turning my nx to a laptop

[unchewable]

i use the keyboard with my nx and i love it. my goal is to use my nx to replace a laptop. if we had more people designing programs with keyboard intergration that would be way sweet. i am also interested in how you guys are using your clie's to replace laptops.

[yorrick]

unchewable - I have to disagree with you on this one - trying to make the Clie into a laptop.

I thought the whole point of the PDA is to have stuff from your laptop (ie. email, calendar, contacts etc) on something smaller than a laptop.

If I wanted a laptop in the size of a PDA, then I'd opt for a PPC (okay guys, not cheap shots! :) ) since it would be better suited for more apps that can be found on a laptop than a Palm OS device.

That is why I view my laptop as a fully fledged PC and my PDA as a subset of functions which I need to "do stuff" when I don't want to carry my laptop around.

[unchewable]

i only do word processing email and cheap games when i am mobile it is instant on and off and cheaper then a pocket pc also wordsmith is a better word processor then i have seen on any pocket pc

[askjay]

I use the clie with the keyboard to take notes at classes, write emails, and sometimes essays.
Mostly are just simple tasks typing application.
I'm planning to buy NX70V with a Stowaway XT keyboard. I can listen to mp3s, watch whole lenght movies (so cool!!!) in Kinoma, voice recorder, use to rec some videos with the camera as a low quality camcorder, and get wireless internet with the WL card.
That's why I decided on getting a NX instead of a laptop. One important aspect is that the battery's life is much longer than a laptop.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by askjay
One important aspect is that the battery's life is much longer than a laptop.

It depends on the laptop that your comparing it to. Some laptops last for 16 hours on a single charge (Scribbler SC-800). Or you could always use the powerpad 160 to get some insane battery lives. For multimedia applications such as video, an energy conservative laptop would last longer.

Of course the obvious disadvantage is the weight and size of the laptop.

[lal2707]

I think the NX is great but cannot see it ever replacing my laptop - too many restrictions e.g. only 11 Mb RAM. Even with a large keyboard I would type in a large document no matter how good a WP is on the Clie

[ShellyBelly]

I used to want a laptop, but am so glad that I went the PDA route.

I can do so much with it and then just throw it in my purse or in my Vaja case and clip it to my belt!

The best of both worlds, in my opinion, powerful and portable. OK, I know laptops are portable, but not if you are using something for day-to-day, on-the-run life:)

Business? Yes. Life? No.

Just my 2 cents:D

[nx70]

I swapped my Laptop for a NX70. Sold my PCG-SR31K and bought a NX.
I have the full power of Word and Excel, PowerPoint, E-Mail(you know an article told about better Office implementation for Doc2Go than Microsofts own product for PPC), Little bit of entertainment.
Cheaper and more portable device(600$ + 100$Wi-Fi + keyboard is less than a laptop).
Software is available in masses and well priced.
Instant on.
Longer battery life, and the batterylife will be more than in any other protable device(sub-, notebook, even Apple)
Little bit of multimedia like photos, videos and games.
If it gets stolen I can replace it- although paying much money.
When I am home I use my desktop instead.

[aithir]

You can't always use your NX to replace a laptop. In the end it all goes down to what software you intend to use. If you are going to stick to the classical office suites, e-mail, internet, MP3, e-book, etc yes you can provided that you can tolerate the smaller screen. If you want to use a special Windows application(s) you cannot move completly to the NX, simply because you cannot run it from there:-)
That's why I use both.

[leung]

a pda is a pda, a laptop is a laptop.

[hherbzilla]

Originally posted by leung
a pda is a pda, a laptop is a laptop. Agree. They are complementary to each other, and that's how I happily use them.

[karasu]

I don't know. I use a laptop extensively in the field, but I started seeing what I could do with just my NX and it's really pretty impressive.

Office docs? check
MS Projects? check
email? check
scheduling and task management? check
remote terminal and server maint? check
web browsing? check
autocad? check (although it's kind of cumbersome and only little ones...)
Instant messaging? check

The only thing I really need the PC for is power apps like visio, topomaps, intermod calculator, mapinfo, excel sheets with embedded vbasic scripts, stuff like that. Or that require that I'm logged into our VPN servers for ODBC clients.



So I guess it's possible, but it's kind of crippled. For those splitting hairs, a 200MHz processor with 16 (11) Meg of Ram is a true computer. Effectively a Pentium series one. It is the applications that make it useful, and the limitations of coding in the Palm OS that make them difficult to develop. (That and sony not providing all the API's, {bastards})

[Tek Phreak]

laptops still aren't portable enough for me yet... really the only one i saw that came close in the US is the sony picture book and that's still too big. I take notes in class on my NX70v using just the built in keyboard and it works great for me. Although i read in one of the PC mag's that there is a new laptop - scratch that - palm top coming out that is roughly the size of a full extended human palm. It folds up just like a laptop, and boots XP. Weighs less than a pound. I used to have a laptop, but i'm not goin back to them until they have something that small that comes out. I want a convergance of PDA and Laptop, that plus a power desktop and i can't think of any better set up. . . Oh yeah, the name of the palm sized REAL pc is called the vulcan. Keep yo eyes open for it.

