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I understand where the submitter is coming from completely -- this type of device has been my Holy Grail for a long time too.

The closest I ever came to the perfect solution was pulling together the following kit:

• Handspring Visor PDA. Nothing special about this device, it was just a cheap PalmOS device with a good amount of memory (8MB) for not much money (around $150-200 new). You can't get Visors anymore, but a roughly equivalent device, the Zire 21, can be found on the street for less than $80 new -- or you can pick up someone's used device off EBay, as others have mentioned.
• WordSmith word processing software. Provides an amazingly robust editing environment right on any PalmOS device. This is not just a viewer for docs created on your desktop -- it's a full featured word processor that interoperates seamlessly with your desktop copy of MS Office (I know, I know). Free to try, $30 to register.
• PrintBoy -- amaze people by printing to any printer straight from your Palm device, over infrared or Bluetooth. $30.
• Stowaway keyboard -- a tiny folding keyboard that nonetheless has decent typing "feel". I had the original model; the new one, the XT, is even smaller and more portable. $50.

Total cost: approximately $200-250. Others have pointed out that there are devices that wrap all this functionality into one unit (the much-loved Psion devices such as the Revo and the 5mx spring to mind), but with the PalmOS solution you're at least dealing with stuff that's all still currently manufactured and supported, so you won't have to futz with hunting down obscure software and strange replacement parts just to get things done. And if the device dies, big whoop, at $80 it's not the end of the world.

(If you're into this sort of thing, Jeff Kirvin's blog Writing on Your Palm is a good source for advice on mobile writing.)

You're right, it is absurd to directly compare a laptop to a PDA and vice versa.

I will say, however, that I can and do watch MPEG & AVI videos and even full DVD movies on my Tungsten|T3. I put the video (DVDs transcoded using dvd::rip to ~400MB XviD AVIs w/96kbps MP3 audio @ ~320x240 resolution) on my 512MB SD card and watch it using MMPlayer. Works pretty damn good actually, especially in widescreen. I stick a few on my 20GB Neuros and load 'em up whenever I want using a portable card reader and whatever PC I happen to be at.

Also, portable keyboards, like the Stowaway work well and allow quick entry and retaining maximum portability. I had one for my Prism and used it a lot during meetings. I have yet to need one for my T3 since I don't do a lot of data entry any more and the virtual qwerty keyboard is sufficient for what I do (though I long for the IBM ATOMIK layout I had on my Prism).

Many people can and do "pick up" grafiti quickly. I think it took me about 1 hour to get the general hang of it and maybe 2 days to be really comfortable and proficient... Grafiti2 is even easier! Of course, I still prefer tapping out letters on a virtual keyboard; or better yet, using my stowaway (when I had it) for a lot of typing, such as word processing with WordSmith.

I have even transcoded entire DVDs down to ~400 MB using dvd::rip, put them on my 512 MB SD card and have watched the entire movie on my PDA in Landscape widescreen. The resolution is excellent for a PDA and the 400 MHz X-Scale CPU is very quick. Battery life is OK, but with the BoxWave miniSync (w/Car and Wall adapters) I never worry about it.

The best part is the price of my setup:
$300 PDA
$80 Ericsson T68m BlueTooth Phone
$99 512 MB SD Card
$40 BoxWave miniSync + Accessories
$40 Iambic Agendus Pro
$40 SnapperFish SnapperMail Standard
$50 SplashData SplashWallet
$35 Mapopolis 1-year North America w/o GPS Support
$30 BlueNomad WordSmith
$15 MMPlayer
$12 ZLauncher
$10 PDAMill Solitaire
$0 OliveTree BibleReader+
$0 BigClock
$0 MyCheckbook
$0 HandyShopper
$0 HandZipperLite
$0 IconMgr
$0 SeaTraffic
$0 TuSSH
$0 upIRC (limited shareware)
$0 Warfare, Inc. (shareware demo)
====
$751

I actually paid $611 total for all the above because I purchased many of the software items listed above long ago for my previous PDAs, but the above is what someone would pay to buy it now.

It doesn't get better than WordSmith from BlueNomad on a PalmOS PDA.

I've used it for years and love it. It even works as a plaintext HTML editor! With an FTP client and some way to connect, you've got a mobile web publishing tool as well.

It doesn't get better than WordSmith from BlueNomad on a PalmOS PDA.

I've used it for years and love it. It even works as a plaintext HTML editor! With an FTP client and some way to connect, you've got a mobile web publishing tool as well.

"The Emulator software does not include ROM images. It is like a computer without an operating system. Also note that the emulator emulates 68K devices and thus runs ROM images through OS 4.x. For testing on OS 5 based devices see the Palm OS 5 Simulator page."

For OS5 development purely in Linux, I have to synch my code into my own Zire71 and pray every time... thank heavens for programs like backupbuddyVFS

Mostly, I keep another box on my local network running win2k so I can load my code straight into the OS5 simulator. That situation really bugs me... and I hope that the OS6 simulator gets released in a Linux version.

It would probably pay me to get into java on the Palm as that would widen my market to include other devices that support the IBM J2Micro Environment.

Just my $.02.

Offtopic alert -- but I had to reply:

Funny you should mention this. I gave up using my Palm about 2 years ago. It's strictly a toy.

Ever buy a fold-up keyboard for a Palm? And use something like WordSmith? Ever just slip the keyboard and the Palm into your pocket, go someplace and just WRITE? Having the keyboard with me everywhere is what made it a killer "app" for me. Meetings, coffeeshops... no more yellow pads. No more searching for information. I've always got it with me. And before I saw the keyboard, I couldn't even imagine it.

The most exciting part, for me, about something new is waiting to see how people innovate. I'd keep watching the Segway...

Not necessary - at least in the shelling-out-money side of things ... try WordSmith instead. Yes, it does cost money to use as a wordprocessor, but the extended memo/doc reader functions are free. And it gives you bold, italics and underlining in your memos, too ...

I got a 7x and a folding keyboard for $150 a month or so ago. I haven't bothered to activiate the (apparently pretty lackluster) wireless. Mostly I use it with WordSmith to do writing in parks and restaurants, which is pretty nice now that spring is here in New England (a couple months late).

I've actually found the ugly little monochrome screen to be an asset for this application, since it cuts down on my habit of revising each line obsessively rather than writing something and then revising it.

It's pretty cool--7xes are dirt cheap 'cause their wireless feature has been outmoded by more recent versions. So you buy one and you just don't use the wireless. Works for me, anyway.

Hmm.. Useless notes program, or pocket word?

Hmm.. Useless Pocket Word or Wordsmith for the Palm? I've used Pocket Word. It stunk. You have a great PDA for word processing, just pick up Wordsmith and a folding keyboard.

I don't see any palm devices playing mpeg video any time soon

You need this why?