IBM WorkPad z50 Handheld

I've had the IBM Workpad Z50 for less than a week, but I've got to say, I'm impressed!

Pros:
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Size: the thing is 25.9 cm x 20.3 cm x 2.5 cm, basically less than the size of a normal pad of paper, and about an inch and a bit thick. It weighs less than 3 pounds. So it's light and portable. Sure it's bigger than the average palm size PDA, but if you don't like the stylus, and would like the keyboard approach, you can't go wrong here.

Good sized keyboard, easily usable by people with an average-sized set of hands. I can type quickly and easily on it. Tab key is not in quite the right place for me, but I'll get used to it.

Screen: Screen size is, I believe, 8 inches, or a little more. Nice viewscreen, decent color. Terrible off-axis viewing (from the sides) but I don't think that's a big deal.

Memory: has 16 MB built-in, can add more, up to 48MB. It's a PDA after all, how much memory do you want? If you really really want, you could add the 340MB hard drive!!! (about $350 of course).

Price: I bought mine for $275, shipped. You can even get them slightly cheaper now, around $260. About the same price as a palm PDA, with a lot more features.

Ease of Use: I had it hooked up to my PC in a reasonable amount of time, especially after I downloaded ActiveSync for free from the Microsoft site, instead of trying to use Windows CE Services. ActiveSync is pretty slick to use.

Battery Power: Supposedly 8 hours, fully charged. Haven't tried the limits of this yet.

Cons:
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It's larger than a palm PDA. If you are looking purely PDA, and don't care about the keyboard aspect, I would go with a palm. On the other hand, I don't like the stylus, and the keyboard was a must, so this one was better for me.

Setting up a good mouse cursor is kind of a pain. The standard cursor is the wrong color, and disappears in many apps. Should be fixable.


Overall:
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I like it. I'm very glad I bought it. I don't really need a laptop, I need a typing station (for school), and a calendar and address book (for work). I'm tired of paper organizers. Sure I'd like the power and capabilities of a good laptop, but I don't like the price tag. This is everything I need (as opposed to everything I want!), with a cute little sticker price that I can actually afford.

I'm under the assumption that these must no longer be produced, which is why they are so cheap all of a sudden. So get one while you can.