Im looking into the Zaurus. I hear a lot of praise for this model, but I cant see how 16mb leaves you with much to do. I wouldn't fit all my adobe pdf's on that.

Am I missing something?

Regards,

unholy

I own the Zaurus 5500, and it has 32MB ROM and 32MB RAM by default. If you change it over to Open Zaurus it can change the ratio of ram to rom. The other really nice feature is BOTH a CF slot and an SD slot. I have 512MB between the two slots and have a ton of pdfs on it. Not to mention several of my favorite albums, pics of the wife and fam etc. Additionally I have found there is more software, most of it free, for the Z than for the pocket pc or the palm I had before it.

Which model of Zaurus are you considering. I can say from a year with my 5500 that there is no comparison in the pda world, except maybe the new Z.

Thanks Pcghost,

that was very informative. I didn't think there was much of a difference between Zaurus models, but I'm looking for something which looks and functions like the iPaq1940, but doesnt have MS software on it.

I was considering getting a Palm Zire 21. They look great, but only have 16MB ram default.

I think the Zaurus may be out of my financial scope at the moment, but the Zire 21 is only ~$100, so considering all I need it for at the moment is reading pdf's, I might go with it.

But out of curiosity, what Zaurus model would you reccomend for someone looking for something compact (like the iPaq), with a stylus interface. (I assume the zaurus can convert your handwriting to text on screen like the iPaq can?)

Thanks again,

unholy

While it is slightly longer than an ipaq, the 5500 and 5600 are fairly compact, have handwriting recognition, a built in keyboard, and are free from MS software. The other big plus is that now that the 6000 is out, the 5500 has to be pretty cheap. I would strongly recommend a Zaurus over an ipaq for the simple reason that it ships as a Linux pda. No mods required, but if you want to their are several versions of Linux distros that run on them.

Right, I think I'm sold on the zaurus. Can you tell me the main differences between the 5500 and 5600? I'll look into the 6000 myself.

Thanks for your time. I would probably have bought a PDA I wouldn't be happy with otherwise. I appreciate it!

unholy

Pcghost - I have one final question on the Zaurus...when I saw the demo of the iPaq, the guy wrote with his handwriting on the bottom of the screen, and the application('word') typed it as he wrote.

Is this what you mean by handwriting recognition?

Regards,

unholy

That is handwriting recognition. With the Z you have the option of using handwriting recognition, a on-screen keyboard (called a pick-board), or the built-in keyboard.