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I need PDA/Portable PC advice

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Sufi Marmot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-17-04 10:50 PM
Original message
I need PDA/Portable PC advice
Hello DU technophiles - I need some advice about what kind of portable computer to purchase. I'm going to be travelling abroad next summer and would like a portable computer/pocket PC with which to record text data, and possibly store photos from my digital camera. My critera are the following:

1) Has to have a keyboard - I intend to be typing a lot and I have no patience for poking out text one letter at a time with those silly wands.

2) Lightweight and compact - something that will fit comfortably into a backpack.

3) Cheap! I'm going places where it's not unlikely that a consumer electronics item might walk off, so if it disappears I don't want to lament having spent a lot of money on it. I'm thinking US$250 or less.

4) Reasonably durable - In my backpack it should be able to survive me falling ass-over-teakettle down a mountain for a few hundred feet.

5) It would be nice if it had a USB port so I can transfer pictures from my digital camera. Or if not that then a modem. I assume that most everything manufactured within the last 5 years has one or both - ideally I would be able to get data transferred from it to an email account quickly.

6) Doesn't have to be very fancy - I don't need to run applications like Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, or store/listen to MP3s. I have no need for games or other cutesy nonsense - strictly utilitarian. However, if whatever software/operating system it came with had foreign language character capability, that would be great, although not essential.

7) Easy to charge and/or long-lived when fully charged, or runs on batteries of a type easy to obtain developing countries

Discontinued models/products are fine if they are cheap.

Thanks for any suggestions!!!! I'm not sure that anything fits these criteria perfectly. I was looking into HPs' Jornada line, which they seem to have discontinued. Or maybe a cheap PalmOne handheld with the portable keyboard.

-SM, being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century

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classics Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-17-04 11:25 PM
Response to Original message
1. Have you considered a used Sharp Zaurus?
Has a full hideaway keyboard, runs Linux and has a USB port.

You can get a ZR-5000 or ZR-5500 on ebay for $100-$175. I believe they also have CF and MMC slots.


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Sufi Marmot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-17-04 11:32 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Thanks - I'll check them out! n/t
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Sufi Marmot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-24-04 02:55 AM
Response to Original message
3. Kick...n/t
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