[jimski]

[quote="Janak Parekh"]Oliver Rist goes on a big-time whine about PDAs in his latest InfoWorld column:

"Hewlett-Packard just released ..... I know of no executive with any real use for PCs who can go on a trip carrying only a PDA."

I beg to differ. I am a VP for a mid-sized Display company and I am on my laptop or a desktop about 12-15 hours per day (really). My typical uses include; AutoCAD, PowerPoint, Project, Access, Visio, OneNote, Excel and Word. Hopefullly that qualifies me for really using my laptop. I carry my PPC in my shirt pocket (no case) almost everywhere I go. When I am in the office (or one of our other facilities in North America) but away from the desk my PPC serves as a; meeting note taker, meeting date scheduler, calculator, meeting - task - and note reminder.

With the new regulations at the airport, for day trips and almost all one night trips I leave my indispensible laptop home and rely on my trusty PPC to get me through the day. When traveling, in addition to the above I use it to; read and reply to corporate e-mail (via WiFi or Bluetooth) check flight and weather information, read news clips, look up directions when I get lost, review tasks, make journal entries, listen to MP3's, and on and on. In the past year, two people in my office have dropped their laptops at the airport. One was a total loss and the other, only two weeks old, cost $900 to repair. I really look forward to the days that I don't need to lug my 5.5 lb. laptop around. Don't get me wrong I miss it after a day or so but I can operate effectively without it for a limited period of time.

No, my PPC (or for that matter, any PPC) will never replace my laptop, nor do I expect it to. I see it as an important business tool that serves a specific purpose, to increase my mobility and provide me with a data store of information at my fingertips.

BTW- I have be using a PDA as a part of my daily routine since the Palm Professional days. I have not used a paper planner since early 2000 nor have I used paper (or a laptop) to take meeting notes since 1999.

Please just let me know when the bottom is going to drop out of the PDA market so I can rush out and buy five of my current favorite model along with a few dozen batteries. That should hold me till an early retirement.



Patiently waiting for my 4700. I will believe it when I see it.