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Thread ID: 77672	2007-03-18 06:31:00	Small Portable Notebook?	Winston001 (3612)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
533995	2007-03-18 06:31:00	I posted some months ago asking for thoughts on a portable device for composing email while travelling. My idea was/is to write the data to a pen drive/CDRW and then download it when an internet cafe can be found. pressf1.co.nz So now I'm thinking that a secondhand notebook would do the job. Something small and light. I suppose 802.11b/g would be good too. Looked on Trademe and.......................sheesh, too much information Small and light are the operative words .............and cheep............. So does anyone have any suggestions? Cheers Winston	Winston001 (3612)
533996	2007-03-18 06:35:00	All modern laptops are small, light and cheap, even the large heavy expensive ones. Whats a couple of kg's?	Metla (12)
533997	2007-03-18 06:44:00	Ah yes revered Russian broom, but when you are carrying tools as well for a building project and airlines insist on the miniscule 20kg limit.................. When I went to India, I had 23kg in my suitcase which Malaysian Airlines let pass because of the Habitat project. But I also had 11kg in my carry-on bag. There was on air terminal where they weighed the lot and 27kg total is the limit.......... Fortunately they ignored it but an extra 2kg does matter. Plus its got to be carried around, kept safe etc. If I was only thinking of going to Western countries in the future it wouldn't matter, but now there is a project in Mongolia.........!!! Very tempting.	Winston001 (3612)
533998	2007-03-18 06:56:00	Simple, Take along a man-servent, Spread the load.	Metla (12)
533999	2007-03-18 07:51:00	Maybe you can get a cheap but heavy one and give it a coat of aluminium (aluminum for SJ) paint for lightness? Even go to two coats if necessary.	R2x1 (4628)
534000	2007-03-18 08:18:00	Ah, there's one here (www.theherald.co.za) that should be in the weight and price bracket you are aiming at. Mentioned in paragraph 3, it is a very well known brand, and suitable for any country. It will need a thorough reformat to delete previous records. Owner is very keen to sell.	R2x1 (4628)
534001	2007-03-19 01:33:00	Thanks R2, got an email addy.....................? :) Ok, how about a PDA with USB and ability to load say, Notebook text to a pen drive? That would do it. However so far as I know, PDAs only link to their own software which has to be installed on the connecting PC to read the PDA data. Any thoughts?	Winston001 (3612)
534002	2007-03-19 22:14:00	(snip) Ok, how about a PDA with USB and ability to load say, Notebook text to a pen drive? That would do it . However so far as I know, PDAs only link to their own software which has to be installed on the connecting PC to read the PDA data . Any thoughts? I don't know about that Winston, but with a Palm device (or Treo, which I have) you can certainly compose your notes/emails, and then beam them to another device that has an infrared receiver . I would be surprised if an internet cafe has infrared installed on their PC's but perhaps you could take an infrared receiver with you such as this one: . ascent . co . nz/productspecification . aspx?ItemID=335550" target="_blank">www . ascent . co . nz It would pay to try it out before you buy! Infrared is not bad for printing, because I have done it with several Palm devices . However, I found it was terribly slow for syncronisation . You would need to see whether it is faster to compose your emails on the Palm device, then plug in the infrared receiver, get it working, beam the notes across, then copy and paste them into an email programme; compared with just writing them from scratch in the internet cafe . I am sure you could use someone's Palm to try it out, beaming to a laptop that has infrared already installed . Of course if you took a Treo with roaming enabled, you could possibly send emails that way direct from the PDA, but you may find that to be terribly expensive .	John H (8)
534003	2007-03-19 22:22:00	Another thought - take a PDA with you and a small card reader. Compose your emails on the PDA, save the notes to the PDA's removable card (in the case of a Palm device/Treo, it is an SD card). When you get to an internet cafe, plug the USB card reader into their PC, insert the SD, then read/copy/paste your notes. Probably safer and simpler than the infrared idea. Here is an example - costs are minimal ($22.07 inc GST): www.ascent.co.nz	John H (8)
534004	2007-03-19 22:56:00	Palm with fold out keyb may be ok .. if still avail .. I think with PDA you can get Wifi. I assume other PDAs can get fold out keyboards. Makes typing a lot easier. If you want a laptop. Some are around 1.2kg or lesser (with battery). If they don't have wifi, add your own via PCMCIA. The thin ones has just the HDD no other drives so its lighter, some may sport also a CF card reader which you can use an adaptor and it takes SD as well or other types (I guess). Runs windows 2000 pretty well or XP for a slightly newer one. On trademe I guess max $300-400. I'm still with a P3 600Mhz and still using now, its fine but if you do photo edit it takes a while but if its just JPG its fine or bearable for myself. I think it comes down to how portable you need. If you were backpacking around the world and doing some hiking then I get the PDA but in my experience some essentials, a compact camera tripod and maybe the laptop it can still be within 6kg for cargo hold and the camera on board with you. Or better take the laptop out of bag but you get the idea, it is possible to travel light. However even being so compact getting a PDA can be good if you don't want the fuss of weight, the laptop adaptor isn't exactly small.	Nomad (952)
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