Laptop or Palmtop?

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Mar 30, 1999

30 March 1999

Now that we're all on the go most of the time (or we'd like to be), we could all use something handy to keep us computing and organised. While that one elusive dream machine may not exist yet in the real world - you know, the one that's a palm-sized supercomputer with wireless modem, PDA, 2-way pager, and mobile phone (weighing 2 ounces with 7 days of battery life) - what are our best options for gear? With prices on everything seeming to constantly sink, do we buy a normal-sized laptop computer, or do we go for a palmtop/handheld? This episode of Internet Business will look at laptops vs. palmtops/handhelds. We are not including items like the Philips Nino or PalmPilot here.

Let's compare two items (base models) that sound really great.

	Fujitsu E360 Lifebook	HP Jornada 680
type	laptop	palmtop
chip	Pentium II @ 333MHz	Hitachi 32bit @ 133MHz
OS	Win 98	Win CE
display	13.3" XGA TFT	6.5" CSTN
memory	64MB	16MB
slots/bays	multi-function bays (extra battery, CDROM, Zip drive) 2 type II or 1 type III PC card slots	1 type II PC card slot, 1 compact flash type I slot
external ports	everything you can think of including USB	serial, IrDA, RJ11
modem	56K, internal	56K, internal
dimensions	12.28"w x 9.80"d x 1.99"h	7.4"w x 3.7"h x 1.3"d
weight with standard battery	7 lbs.	1.1 lbs.
battery life	up to 3 hrs (up to 6 with 2nd battery)	up to 8 hrs (up to 24 with optional extended battery)
current retail price	$2,599 USD	$899 US

Depending on your needs, one or both may be right for you! If you're out of the office a lot but need to stay in touch with the office or do some computing, the palmtop is a best bet. I also think it would be best for small business trips when you may not need all of the features of your desktop computer but just need e-mail, word processing, and the like. It's powerful (for what's available now - read this article in 6 months and laugh at me!), has plenty of built-in and available applications, Internet and e-mail capabilities, and weighs less than that old donut lying around in your briefcase. With a VGA out PC Card, you can even run a presentation on PowerPoint for CE and have the whole room see it.

What are the advantages to a laptop?
Firstly, if you are doing a LOT of work on your computer, you may prefer looking at a much larger full-colour screen. The 13.3" is going to feel like a dream compared to a 6.5", not to mention trying to browse a webpage when you have an area of approximately 6" across by 3" high area on your screen. Second, it is going to be much faster with much more RAM, and therefore you can run more applications both quantity-wise simultaneously as well as the more demanding applications such as Photoshop or full-featured web browser/internet suites. Third, the laptops currently have many more port and expandability options than the palmtops have.

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