> writing using a light weight but very powerful tool like Latex
Can you please explain in what way LaTeX is lightweight? IIRC, LaTeX is a macro layer above TeX which is a layer above something written in "web" which (don't know the details here, but) I think may be translated to C (web2c) for building.
Also, last time I looked, the Texlive distribution is something like at least 100 MB.