buster

I am looking at getting my first PDA and from all I read the X5 seems to be the best bang for your PocketPC buck.

Now the tough question, to go with the 400 or 300? I do not need the cradle as most of my hotsync would be on laptop and would be less to carry with just the cable. I also am just looking at basic contacts, to do, schedule etc.. However, I would want the possibility to expand as options become available and will be using pocket streets.

Is there enough difference between them to justify the $100.00 price tag?

Sooooooooooo, suggestions and why?

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Axim X5 400, SimpleTech 128SD, 256CF, Dazzle 8-1 Reader

CircusB0y

I wanna try and help you!!! Must remove this newbie tag...
anyways if you have the extra $100, you should go witht he 400 mhz version. a lil more room, but you get 2x Ram, and more storage, so you won't shoot yourself in the foot. Plus, compared to other 400 mhz PDA's, the Axim is still lowest in price.
Now to shoot myself in teh foot, I did alot of research on PDA's and prices, and I almost went with the viewsonic PDA, mainly because its so much smaller, and still at a low price. However it doesn't have compact flash, let alone does it have a faster processor (200 mhz I think). But for what your doing, since you like a laptop, yo uprobably want something small, maybe spend the extra 100 or 150, on the viewsonic, but I wouldn't doubt the Axim, I just saw one from a customer at the store i work at, and its great, its not that big. Your choice man, Personally, go with axim 400, more expandability, and functionality. If you want smaller, go with the viewsonic, but you won't get the best performance, I gurantee it!! (Eat your heart out George Foreman!)

Mike

Honestly, I don't know. For what you want to do I'd go for the 300 and use the extra money for more RAM if you need it later on. You can get a 128MB SD or CF card for less than $100.00. If you were wanting to play videos and games, I'd go with the 400... (I got the 400, but a friend got a 300 and loves it.)

slam525i

I figure I'll toss in my 2 cents. Given the price of the 300MHz model (I got it when it was with the $80CDN rebate), I plan to just toss it when it is no longer able to run the latest apps. I doubt the extra 100 MHz helps that much in performance as it runs most of the time at the power saving mode of 200MHz. And as for the RAM, the extra would be nice, but I don't see a need for it unless you want to install a few BIG games (even monopoly takes less than a single meg. SimCity and such big games take 2-4 megs. Most apps are under 1 meg.)

Depends on how long you plan to keep it I suppose. B)

Mike C

The biggest factor will probably be how much you try to do with it. With only 32 Mb ram, you'll be using 16 - 20 for storage ... and the rest for running programs.
You have to be really smart about loading things on SD card to keep prog memory free.

I just did a little test, and have 6.9 Mb prog memory in use at idle. With Media player doing an mp3, and word runing a doc file, it went to 8.05 mb in use.
Just remember that the remaining storage memory is used for all Active Sync automatic file transfer. There are things that have to be in the main MyDoc folder, or Windows folder.

I've tried to keep my 400 lean, and have 16.4 Mb storage ram in use. If I had 32 to start with, I'd only have 8 to spare and use for file transfer.
The PPC can do so much, you'll want to use it. Is 32 meg ram enough?

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Mike

Mike C

PS ... One thing that surprised me when I got my Axim (Christmas eve) was that the OS pretty much ignores all added memory as a usable resource. It has to stay within that 32 meg ram area (64 in my case). This will limit what you can do when transferring files w/ AS.

Your biggest helper will be a program like MightySync, which will supposedly allow you to sync files on SD and CF cards. I'm finding that even a 400 user may need this.

__________________
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Mike

missc

When I started looking at these devices (beginning of Dec) I convinced myself I didn't need color, in fact I picked up a Palm 500m, kept it for only a few days and returned it for the 515 m (color version), kept that one for a week and switched to the pocket pc format. Tried a Toshiba, a HP1910 and finally the Dell. All because I was trying to keep my costs down and I was convincing myself I would only be using it for basic PIM functions. Finally I ordered the Dell and haven't been happier. I now know what it is capable of and I won't feel like I have limited options in the near future. I tend to try to settle for less in the beginning but I am very happy with my 400.

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---MissC---

buster

Thank you all for your input;

Well, I went with the 400 due to the comments of a possible upgrade to the 2002 PPC system and having enough memory to run a updated version such as PPC 2003, if and when it comes out. With all operating systems updates and changes are going to happen and I would rather hedge my bet. Not to mention I may want to add a program or two if I get real daring.......

Ordered today along with the travel sync cable, leather case and stylus pack. Ordered via phone as I heard that is a faster way to go, time out to shipping was quoted as 12 days. While on the call I could not pass up ordering a 2350 desktop at $499.00 with a $100.00 rebate and free shipping. Added in a 40 gig hard-drive for an additional $30.00, promo included a second cd/rw and 256 k upgrade, all that for $429.00; not bad. Since I already have a 17 inch LCD monitor the no monitor included was not an issue and made the price tooooo tempting.

