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[the_leander]

Unfortunately there aren't that many machines out there that fit this catagory, indeed the last device I have seen that fitted what I was after, was the Psion Series 7, now discontinued or HP Jordana (also discontinued).

So the question is, are there any current devices that are similar technically to the Series 7? Or failing that, suppliers of second hand Series 7's that are reasonably priced?

[clark]

Not really helpful, but eBay is always a good place.

Psion Teklogix still makes a palmtop called the NetBook. IIRC, the Psion 7 was just a little bit smaller than this. There's a good chance that these shan't be reasonably priced, though, and they run WinCE (yuck).

I haven't seen anything in the consumer market, though. Seems as though everybody is migrating to mobile phones for things of that nature.

clark

[the_leander]

The netbook is actually the same system, but with a different rom over that of the Series 7.

Oh and whereas the S7 was £800 when new (ouch) the netbook is £1100. For that I could buy a bloody iBook.

[RealHomer]

NEC has a current HPC called the Mobilepro 900C. Half-VGA screen with xScale 400 mhz processor. See user review at http://www.diverseinfo.com/index.php

[the_leander]

I looked at it and it is an interesting system, but to me the inclusion of WinCE is a big turn off, I have a Ericsson MC12 (a rebadged HP handheld) and my experiences with wince put me off entirely from ever using another device that runs it. Shame because the hardware its attached to in my case is really reliable. Sadly the software is barely any better then win98 unpatched.

[Matt_H]

There aren't many, but some pretty darn small laptops exist - only a bit larger than a palmtop. Toshiba used to make one in the mid 90s, and I think Sony has one on the market now. You'd have to deal with XP instead of CE, but at least you have the option of installing something else.

[the_leander]

I have looked into these, but in all cases the battery life is the killer - typically about 3 hours if the wind is blowing in the right direction and you're going down a hill during a full moon.

The Series 7 had an effective real world battery life of about 7 hours (its stated as 8.5 which it is if its idling the whole time) and much the same on the Jordana front.

I have quite specific requirements: IT has to be light, portable, extreme battery life, be easy to type with (since it'll be used primarily for writing). Reliable software and hardware.

Currently a subnotebook solid state device offers the sort of battery life I need.

--edit--

Oh and Affordable.

[whabang]

Too bad Compaq never made a follower to the Aero 8000... :-(

[Dan]

Maybe Nokias Communicator phones?
Palmtop keyboard, SymbianOS and a 640x200 screen.
But they are expensive.

[the_leander]

The keyboard on the nokias are horrid, much too small for the sort of typing I'd be using it for. But still, a nice little system none the less :-)

[Floid]

As much as I hate to say it, I think tablet-sized devices (Palm, Zaurus or CE) with accessory folding keyboards are the best/only bet right now.

Some of the MobilePros may be able to take NetBSD or Linux, but you'll need a CF to wedge it on, and so forth.

Upshot is that, "in theory," Bluetooth (or WUSB, or Zigbee, or who knows what at this rate) keyboards might be cheap someday, making that combination a bit more 'ain't it cool?' and a bit less 'hunched over a deck of playing cards.' But you might as well pick up a used Transmeta ultralight while you wait.

[gnarly]

An OQO? http://www.oqo.com/

[Turambar]

The OQO's battery life is lame (3 hours tops) and at $1899 its not realy very affordable. It does look nice though.

[the_leander]

I can't disagree with Turumbar at all in his comments with regard the oqo, it is a technically superb machine, but the battery life is well below the spec I'm after. And the price puts it into the stratosphere for me hehe :-)

Not sure about the keyboard either tbh, I can see cramping becomming a problem with the thickness of the machine in relation to the size of the keys.

[logicalheart]

I like the looks of that OQO, There are also small Sony VAIO U Series. It is very similar to the OQO including the price. For longer battery life, we would need to lose the inefficient x86 CPU along with the heavy Windows O.S. (Gee! what a loss.)