Portable Word Processors? 58
paulcole asks: "I am currently an English major and short story writer, who is in the market for a word processor. My laptop is a good enough tool, but I feel that it isn't quite what I need for a portable writing tool. Namely, I want something smaller, more portable, and easier to use. Right now, I am looking at the QuickPad Pro and the AlphaSmart Dana. Any insight on either of these products, or any others out there, would be very helpful." Do these 'smaller and more portable' devices necessarily justify the trade-offs in power and flexibility that a laptop with a full fledged word processor would provide?
A writing tool? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A writing tool? (Score:1)
I'd opt for the Dana (Score:5, Informative)
I always thought there should be more devices similar to this. A full blown laptop is great, but you lose some qualities like stellar battery life, low cost, lightweight. It'd be cool to have laptops with grayscale screens (if anyone made them anymore to keep the cost down in volume). I think it'd be great to have even 20 hour battery life, the thought of 100's of hours on AAA's sounds pretty damn good to me.
Exhalted dreamer...
Re:I'd opt for the Dana (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'd opt for the Dana (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I'd opt for the Dana (Score:2)
Start up time through the power/PalmOS/keyboard/fileXXX.doc sequence(time to actually start typing, not just boot up) is a few seconds, a fraction of the power/BIOS/Win/Desktop/Word/fileXXX.doc startup cycle on a laptop, so it is much more convenien
Re:I'd opt for the Dana (Score:2, Informative)
As a geeky plus, there's a C compiler suite available for the Dana. Nothing like writing C code on a transatlantic flight and not having to worry about battery life at all.
Why not just use a PDA? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why not just use a PDA? (Score:2)
I guess it all depends on high tight your pants are....
Re:Why not just use a PDA? (Score:3, Informative)
Palm [Phone] and a Keyboard (Score:2)
Re:Palm [Phone] and a Keyboard (Score:5, Interesting)
I got to help test drive an AlphaSmart Dana at a previous job, and seriously considered buying one for myself despite the fact that I already owned both a laptop and a Handspring Visor. The high-end model even has 802.11b, which is rare in PalmOS devices. For certain uses (having something to carry around with me at all times so I could work on text documents during down time in my case), they're really much nicer than a PDA (near-worthless for any serious work with text documents and has only an hour or two's battery life if being used continuously) or a laptop (darn heavy and also can't spend too much time away from a power outlet without dying).
I've never used the QuickPad. It's much cheaper, but it doesn't run PalmOS - which I consider a major plus on the Dana. What's the point of having computer, any computer, if you can't install video games on it? Other than that and the more limited feature set it means for the QuickPad, it seems like the QuickPad provides better stowability at the expense of a poorer view of the screen by making the screen flat rather than tilted upward.
Personally, I'd go with the Dana.
A Palm.... (Score:1)
-Grump
Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:2)
Re:Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:3, Insightful)
One doesn't need to be financially constrained to think that the Dana is a better choice. Especially when one already owns another laptop.
Re:Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:1)
Re:I wanna go to your university (Score:2)
Re:Eh....smaller laptop? (Score:2)
I used to write on my Powerbook back in my days in college. Freed from the const
Model 100/200 (Score:5, Interesting)
You can find some on Ebay.
Re:Model 100/200 (Score:4, Interesting)
Looks like you can buy refurbed WP2 or 3... seems like a good way to go. Those companies you listed are charging *way* too much for what today is an appropriate application for a microcontroller and a few cheap ICs.
http://www.8bit-micro.com/wp2wp3.htm
More info on writing w/PDA (Score:3, Interesting)
It makes sense to use a PDA with a full-size keyboard, in my opinion (you get maximum portability plus word processor compatability), and with the same purchase you'll have an MP3 player and organiser (and portable web browser and e-mail client, if you get a decent one). Something to consider.
AlphaSmart Dana (Score:2)
I know a guy who has the Dana; he likes it. It writes text to a flash memory card, which will then upload, by sending simulated keystrokes (not as a single text file) to a text word processor.
Durable and cheap are it's selling points. But I missed having the resistance that an iBook gives, when I tested it, and it's really limited functionality--I guess i would rather carry something that weighs a little bit more, and be able to check email, surf, look at mapquest directions, and type, rather than one de
Re:AlphaSmart Dana (Score:3, Informative)
nother writer's experiences (Score:4, Interesting)
I first used an old (even then, in 1990) IBM PC-II 8086 with the usual 9" yellow-on-black display. I discovered that the more of what I have written is displayed on the screen, the better I edit -- and write, too. Scrolling up and down looking for where a long sentence or paragraph started is no fun at all on a small screen.
