Too many H/PC's?

Is there such a thing as owning too many tools? After all, CE machines are tools, and some are better at certain jobs than others.

Most of you know I have two Intermec 6651's and a Casio E200 ppc. My 6651's are general use and double as navigation aids when my friend takes me flying. My E200 is a carry everywhere locally unit for PIM and general notes, sometimes for playing mp3s.

I recently bought a MP 789 (for the g/f) and a Simpad SL4 for navigation. The 789 was designated for the g/f to write on. She has recently signed a contract with a publisher and needed something portable when ideas struck her. I bought the SL4 as a specific navigation aid when flying with my friend as the nav programs only run on arm devices.

But guess who keeps pinching the 789 to use? Ya, me. I love the kb and general form factor. What does this mean? My g/f is royally annoyed when she wants to write. She doesn't like the kb on the 6651, but she wished the 789 had a bigger screen. She loves everthing about the 789 except for long sessions in front of the smallish screen.

So how did I resolve this problem? Simple, I bought a MP880 (for the g/f), big screen and light weight and great kb. Along with the 880 came a 790. So now I have my own 789 and the g/f gets the other 790 for road use as it is a more portable machine. She'll use the 880 as her main writing machine while at home.

However, it doesn't stop here. I've always semi-regretted selling my J690 as the size and other niceities made it a beautiful little machine for pocket use. I missed a headphone jack and didn't find enough ce 2.11 software for my liking. I didn't like carrying it and my ppc or it and my jukebox if I wanted some music to go.

So how did I solve this? Simple. I bought a 720 with some accessories. Now I have the best pocketable hpc made that plays my mp3s and has enough software to keep me happy for a long long time. In fact, with the right software it can do pretty much all the other machines can. But I can carry this in my pocket wherever I go.

My dad's wife has wanted a ppc for a long time but I could never find one at the right price with the right features. I guess she'll get my Casio E200 as it's loaded and ready to go. My g/f is now wondering if she should give her mother her J565, same thing, her mom has wanted a ppc for a while for PIM.

I need to mention that I/we will be paying off our credit card for these purchases for the next six months or so. We knew that going in and budgeted for it. Provided we have no terrible money surprises we'll be OK.

So, in summary, have I (we) lost it? Have we gone past any imaginary reasonable boundary for owning CE machines? Is there even such a boundary?

There are no boundaries. International law clearly dictates that you can, and are morally obligated, to own as many of these devices you can afford.

This is part of natures natural plan to search and find the perfect device. We've all been afflicted with the desire. It is like a virus...there is no cure.

Plus there is the drool factor. You have two 6651s!!! I used to have one, sold it, got another, lost it in the hurricane. Now I have none. I've been playing with my J690 for about a month now. As everyone knows, it gets a lot of attention when I pull it out in public somewhere. Not surprisingly, it gets more attention than when I pull out my 900C. People can't believe it is outdated technology. I need to sell it and just get a 720.

There is no paying off of a credit card...only periods of remission.

Impress your girlfriend...show her how to save her work files to the 790's flash memory and then hard reset her machine....watch panic turn into admiration....

Rich

p.s. Alway perform a backup of all files before performing a hard reset.

I'm sooo relieved to hear I'm morally right on this one
I never realized each unit had so much to offer in their own way. If only the best features of them could be combined into a frankenhpc.

Something tells me instinctively I may not be done buying gear. I'll just have to rationalize a reason for each new unit I acquire

Strange thing tho', I've never had one bit of envy for the latest crop of piddles. Nothing they have makes me drool. Except for raw cpu speed and big ram what can't I get on a hpc that I can get on a piddle? Many piddles strike me a flimsy, like they'll snap with very little twisting force.

Rich, considering your unfortunate loss I know you'll be buying more gear in the future. I hope your insurance allows you to pick and choose freely.

Hey Monica, when did you think you were finished buying gear? After the last 72x or now after your Sig III?

Oh well, we have very long and cold winters and I have the time to play when our 24 hour darkness begins. j/k.

wally, can you suggest a better title for the thread.

ok, so... i see all of you see now why a jornada 720 is so wonderful! (and a 728 is even more wonderful hehe )

as for the question if i i think / have ever thought that i have enough gear now...

it is always happening in this way: i think it's ok, now i *really* got everything i want. then i see something interesting. i'm not thinking of it for a long while, after talking myself out of it (why would i need this... no money for this nonsense, etc). then on a beautiful day, an instinct tells me to go to our hungarian "ebay" (well it's not an auction site but it's great for finding stuff), and i always find the desired unit (no matter how rare the thing is actually), usually for a great price! i'm just lucky or have an exceptional instinct?? i never check that site at other times... only when i find out i really would like something!

