Laptop or PDA?

B

bloodeagle

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
272
Right now, I'm saving up some money which I was going to spend on a laptop. I'm not talking a P4 laptop, I'm talking about 600-700CAD, so probably only a PII - PIII. But today I was at bestbuy, and i was playing with the PDA's, and there about 500CAD for a really good one, and it got me thinking, which one? Both can do simple tasks, like word and excel, but what else? I dont plan on gaming, maybe small shareware games to pass the time sometimes. So I'm wondering, what can you do with a PDA? Can you play games? movies or music? which ones have a phone in them? camera? can you access the web by hardwire, or only bluetooth? Can you have MSN on it or IRC? Which ones the best?

I admit, I don't know much at all about PDA's , but it'd be interesting to learn. Thanks for any help
 
I've been looking into PDA's a lot recently, and I have decided to buy one, most likley wihin the next 7 days, anyway. I PDA is good for a lot of things, I will be using mine for notes in school, as well as some entertainment. They can play movies as well as music, and with a nice big 512mb or 1gb SD Card, you can store a lot of fun stuff. There are a lot of cool games I've seen too, Age of Empires for one :D.
As for work etc, I plan on buying a foldable keyboard when I have mine for extended note taking etc. Once I get home simply drop it in the dock and transfer and then print etc.
I am getting the Dell Axim X3 w/wifi. (I've noticed on Dell's site if you select an X3 and then customize and add wifi it is like $50 CAD less, all other fetures seemto be the same...) 400mhz, 64 built in memory, built in wifi (802.11b) and a fairly small package. Shipped it's about $550 CAD Axim X3i May it be noted I am a High School student, but I cannot stand writing, not to mention my writing is VERY messy and I am dyslexic so typing makes my life easy.
The HP iPaq 4150 is awsome too, only it is like $700 CAD...:(

As for msn etc, yeha you can. You can get most anythign in PDA version. Only a few have a built in cell phone, and the ones I've looked at (Pocket PC based with WiFi) don't have cameras. Though I do belive a number of palm based ones do have cameras...
 
I dont see on the site the Dell's have a camera, which I think that would be a great feature. I guess what i'd really want in a PDA is a camera and wireless internet. I like the dells, only draw back is the camera. I'd love to hear how it works out when you get it tho.
Thanks
 
I've had various Palms, and PocketPC devices, with my latest being the Axim X5 (just sold it).

For me they're nice, but having a small laptop is so much more valuable.

Unless you get a PDA with a built-in keyboard (check out the Tungstens), data input is several limited...even for those proficient in graffiti/pen input.

Creating excel spreadsheets? Viewing isn't a problem. Creating is a bit cumbersome.

As for websites...you have to look into connectivity issues, and even then you're limited by how much you can view.

Take a look at http://www.the-gadgeteer.com
 
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