I then tried a Full Page display, which was tits, but I had a devil of a time getting WordPerfect to display the full screen on it.
Then, about 1992, I bought a new laptop, my first new computer and a huge investment. Big mistake, as it had a cramped 8 1/2 in display on which I could barely make out the text.
Small keyboards and small displays suck for me as a writer; they may for you too. My favorite road instrument now is an old IBM Thinkpad without the floppy or CD-ROM drives installed to save weight. Its 12-inch display is OK for editing and shows enough lines to keep the scrolling to a minimum.
At home, I have replaced the old FP with a 19-inch monitor and I write/edit in 2-column in WP-8 for Linux at the smallest point size I can read easily. For displaying lots of text, choose a serif style as it is quicker to be recognized by the eye.
Think thrice about the PDAs unless you don't touch-type and your stories are very, very short.
Whoa... (Score:2)
Re:Whoa... (Score:2)
Just use your gameboy (Score:2)
palm os (Score:3, Informative)
i used the palm keyboard for a while and was constantly amazed at both how portable it was (folding up to roughly the size of the palm pilot itself) and how much like a real keyboard it felt like.
Charlie Strope's solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Dana review (Score:2)
Alpha Smart (Score:1)
Re:Palm Pilot IIIc with Keyboard (Score:1)
really just get a cheap palm with a keyboard or a nice small 12" laptop, the quickpad thing seems like a pointless waste of money. and also the quickpad won't be compatible with anything coming out in the next 5 years.
don't collect old stuff like my grandpa did, you're just wasting your time and money with the quickpad. get a handheld or a small notebook.
Apple eMate (Score:4, Informative)
You could try this (Score:2)
You can use any portable USB keyboard with it and it has full featured browser and much more and you can plug it into any phone jack to connect to web to send emails etc.
Here [amidasimputer.com] and here [amidasimputer.com] are some features...
WordSmith by BlueNomad (Score:2)
It doesn't get better than WordSmith [bluenomad.com] from BlueNomad [bluenomad.com] on a PalmOS PDA.
I've used it for years and love it. It even works as a plaintext HTML editor! With an FTP client and some way to connect, you've got a mobile web publishing tool as well.
Palm M500 (Score:2)
Sony VAIO TR-series (Score:1)
Second hand Psion? (Score:2)
They're not made any more, so there are support issues, but these are good products. I see them for about $300 on ebay.
I myself find Palm + Palm Keyboard an excellent combination, although possibly you might want a larger screen if you were using it all the time, hence my suggestion of the Psions.
Re:Second hand Psion? (Score:1)
Re:Second hand Psion? (Score:2)
Same as others (Score:2)
I'm currently using an old Palm IIIc with a folding keyboard that would only cost you about $80 off of ebay and would serve the purpose, but not be nearly as satisfying as a laptop. If you're only looking at word processing on it, you can get an older G3 iBook for about the same price as one of those dedicated word processors.
I'm saving for a 12" G4 iBook (the m
Tools. (Score:3, Informative)
When I started working on my thesis, I bought a Powerbook Duo because it weighed less than most of the books I was toting around already.
Since your laptop seems to be unsatisfactory for some reason (too heavy, maybe?) you might want to look at either an older subnotebook (a Duo, or perhaps a Toshiba Libretto or a Sony Picturebook) or something smaller. Apple made a Newton with a built-in keyboard called the eMate that was pretty nice. Fantastic battery life, decent screen, and designed for elementary school kids so its damned near indestructible.
--saint
Used Newton eMate (Score:2)
Things I've tried (Score:2)
For typability, battery life, and moderate weight, it's hard to beat a Model-T: the 20-year-old TRS-80 model 10x line. The main downside is that its wp app is just a text editor and the display is a quaint pixels-so-big-you-can-measure-them LCD that shows only a few lines at a time. But the keyboard is probably better quality than the one on your desktop. Transferring t
PDA + portable keyboard (Score:2)
This one, while a bit pricey, feels like a regular keyboard while in use, but folds up to about the size of a wallet otherwise.
Get a HP Jornada 820 (Score:1)
Lets face it, when you write you want to be able to enjoy it. This means the screen is pleasant to look at, the keyboard feels nice to type on, and editing and organizin
Why ask this here? (Score:2)
Your question is like asking what brand of condoms to use. Just buy what fits.
Palm and Keyboard (Score:2)
A neat feature of the KB-100 keyboard is that it accepts a sony power supply jack (the annoying 3 pin ty
cheap & easy (Score:1)
Two minutes! It seems crazy that many GHz PC's take longer than that to boot up.
Do not underestimate functional simplicity when it comes to getting real work done. I'd also consider a Psion 5 myself. My one concern is a question of their r