Now I can have another desktop, to replace our old one we sent the kids and to keep the wife from complaining when I travel with my laptop and she has no access to email............... Well worth the price!!!!!!

When I receive the axim you may well here from me as my knowledge of tech is quite low and I would become frustrated fast if I run into problems setting and sync-ing this thing. From the other posts it appears easy enough and with running MS office XP Pro I believe I have the supporting programs. I hope it is as easy as plug and play, input my schedule, contacts etc., and go........

I have seen some other posts on screen protectors which I will order but would like a hardcase, leather flip style or aluminum if any are available?

__________________
As they say in Alaska: If you are not the lead sled dog; the view is always the same.

Axim X5 400, SimpleTech 128SD, 256CF, Dazzle 8-1 Reader

Keith

I ripped the movie "The Patriot" from DVD into a a 258MB data file (used the pocketmatrix web site link referred to on this site -worked great!!!) useable on the Axim.

Because my Axim is new (I have no additional memory over the 64MB that came with my 400MHz unit), I could only load the first 20 minutes or so of the movie to my Axim (just as a trial). Now, I'm sure that I could've down better with my "ripping" process in reducing the file size. I've read that some people can get a movie to about a "Meg" a minute with good quality. The Patriot is a long movie, but I think I got it down to 1.5 Meg per minute or so.

My Axim running at 200Mhz drops about 11% of the frames of the movie, while running at 400Mhz it drops about 2% of the frames. I would imagine that the 300Mhz (by linear interpolation) would be halfway between these values by dropping about 6-7% of the frames.

If you value watching movies on your Pocket PC, then the 400Mhz unit is the way to go.

Note that I'm not an expert at "ripping" DVDs, I only wanted to do it to say I had done it, although I will probably use the process in the future.

For the extra $100 you get 100Mhz extra MHz when you might need it, 32 Mb more of RAM, 12 Mb more of ROM, and the cradle which I think is valued at $30.

I'd spend the extra $100 (and I did), although my friend liked the idea of getting into a pretty darn good Pocket PC for less than $200. He probably wouldn't have bought otherwise.

I think it depends on your intended useage and both units (300 MHz and 400MHz units) seem a good value.

Hope that helps a little.

KC

pcbogert

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike C@Jan 19 2003, 09:01 AM PS ... One thing that surprised me when I got my Axim (Christmas eve) was that the OS pretty much ignores all added memory as a usable resource. It has to stay within that 32 meg ram area (64 in my case). This will limit what you can do when transferring files w/ AS. Your biggest helper will be a program like MightySync, which will supposedly allow you to sync files on SD and CF cards. I'm finding that even a 400 user may need this.

Mike - could you explain what you mean here? Is the extra memory just for storage?

Home Skillet

I was going to buy the 300 but I'm glad I saved more for the 400. I decided that memory would be tight so I might as well get more upfront to have a more stable system.

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duality169

Quick question on this issue. I just received an axim 300mhz as a present. I am thrilled to fire this thing up as I was quite close to ordering one myself. I guess I have two questions, first is it a forgone conclusion that an updated OS will go over 32mb and second how long do you have to exchange the axim. I believe its 30 days, I'm assuming that starts from the delivery date which unfortunately doesn't give me to much time as there was obviously a delay between me receiving it and the delivery. Either way I think this is an exciting product and can't wait to start using it. Thanks for your help.

VNgo

I'm going with the 300 model, as I tend to just run them into the ground and then buy a new one anyway.

HackMeNot

Quote:

Originally posted by VNgo@Jan 29 2003, 05:45 PM I'm going with the 300 model, as I tend to just run them into the ground and then buy a new one anyway.

I am going with the 300 also. I have been through 3 Palm OS devices and 1 PPC in the year 2002. I just read that Intel has shipped protoypes of its upgraded processor, the Xscale PXA250 C1 which is equipped with double the bus speed from the currently used chips. The article can be found on brighthand.com.

Here is a quote of the first paragraph:

" Intel has announced that it is close to releasing a new version of the XScale PXA250 processor that is at the heart of many handhelds. Though the clock speeds of the chips won't be higher than current chips, an increase in the bus speed should provide users with a noticeable speed increase. In addition, these chips should use less battery power."

After reading through the whole article I guess it's safe to assume a few new PPC's will be released with this upgraded Intel chip by June or July.

So for the moment I think I'll pass my time with a 300 and toy with it a lil, maybe even overclock it if I need extra speed.

One last note, I have read on other forums rumors of 600mhz devices to hit our markets here in the USA by the end of the year.

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HP 548, Sony T615, Sony NR70V, Toshiba E740, Handspring Treo 300, Dell Axim X5 400