Enjoi.
-Tek

[jdonalds]

I have a laptop and the NX70. For business purposes I can't do without the laptop but for personal things the PDA is a reasonable alternative.

One great advantage is with the Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard I am able to type letters on the PDA on an airplane even if the seat spacing is tight and the person in front of me leans the seat back. The laptop doesn't always fit under those conditions.

I carry photos to show friends, books to read, movies to watch, music to listen to, documents to read and write, I'm even working on writing a book on the PDA.

I just took a week long airplane trip including 5 flights carrying both the PDA and the laptop. I used the PDA about 10 hours and the laptop for about 1/2 hour.

I think the PDA is slowly becoming the more useful tool. Maybe your laptop can take photos and videos but mine can't. The PDA, in my mind, is a small computer and quite capable at that.

I'm off tomorrow for two weeks in Russia. I have no desire to carry my laptop for weight and security reasons. But my trusty PDA will be my companion all the way.

[Unregistered]

at the end of the day, you still need a computer, whether desktop or laptop. there are no great browsers for real secure sites, and unless you download programs directly to your pda, and backups are generally made with a pc. if i had a 3, desktop/laptop/pda, then maybe i could get rid of the laptop. but not if i only had a laptop and pda. my .02

[nx70]

You need to make some differentiation.
If we talk about a laptop, we talk about a portable device capable of dealing with Windows OS -XP or whatever- i.e if you have a laptop and only use it at home it is as good as a desktop PC if you use it on the run it is a portable device.
The PDa is not to replace the desktop but the portable device- it is smaller, easier to use and lasts longer. But it lacks certain functionality. If you say: 'if i had a 3, desktop/laptop/pda, then maybe i could get rid of the laptop' you mean a desktop.
We all know: a laptop with WinOS is not to be replaced. But we try to figure out how far one can go to replace it anyway.
Anyone can agree?

[epsolon]

basically, if u have a pda it pretty much replaces your lapop in terms of going around, when u stay home u can use a desktop!!!. if u need to type u can do it with clie, excel too, music, video etc, etc. if for any reason u r in another place far away from home where u dont have u r desktop. there are cyber cafes!!!.

[stronggeek]

There are places that I'd take my nx, but for me my notebook would be overkill.

There are places where I'd take my notebook as well, because I'd prefer to to view my notebook screen over that of my pda or there may be apps that I just must use that day only available on my notebook.

There are times when I take both, but one things for sure and that's I always have my nx and because of my nx I think twice about having to pack my notebook with me now.

So for me my palm won't take the place of my notebook pc, but my notebook won't take the place of my home computer either.

Guess in the end, it all depends on your needs as well as your wants!

I sync to both computers and don't have any problems though the sync on the second pc(doesn't matter which one) always syncs the main apps slower.

I guess thats normal though

[sp535]

Here is another disagree. why bother having small screen, slow pda to use as laptop? Do you have specific reason or logic or alternative way of using hi-tech device for your thought?

Chao!

[Ezikial Anta]

Dont have a laptop but got a NX60, so hmmm maybe the PDA does win over the laptop (because touchscreen is a lot better than the mouse)... but for those that cant decide, they can awlays go buy a tablet pc...

[Eddy]

The thought of using a PDA with a keyboard is nice.
But.....
I have to agree that a Laptop is a Laptop, & a PDA is still a PDA.
One cannot take the place of the other, it's just your personal preference whether you'd like to carry a notebook with your for multi-tasking & using other softwares that a tiny PDA cannot provide you with. I travel often, way too often therefore I prefer to carry my PDA with me, if I need to go online, I'd prefer to visit the local cyber cafe. :)

[nx70]

Slow is dependend upon the application.
I don't do Photoshop or Cubase(multimedia) on the run. Sure this would be good sometimes, but pondering weight, battery life time, versatility and ease of use PDA wins. Why carrying a laptop if you are too lazy messing around with opening the case, starting Windows(as well as from suspend mode), calculating battery left, if you can go with one easy clap, opening the clamshell and here we go.
You are all right: It depends upon your needs. For speed and Hi-Tec I got my desktop. For easy life sweetening technology I have my PDA.
Now go specific. Which application do you want to run, while on the go?
I use 'only':

-addresses
-calendar
-fax
-excel spreadsheets
-powerpoint data(already produced, but can partly be modified with Doc2Go)
-some databases
-Email partly internet- I admit screen kind of too small
-sometimes AcidImage
-some movies(TV-episodes)
-ICQ

And now you? What is your killer application you can't live without?
[Don't take this personally)
BTW: sometimes I find myself touching the monitor of my PC to close a window.