Please help me find a replacement for my HP Jornada minilaptop!

January 30, 2007 7:24 AM

Technology orphan filter: What can I use to replace my HP Jornada 728?

My jornada 728 recently became deceased and it appears to be terminal. I know there are newer technologies out there (aka the "convergence") that have the mobile phone, mp3 player, camera, yadda, yadda ("and now in THREE colours!"). I have ZERO interest in the palm (Dell AXiom type) devices - I can't enter stuff into the thing at a reasonable rate.

I like my (almost) real sized keyboard, the larger display (old eyes) and having an almost real laptop - all for under 700 dollars. My job requires detailed note taking and this is a whole lot easier with a real keyboard and doing it once rather than poking with a stylus. I have tried. Even with the new intuitive software it still sucks.

I guess I could go to a mini Vaio type of thing, but that seems like overkill to me - to say nothing of the cost relative to the Jornada.

What can I replace my Jornada with that has a real keyboard, Windows NOT required, but is robust and offers spreadsheet and text entry capability? Ideally, pricing under $1000 would apply. (cheaper = better). CD/DVD not required nor is a mouse, but wireless is nice.

I can also purchase a used Jornada off Ebay, but would like to research out options before casting my hard earned dollars to the ether.

I would be a very happy duck if someone could help me out with this......

posted by fox_terrier_guy to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

The IBM WorkPad Z50 is a good candidate. It's a sub-notebook device with a virtually full-size keyboard, Windows CE, CompactFlash card slot, good battery life, but no wireless. (The syncing software doesn't like to play with Windows XP, but I just save stuff to my flash card and use a card reader in my desktop.) People have even installed NetBSD on them. They're rather rare nowadays, but you can pick one on Ebay for probably less than $200.

(I snagged one for $50 and it's been really handy. I hacked out my NaNoWriMo novel on it.)
posted by cog_nate at 8:20 AM on January 30, 2007

You can get a keyboard for most PDAs, either wired or bluetooth-based.

But the landscape-keyboard-toting PDA is pretty much an evolutionary dead end. The Blackberry form factor pretty much killed it as email is the killer app on these things, not what you're doing.

Have you thought about buying a really small laptop? Or maybe a Nokia 9000 series phone, like the 9500?
posted by GuyZero at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2007

I also came to receommend the 9500 - it's an excellent device and I can bang out text at a very decent rate on mine. It's also pretty much the only landscape PDA series left. I'm an old Psion user and share your love of the form-factor. The 9500 really is an excellent upgrade.

As for particular devices, you've basically got a choice of 3:
9300 - smallest device. No wifi or camera.
9300i - similar form factor but includes wifi
9500 - larger form factor (and therefore larger keyboard and screen). Includes wifi and camera.

Personally, I use the 9500 since the larger keyboard and screen are invaluable and the size/weight tradeoff really isn't that much. You can pick up a second-hand one for about $200-$300 on eBay. Highly recommended.
posted by blag at 3:45 PM on January 30, 2007