4 ms·

How are these relevant with the dawn of tablets and ultraportable, cheap laptops? Is it just price, or am I missing something?

Avshalom 15y ago
They aren't really, but 1000 hour battery life with a real keyboard has it's appeal to a certain crowd. Though, I say 1000 hours, I know some alpha smarts can hit that, I don't know about the Dana. Also palm III on 160x560 screen is a bit of a curio.
miahi 15y ago
It's the price. And the nerdery. Old cheap toys that are still useful today bring up memories. Especially when you have to hack them.
moylan 15y ago
depends on what you want from a mobile device. * faster text entry for writing a book? keyboard wins every time. * less distractions while working on a project. * runs for ages on a sniff of alkaline batteries. * easily used outdoors in direct sun light? * more rugged than a modern laptop? i'd take one of these over an ipad anytime. but those are my requirements, not yours.
smacktoward 15y ago
1) Extremely long battery life -- the newer Neo model can be used for months on a pair of AA batteries (see http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-alphasmart-neo/#.T24Ok9l5JxQ http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-al...) 2) Can run on commodity batteries -- AAs are cheap, user replaceable, and supplies are easily available worldwide 3) More rugged -- can be dropped without fear, no need for aftermarket cases/screen protectors 4) Keyboard included -- no need for aftermarket add-on, unlike most tablets 5) Cheap -- you can buy one for an order of magnitude less than the cost of a tablet, or even more less than the cost of a notebook Which isn't to say devices like these are better for everyone than a tablet or a laptop would be, just that those devices don't automatically make these irrelevant for their niche.

4 ms·

How are these relevant with the dawn of tablets and ultraportable, cheap laptops? Is it just price, or am I missing something?

by nullflux 15y ago

Avshalom 15y ago
They aren't really, but 1000 hour battery life with a real keyboard has it's appeal to a certain crowd. Though, I say 1000 hours, I know some alpha smarts can hit that, I don't know about the Dana. Also palm III on 160x560 screen is a bit of a curio.
miahi 15y ago
It's the price. And the nerdery. Old cheap toys that are still useful today bring up memories. Especially when you have to hack them.
moylan 15y ago
depends on what you want from a mobile device. * faster text entry for writing a book? keyboard wins every time. * less distractions while working on a project. * runs for ages on a sniff of alkaline batteries. * easily used outdoors in direct sun light? * more rugged than a modern laptop? i'd take one of these over an ipad anytime. but those are my requirements, not yours.
smacktoward 15y ago
1) Extremely long battery life -- the newer Neo model can be used for months on a pair of AA batteries (see http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-alphasmart-neo/#.T24Ok9l5JxQ http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-al...) 2) Can run on commodity batteries -- AAs are cheap, user replaceable, and supplies are easily available worldwide 3) More rugged -- can be dropped without fear, no need for aftermarket cases/screen protectors 4) Keyboard included -- no need for aftermarket add-on, unlike most tablets 5) Cheap -- you can buy one for an order of magnitude less than the cost of a tablet, or even more less than the cost of a notebook Which isn't to say devices like these are better for everyone than a tablet or a laptop would be, just that those devices don't automatically make these irrelevant for their niche.