Just got myself a brand spankin old ipaq 3955 2002, impending buyer's remorse detected

[pahncrd]

This is my first PDA purchase, and I went all out on the fixings with this little computer.

I have bought about $600 worth of sleeves and add-ons for it.

I know that it is a bit of an older IPAQ, but I am going to upgrade to WM2003 very soon.

There are a couple things related to performance that are bothering me about it.

With WM2003 how does it stack up against the others in the graphics department. I have seen it benched with ce 2002 and it was woefully beaten by the Asus A620 with a hammer. Does it hold up a little better with the new OS... will it be enough for the Snes emulators and such?

I appreciate any oppinions from the community here.

[pahncrd]

Has anyone used thes for games, and perhaps compared it to other PDAs.

Are there benchmarks?

From the benchies I saw, it seems that the 3900 series beats the 5XXX series in the graphics department. Is this right?

[Chris Spera]

I don't have any hard benchmarks to offer, but I have had a 3955 with PPC2002 and still have a 5455 with WM2003.

The 3955 with PPC2002 is perhaps the most stable iPAQ HP/Compaq has ever made. This is a GREAT device. I found that I was not using my 3955 due to my 5455 purchase, so I sold it. Parting with it wasn't easy; but I sold it to someone who had plans of using it to help a student with a speech impediment. My device would help him communicate with others.

Anyway, the device isn't bad for games. If you're a die hard gamer, however, a PPC isn't the right device for games. You really want a handheld gaming console like GameBoy Advanced SP. However, as I remember correctly, the 3900 had better graphics performance than the 5400's.

Hope this helps...


Kind Regards,


Christopher Spera

[pahncrd]

I guess I got the right one then, thanks for the help.

I suppose WM2003 will just increase the performance.

[pahncrd]

It seems everybody gets the 2215. What is so special about it? It seems to hyave a smaller screen and worse graphics performance in WM2003.

I have seen many people upgrade from the 39xx to a 22xx, why is that?

[Janak Parekh]

It seems everybody gets the 2215. What is so special about it? It seems to hyave a smaller screen and worse graphics performance in WM2003.
Built-in CF support, more compact formfactor are probably the two biggest reasons.

--janak

[Don Tolson]

Also, the 2215 has a brighter screen and bluetooth support. It's also somewhat smaller and lighter than the 3900 series, so it's more 'pocketable'.

[Dave Potter]

In general, WM 2003 does perform better than 2002 on the same device. As far as the ASUS goes, it's a tough act to beat performance wise so it may not be the best basis for comparison.

I'm sure you'll be happy with the purchase in the long run.

[pahncrd]

Oh, okay... size doesn't bother me.

I will have it with a Dual-pc-card sleeve, with a 5gb MD and PC-card to CF adapter.

As long as the performance is up there, and it's smaller than a laptop, I am happy.

[Dave Potter]

With all that stuff attached - your battery life is really going to suffer.

Just a friendly warning!

[pahncrd]

it's cool, I have 5 of them, and a back up supply.

I am pretty dissapointed with the emulator performance thus far however.