Opinion on compaq aero 8000 - or other hpc with large screen

Hi,

First of all, I have to admit, yes, I am a gadget freak. I have a casio pa 2400u with ce 2.0 that I am hoping to get a gpsr card for so that I can do wireless surfing in China. I have a genio 2002 that I use for my "Chinese" needs and power toys. I have a Visor that is becoming my ebook reader. I could really use a larger pda - I think they are called HPC? - with a keyboard and a larger screen. I want to be able to type at a reasonable rate and also to watch VCD's while I am traveling on the train/plane. I need to use Powerpoint to show presentations - connecting to an external monitor would be a big bonus. Being able to plug an external microphone in would be a big plus.

For those of you who have the aero 8000, what do you think of it? Considering what I have just said is it useful? durable? how is the typing? How is the "real" battery life, as opposed to the advertised?

That is one reason why I started accumulating pda's. I am often traveling on trains and busses for more than 30 hours and one pda doesn't last that long. Also, I was starting to run out of places to plugs things into my genio

Are there other ce devices out there that meet the same requirement? I don't intend to go off experimenting with lots of software on this although it is very likely that I will want to hook up some kind of wireless to it sooner or later.

Thanks!

T

The Aero is a subnotebook, the only drawback is that it uses a SH4 cpu, and there is not a great quantity of software available for SH4 cpu's. but if you're ok with the limited software availabitity, then go for it. Other subnotebook HPC's you could have a look at would be the intermec 6651 and the IBM Z50 workpad. you can rebuild the batteries so that they last for hours. If you want a smaller HPC then you could have a look at the HP Palmtop/Jornada Series, or the Nec MobilePro series

Hope this helps

intermec 6651 or a newer mobilepro is for you!! (MP's have vga out, maybe intermec too, can't remember)
if you can use the jornada 7xx's smaller keyboards (for example i can), that will make the perfect device too

I use an MP780 and an MP880 interchangeably. Virtually all the settings are the same and it feels transparent moving from one to the other. The 780's better for mobility, while still giving you a touch-typeable keyboard but I just LOVE the 880's 800x600 screen. Very good battery life. My 880 typically lasts at least 5 hours of constant use, and it's simple enough to bring a spare battery.

The spare batteries are expensive though. So, since I'm a hopelessly cheap and stingy bastard, I'll just velcro one of those big flat AOL junkmail CD cases to the underside, and fill that with nickel metal hydride 2300mah AA batteries, then run the wire to a 90 degree plug on the MP880. It should last quite a bit longer and still be cheaper. 2 banks of 10 cells per bank for 12v from 1.2v NiMH cells. With the added bonus of being able to use the pack for powering other devices as needed.

If you get an HPC2000 device with a USB port, you can even get more elaborate and do what this clever blighter is doing:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1560&pos...

Edited by Zapper 2005-07-09 9:16 PM

Actually, if I remember correctly, the Jornada 728's extended battery was advertised to last "up to 28 hours". Anyone tried it?

On the 27th hour of the extended battery test ... I *yawn* almost *yawn* made *yawn* zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ hahaha

The Aero 8000 works well for PowerPoint presentations. I used it for a class I taught recently and it performed flawlessly (and was much lighter than the Dell laptop I usually carry to classes). It has a VGA out port, so no special hardware is needed. Pocket PowerPoint is limited to viewing & showing presentations (no editing), but I downloaded Compaq's PowerPresent (haven't tried it yet).