HP 1940 vs. Dell Axim X30 Mid w/ BT & WiFi

[imagine]

Both of these are the same price right now, and ive decided that the hp has a much much better design than the dell, but the dell is much faster (with many new processor enhancements) and has wifi included. What do you think? Do you think the design alone is worth the push to the HP? (Btw, I am not planning on using wifi anyway, but since it is the same price, i was just thinking 'why not?': so do not include the wifi in your judgement.)

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

[Kati Compton]

Both of these are the same price right now, and ive decided that the hp has a much much better design than the dell, but the dell is much faster (with many new processor enhancements) and has wifi included. What do you think? Do you think the design alone is worth the push to the HP? (Btw, I am not planning on using wifi anyway, but since it is the same price, i was just thinking 'why not?': so do not include the wifi in your judgement.)

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Hmm. May as well get the most "current" device you can for the money, eh? *I'd* get the X30. I'm assuming it's the slower one that you're looking at? If it's the faster one, then DEFINITELY get the X30.

I think people have said that the X30's screen is nicer, but I could be wrong. Think of it this way, the X30s have WM2003SE, so you'll have the most recent OS. The 1940s cannot be upgraded to 2003SE.

Also, here's the current X30 pricing on the Dell site:

X30 312MHz, no wifi => $199
X30 312MHz, wifi => $239
X30 624MHz, wifi => $297

All free shipping.

If you REALLY don't need wifi, and were looking at the 312MHz, you could "downgrade" to the no wifi model. But then you're also losing some storage as the wifi model has 64 RAM/64 ROM instead of 32/32. The extra RAM/ROM is worth $40 to ME, but I don't know your usage patterns.

[imagine]

Firstly, I've never owned a PDA before in my life, so this is new territory for me. Second of all, I'm looking at the 312 mhz 64mb BT & Wifi model, which is $380 CDN, exactly the same price as the hp 1940. I am looking to use it for pocket office apps as well as playing music / videos.

I am pretty sure that the 266 Mhz processor can be easily compared to the toshiba e400's 300 mhz processor, but it cannot be compared to the axim's because of wmmx which would help for playing videos, etc. However, do I really need this feature since the screen is qvga on both and watching videos at standard ppc resolution & bitrate shouldn't be that demanding, especially habing been optimized for these ARM based processors.

[whydidnt]

I like the HP styling better, but not THAT much better. The X30 has WM2003SE installed and that alone should sway you to the Dell, IMO. HP is probably not going to release an update for the 1940. If you are planning on using the office apps a lot, then the native landscape support will be a real plus.

I haven't seen or researched how fast either of theses devices are, but I would guess the 1940 with it's Samsung processor may be faster in some areas and the X30 and the XScale may be in other areas. I doubt either one is so much faster than the other that it should influence your decision.

The mid-model Dell also has more available memory than the 1940, when factoring in the free ROM space you can access.

[imagine]

I was also wondering about that.. how can you use ROM space to store files, when ROM stands for Read Only Memory? I guess you're right about the processors, and I will just wait and see which one is going to be cheaper by september. right now, the dell is on sale 10% off, so it comes to $340 CDN. This is pretty common for dell, always some promotion or other, but the new ipaqs are coming out and there might just be some mail-in rebate promotions for the current models.

[Kowalski]

as people stated dell has the newest OS while hp will not offer and update.
dell has more than double rom space than hp
dell has a newer, more power efficient proccessor than hp with auto power saving mode. although this wont save you more than half an hour, this is a strong point of dell over hp.
and lastly dell has jog dial and 6 programable hardware buttons
the only good thing about hp is the design.
so if you dont care about the speed, landscape option and free rom space, and you think that design is very important, go for hp. otherwise dell is highly recommended.

[poshdaphne]

imagine: Where/how are you finding the 10% off deal so the mid-range axim ends up at 340 CAD?

[imagine]

It's under the "just for laughs" specials. Expires July 25th..thats 2 days from now!

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=CADHS1&l=en&oc=OCDELLX301_JFL_DHS

*** edited by moderator KC to fix the URL

[Rainman1976]

Did you ever buy the Dell? I just bought my wife an iPAQ 1945 yesterday and we're going to return it today to get the Dell 312 Mhz model. I got the 1945 for $249 and Dell is selling the X30 for $251!! I love the form factor of the HP, but can't pass up wi-fi, more ROM storage and Windows Mobile 2003 SE.

[PetiteFlower]

Do you think the design alone is worth the push to the HP?

Well, I expect that HP is hoping people will think that, but for me not a chance. I have never understood how HP justifies charging $300 for their LOWEST model PDA when you can get the HIGHEST model Dell for only $15 more right now, and sometimes it's even less depending on the promotion. I mean, I guess they have name recognition working for them, but that only gets you so far if you're not offering the customer a good value for their money!