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Portable Word Processors?
paulcole asks: "I am currently an English major and short story writer, who is in the market for a word processor. My laptop is a good enough tool, but I feel that it isn't quite what I need for a portable writing tool. Namely, I want something smaller, more portable, and easier to use. Right now, I am looking at the QuickPad Pro and the AlphaSmart Dana. Any insight on either of these products, or any others out there, would be very helpful." Do these 'smaller and more portable' devices necessarily justify the trade-offs in power and flexibility that a laptop with a full fledged word processor would provide?
Why? Palm OS, there's flexibility in the software choices. Choice is a good thing. Easier to sync with another computer, for printing, email, whatever. WiFi option could be a butt saver on occasion.
I always thought there should be more devices similar to this. A full blown laptop is great, but you lose some qualities like stellar battery life, low cost, lightweight. It'd be cool to have laptops with grayscale screens (if anyone made them anymore to keep the cost down in volume). I think it'd be great to have even 20 hour battery life, the thought of 100's of hours on AAA's sounds pretty damn good to me.
Exhalted dreamer...
You can get relatively inexpensive keyboards for most PDAs nowadays. The Palm ones fold down pretty small... not quite small enough to fit into a pocket, but close. The screens on newer devices are clear enough that you'd probably be able to work without too much discomfort.
You mention you'd like something smaller and lighter. The QuickPad comes in at 11.5" x 9" x 1.5", the AlphaSmart Dana at 12.4" x 9.3" x 1.9", and, for comparison, a 12" Powerbook is 10.9" x 8.6" x 1.18. The Powerbook weights twice as much as the other two, but is actually smaller than the word processors. So, you can get a work processor that is bigger, but weighs less, but can only do one thing and has a shitty screen. OR you can get a Powerbook that is smaller, can do many things, a great screen, and only weighs two pounds more. Is two pounds really going to make that much of a difference? Just get a smaller laptop.
Assuming, of course, that money is not a constraint.
try a palm pilot, the palm portable keyboard, and something like pedit. seriously, for under $200 USD you can have a very functional word processing environment, and a whole lot more.
i used the palm keyboard for a while and was constantly amazed at both how portable it was (folding up to roughly the size of the palm pilot itself) and how much like a real keyboard it felt like.
The new Danas are much more sophisticated. They run PalmOS and store actual text files. You can use them to edit MS Word documents if you want. For $50 over the price of the basic version, you get Wi-Fi and can check your e-mail, surf, etc.
Sounds like the long-discontinued Apple eMate is just what you want. I saw a new-in-box eMate 300 on eBay for a buy-it-now price of $200, you could probably find a good one for around $100. It's basically a Newton with a keyboard, it seems designed for writing, good keyboard, basic B&W screen, good battery life. Zap your text over a serial cable to your main CPU for further work.
When I was working on my BA in English, my preferred writing implement was a Pilot Precise pen, Very Fine tip, and a stack of legal pads.
When I started working on my thesis, I bought a Powerbook Duo because it weighed less than most of the books I was toting around already.
Since your laptop seems to be unsatisfactory for some reason (too heavy, maybe?) you might want to look at either an older subnotebook (a Duo, or perhaps a Toshiba Libretto or a Sony Picturebook) or something smaller. Apple made a Newton with a built-in keyboard called the eMate that was pretty nice. Fantastic battery life, decent screen, and designed for elementary school kids so its damned near indestructible.
--saint