, but the Garmin is a great backup. I also use it to figure out how close I am to charted shoals. Sometimes it's hard to judge just how far off land they extend from just looking at the chart. I purchased mine from Amazon for around $500, I think, but there was a rebate at the time.
I don't see much benefit to having the laptop on board for navigation in the Chesapeake, to be honest. Most of your navigation will actually be visual piloting, which is done up at the helm and not down at the nav station. And you generally don't do much longer-distance planning on the Bay that might require complex way points to be entered into the laptop and transferred to another unit, etc. etc.
I'd say get yourself a MapTech paper chart kit, a navigation kit (dividers, parallel rule, etc.) a good pair of binoculars and a little Garmin for peace-of-mind in those "oh, crap, I'm not where I think I am" moments.
West Marine sells a great pair of binoculars called "Tahiti" that are quite affordable!
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