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64MB Compaq IPAQ On Sale -- Or Not?

Posted by timothy on from the noooooiiice dept.

jaredcat writes: "The until-recently rumored new 64MB IPAQ handheld with improved expansion-card capabilities finally went on sale today at Compaq Direct for $649. Seeing as the lesser 3650 model can't currently be found on the street for love or money (I've seen it listed as high as $1000), I'm grabbing my 3670 while I still can." For some reason, I can't find the higher-end one on the site -- am I alone? With 64MB, this beats all but my most recent computer. Pop in my Merlin wireless card, and I can roam the city talking to myself all day? Excellent.

11 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. What's the big deal... by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5

    I see these super-handhelds going the way of the Newton.

    The Newton was the same as the iPaq - the handheld that tried to do too much. And look at it's fate.

    Palm, OTOH, keeps things simple. This results in devices that are:
    a) Much less expensive
    b) Smaller (Size was one of the main factors in the Newton's death. And all of these CE devices are larger than even Palm's largest.)
    c) Power-conserving. Batteries in a Palm last forever. How often do you have to change the batteries in one of these iPaqs?

    As to power consumption: For one, more memory = more power consumed. 8MB Palms have higher current draw than 2MB ones. Not by too much... But 64 megs?

    PCMCIA - PCMCIA cards can cause a noticeable drop in battery life in a laptop with a huge Li-Ion battery, what do you think they're going to do to a handheld on AAAs? (Even AAs - But as soon as you move to AAs, your handheld is losing any size advantage it might have had.)

    These handhelds are "cool", but I don't see them as anything more than that. My WorkPad (Palm III) suits me just fine, the only thing I wish I had was 8MB of memory, not 2. But 64 is ridiculous. (Eventually, I may solder in some bigger chips... :)

    --
    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
    1. Re:What's the big deal... by FattMattP · · Score: 3
      the only thing I wish I had was 8MB of memory, not 2. But 64 is ridiculous.
      I totally agree. Anything above 640KB is just silly. Who'd need more than that?
      --
      Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
    2. Re:What's the big deal... by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5
      How often do you have to change the batteries in one of these iPaqs?

      Try "never." It has an internal Li-polymer (or some such) battery that is about 2mm thick (!). It recharges as long as its on the docking cradle. Its not really a problem, since for the iPAQ to be really useful, its best to sync it at least once a day, and the battery recharges pretty fast while you sync.

      what do you think they[PC cards]'re going to do to a handheld on AAAs?

      Who knows? Although you can never have too much battery power, I think they iPAQ's battery does pretty well even with PC cards. Of course it does depend on what card you're using as well. Also, there are battery extenders available that can simply plug in to the bottom of the iPAQ, doubling the battery life.

      But 64 is ridiculous.

      I don't think so. I'd love 64 MB. That way, my iPAQ could have a reasonable music collection on it and it could be my MP3 player as well as a PDA. Plus, when you start putting Linux on it, and get one of these, the iPAQ becomes a serious competitor to a full-fledged laptop. Why lug around a 2 lb brick when you can carry around your iPAQ with wireless (or wired) Internet access, a full-sized keyboard, and the processor power and memory to make good use of both?

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
  2. Re:Linux by Dicky · · Score: 4

    This reply is coming to you from an iPAQ running Linux over an 802.11 connection :-)
    I'm writing it in vim in an xterm (actually rxvt) which was spawned by w3m, using GPLed handwriting recognition software. 'uname -a' gives:
    Linux ipaq 2.4.0-test11-rmk1-np3 #67 Tue Jan 2 16:46:11 EST 2001 arm4l unknown
    Check www.handhelds.org for the full story.

    --
    Paranoia isn't an infectious condition, it's a way of life
  3. Re:All things Compaq [slightly offtopic] by IntlHarvester · · Score: 3

    I'm curious what Compaq products you've had experience with.

    It's true that their consumer desktops (Presario) line is pretty piss-poor, but I've always found their corporate stuff reliable and their server stuff excellent.

    Anyway, they're a big company - so big that maybe they don't realize that they're tarnishing their once top-of-the-industry reputation with a bunch of young users with those cheap crap home units.

    My understanding is that the iPaq handheld comes out of the old DEC part of Compaq - take that for what it's worth.
    --

    --
    Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
  4. Shopping cart session ID by conio · · Score: 5

    Looks like the poster didn't remove his session ID from the link. Now all of Slashdot seems to be adding to a universal cart.

    At one point the total was well over $150,000.

    --
    Sam
  5. IPAQ can be upgraded to 64mb by alee · · Score: 4
    For those that already have IPAQs, a brave and enterprising soul has already found a way to upgrade 32mb IPAQs to 64mb. He will be providing the service shortly, and will provide a 90-day warranty on the upgrade!

    Visit http://www.times2tech.com/pocketpc.html to get on a long waiting list.

  6. Not New by Puk · · Score: 5

    Roaming the city talking to yourself all day, that is. People have been doing it for years. I usually give them my spare change as I walk by...

    -Puk

  7. Ipaq + 1GB IBM Microdrive by Gregoyle · · Score: 3
    Am I the only one who has thought of this? I do realize that the whole combination (if you buy the newest Ipaq) would cost about USD 1200, but can you imagine using that with Mp3s or Mpeg movies/TV shows?

    Anyone with a digital tuner on their video card could record their favorite TV shows, compress them and watch them the next day on the train to work (or write a script that compresses and uplinks to the microdrive automatically...). Also, the Microdrives are interchangeable, so you have effectively unlimited storage (well it is limited by the size of your wallet of course).

    If you ask me, this stuff's starting to get simply insane, if we can do this *now*, imagine a year, or even two years from now.

    --

    "He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

  8. I have the 3650... by stonewolf · · Score: 3
    with 32 megs and a Sierra wireless modem. 32 meg seems like a lot of memory until you load a video player and a few videos and DOOM and a couple of wads and then start looking to load Quake...

    The iPaq is simply amazing to a guy whose first personal computer had 16K (kilo not mega) bytes of RAM and a 2mhz z80 processor...

    Really, the wireless network is to slow for serious use, but works ok for email. And, 32 meg is not nearly enugh memory if you plan to use the machine for entertainment. And yeah, it runs DOOM pretty well.

    StoneWolf

  9. link by loafy · · Score: 4

    Compaq ipaq 3670 206MHZ 64MB Pocket PC Color