My two-year-old Palm TX is in perfect shape -- except for the serious misalignment of the digitizer. (I'll write more about the problem in another posting.)
Yet, it is nearly dead. More accurately, the PalmPilot concept is nearly dead -- for me, and for most of the market. Business people would rather have the equivalent of a PalmPilot in their cell phones, and so the Treo and iPhone are popular.
For me, the PalmPilot began to die following our family's once-in-a-lifetime trip together to New Zealand. Due to a syncing problem, I lost all the daily notes I took during the 19-day trip. That was several years ago; since then, I increasingly found myself not using my PalmOS model of the time, Sony's magnificent Clie.
When it died two years ago, I automatically bought the latest and greatest, the Palm TX. It's an amazing device, pre-dating the similarly spec'ed iTouch by three years. (Where was Palm marketing?) But it was bundled with a lousy (free) external keyboard and lately the unfixable digitizer drift is making it miserable to use.
What to do?
I could replace it. (Refurbished units are $200.)
I could wait to see what Palm might have next. (Something is promised for 2009.)
I still use its address book, play some games (barely) on it, and use it to access Internet radio on our living room stereo.
2133
Then HP announced its Mini-Note (model 2133) notebook computer. For the price of a Palm TX and extra-cost keyboard, you can get a full computer with 8" screen, nearly full-size keyboard, running Linux. $500 (for RAM disc) or $550 (with 120GB hard drive). Primary drawback: no DVD player, although an external one could be added.
I've read some exclaim that they can get an HP 15" notebook computer complete with DVD for the same price. They could, but then they would miss the point.
For a writer who travels (like me), the idea of this class of sub-notebook is an exciting concept, combining the compact size of the PalmPilot with the full functionality of a regular notebook computer. The exclaimers should also contrast the Mini-Note's price against that of similarly sized units from Sony -- care to pay $2,200?
The mini-notebook is not HP's idea, but HP reacting to the new market segment created by Asus and its EEE notebook. I find it interesting that the market rejected Microsoft's idea of what a mini notebook should look like (the overpriced UMPC), but is thrilled with something conceived in Taiwan by a builder of hardware.
With me finding reasons to use Google Docs, GMail, and FireFox, a Linux-powered computer would not seem as strange as it as in the past.
I plan to try out the 2133 once it becomes available in Canada (date unknown, HP Canada tells me).
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