OK Should I get a PDA, not a laptop ?
 

Thanks to all who recently posted re my entry leevl laptop questions.

A call from a friend last night has me really confused now. He has a Psion 5mx and another has a HP Jornada 720.

If portability is quite high on the list and I have a reasonable PC at home could this be an option ?

Do you have any experience with PDA's ? Any recommendations ? Remember I am comparing them to a basic laptop.

Depends what you want, my employer has foolishly entrusted me with both a Palm M505 (up to 2 weeks battery life) and a nice slim Dell Laptop (2 1/2 hrs battery life).

The Palm is great as a Filofax replacement (Calendar/Diary) and for reading downloaded newspapers (AvantGo) in the bog! You can get lots of apps to add to the handhelds too though. The Pocket PC series (Compaq iPpaq - HP Jornada) offer more in the way of cut down Officy type applications but no matter which type you try the stylus is not a substitute for a keyboard. You can get small fold up keyboards but then (I think) you're starting to get into the silly league.

The laptop allows me to do anything I can do with my desktop PC and (the slim Dell) is not a pain to carry around, unlike some earlier versions I have had.

If you want a glorified diary with some neat tricks go for the handheld, if you want to be able to type an e-mail, document, presentation or spreadsheet then it has to be the laptop.

There is nothing like a very good quality 'notebook' or laptop depending on where your from.
One minute using a modem, next an ethernet connection, next reviewing the company ops manual, plug in the printer, and so it goes on.

Heaven is a laptop!