DescentBB

Small computer size like DVD player

A friend does quite a bit of on-line stock trading and would like something smaller than his laptop to carry around so he could access the net.

He has a card with satellite connection for his laptop but want's something smaller for certain times.

PDA?

I'll have to agree with what Vander pointed out. If you've been to Fry's lately, you'll see that there are a few ultra-small laptops out there about the size of a paperback book. Unlike PDAs, they have built-in keyboards and other PC amenities. They look qutie cool, but are horribly expensive.

Since he already pays for satellite coverage w/ his laptop,using a card, can he use that with a PDA?

I don't know of any PDA's that have a PCMCIA slot, though there may be some. Most that I've seen use compact flash.

Because of the high price of an ultra portable laptop, it may be more cost effective to investigate whether or not his (or a different) satelite service has a compact flash part he can change to, and look at PDA's.

Thanks Stress - Vander, you need to learn BBCode, and stop posting long URLs...

Well ★■◆●. I suppose I have to drop my very first "stfu mobius!"

I think some of the CE/Pocket PC PDAs have PCMCIA support - one of my friends has an older Compaq one (I can't remember the model), which has a 'backpack' thing that it slips into that gives it an extra battery and a PCMCIA slot - it weighs a ton and is uncomfortable to hold with the backpack on, but it is removable, and, if there are drivers (which there should be for a device like that), it should work.

I'm not a fan of Windows CE (or Pocket PC or whatever they call it) - it is too much like a shrunk-down version of Windows (complete with its problems). I own a Palm Zire 71 - a great machine - OK, the camera is rubbish, but it's fun, and powerful enough for my use. You can get PalmOS-based smartphones, but I don't think any have PCMCIA support. Some of the Sony ones have CF support, but I think those are crippled so they only work with Sony WiFi cards.

PalmOS and CE are two very different OSes - PalmOS is a specially designed OS for palmtops, and it shows it - efficient use of screen space, good handwriting recognition, low CPU and memory usage etc. CE is based around Win32 - it is not compatible, but you can see the resemblance. In my opinion, CE's use of screen space is not as efficient, it's multitasking is complicated and it is just not generally as 'nice' to use. PalmOS does lack multitasking - it was originally relased on a device with a 16mhz CPU and 256k combined RAM and storage. PalmOS devices are more than capable of multitasking now, but the OS still doesn't include it, which can be irritating.

Just my 2 cents...

http://www.cappuccinopc.com

When I was looking for a very SFF PC, that was about as small as I found.

Thanks for the info, I'll pass it on.

My PocketPC has a built in 802/11b card. You can't get on the internet *anywhere* with it, but I've gone round the country a few times and I've been able to wardrive my way to internet every place I go. It may be a little more time consuming, but it's completely free.

However, seeing as your friend pays for sattelite service, I don't think money's a problem