when i got my first hpc (a jornada 720 - same lucky case as above!... upgrading from a psion), i never thought of getting another one. for a long long time. then i started drooling over the 728... tried not to think of the (very slim!) chance of upgrading.. but when i saw a 728 on that site, i couldn't resist the temptation!
and so on and on...

now i think i really have everything i need, but i have just got an interesting thing for one of my friends. it is with me for testing only (needs some tweaking, etc), but i really like it - a curious hpc/ppc device. more close to a hpc, as it is wince 3.0 (almost hpc2000, fully compatible), has a nice resolution (vga) and tft screen, however it has no keyboard. i never imagine myself with a device that has no keyboard but this one is sooo nice. it even has a clamshell form!
ok, it's not an hpc, but almost. and much much better than a plain piddle pc!

my plans? in the future i *might* get an intermec 6651! just to see what it's like additionally, a velo 1 (original CE 1.0, 4 MB ram!) is already on its way to my hpc museum
nothing else really, maybe not even the intermec. (you see... no money for it, and intermec doesn't exist in hungary.. ) it's just a nice idea.

oh and about ppc's. yeah i've never envied the ppc folks. even my jornadas can do more than them (for me)... ppc's are surely nice, but if i want something keyboardless that'll be the above mentioned device! because it has an hpc OS basically, and the screen resolution is bigger - the most important problem with ppc's for me apart from the lack of keyboard and the stupid OS. btw, it's not flimsy at all, thanks to the beloved *clamshell* design

you're so right. they all offer something. for example why do i have a 900C and a sigmarion? 900C is good for home, sigmarion is for traveling (home also though)... of course jornada 728 is still useful... for example its battery life can't be beaten by any other hpc. it's a second (and/or backup) machine, because basically it is as capable as the sigmarion and that battery life is sooo good. j680 or my old psion (= mc218) is good at times when i just want something i don't need to worry about too much.. oh and the old hpcs/psions are for my museum... it's no good trying to sell them.
oh and the 720 is a great testmachine but i've just lent it to a friend (wally, please, don't be angry with me ), it's good for that as well (promoting hpc's yeah!)

ok, it would be much simpler to just have that frankenhpc. or just be content with one hpc (the one that's able to satisfy most needs). but you see it is a life style...

Edited by cmonex 2005-09-19 11:21 PM

Ya, I don't know what happened to the title. It was originally "Have I lost it?"
Chris, maybe you can fix the title for me.

I can't see any other platform where owning a variety of machines is so appealing. Who wants a bank of desktop machines? What could be unique enough between them to bother? Same thing with laptops. I can't see owing a boatload of those for the same reasons.

My tiiming is just like yours Monica. Just when I say "hmm, I'll pass on CE X, I really don't need it" one appears at a price I can't refuse so why not? That's the case with the last 5 machines.

Admittedly, I was lusting for a SL4 but they were kinda pricy for my liking until mine turned up. Same deal with the 720. I kept telling myself "nope, no need, can't justify" until the deal turned up. I couldn't turn it down.

I *think* I'll be keeping the entire fleet as long as I can keep them runnning. I always wanted to collect something useful in the computer world. For a while I had original PCs and XTs and ATs, including the monitors, but man, they're bulky to store and I really never used them except to show friends.

I was on a software collection binge for a spell, but, really, unopened copies of Lotus and DOS and Dbase and Wordperfect wasn't very exciting gathering dust on a shelf.

At least with the hpcs I can grab the tool for the job and away I go.

Hmmm. I still need to fix outhouse on my desktop. Evertime I sync it wipes out all the data on the desktop and the hpc. Works fine tho', same outhouse disk, on my g/fs Vaio with her 789 and J565. Same W2k OS also. Oh well, one day I'll figure it out then I can keep the whole fleet in sync. For now I'm just syncing to her Vaio and we have each others contacts and appointments. Hey, that's no a bad idea is it? Unless one of us is up to something

oh yeah we agree again

but i meant: i go and look at prices (and to see whether it is available at all.. rare stuff), *after* i decided to get a certain hpc! not the other way around!
so that's my exceptional instinct.

The reason I think you have lost it, is b/c you beat me to the last 4 HPCs you bought. I really wanted the 789 the white looks great! Then you bought the 880 and 790, and there was one more. What was the last one you bought? IBM z50??? Anyhow I need to stop spending money on them, but I can't. I was thinking about buying a Mobilon, or 880, or 720 not to mention I need a new laptop but haven't b/c of the last two HPCs I bought.

Oh yeah, it was the Simpad...

Edited by Yoldering 2005-09-20 6:12 PM