PC Help Request

A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is also known as a Palm or a Pocket PC. Today, though, there are many more brands and choices than the original Palm. I’m forced to purchase one to fulfill an equipment requirement for my wife, who is headed to nursing school. The number of units out there is pretty big, and companies put out new models all the time, so at the moment I’m pretty confused about which to get. I don’t know much about them yet, but I will outline what I do know in this post.

• Operating System: Palm OS and Windows Mobile (WM) are the choices. Linux hasn’t taken off in the mobile market here in the states. Units can be found with Linux on them, but the drug database will only work on Palm OS or WM.
• SmartPhone: My wife isn’t allowed to have a cell phone in the PDA. That said, if a SmartPhone would work with the phone feature turned off, they might still be an option. It means I could keep it for myself in the future.
• WiFi: Most PDAs have wifi, but it’s a requirement. The drug database needs to be updated daily. Sure, the device can be synchronized with the computer and update that way, but I’d prefer that it be able to update even if she has to spend the night at the hospital.
• SD Card Reader: As I talked about in the PC Purchase Series, an SD card adds a lot of additional storage. The drug database she needs is almost 1GB, so she needs a 1 or 2GB card. Unless she has a…
• Hard Drive: Thanks to the incredible technology in the iPod, hard drive manufacturers have plenty of money to further research very small hard drives. They are now being put into PDAs like the Palm LifeDrive. The LifeDrive is 4GB, which is plenty of space. My only concern about this is that Hard Drives are NOT meant to be banged around. Shaking a spinning hard drive is taunting the data storage gods. Usually, doing so leads to 100% data loss. In reality, shaking a hard drive that is powered on can cause the data reading arm to contact the platters which then damages the surface. Damaged platters = data loss and possible device failure.
• GPS: My wife is HORRIBLE with directions. A GPS enabled PDA would make getting around the city much easier for her. It’s tempting, as long as the price is right.
• Usability: Most important factor. My wife is not a fan of technology. The PDA needs to be as simple to use as possible.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be dragging my wife to places like Best Buy and Office Depot to let her try the models. I also need to ask some Cingular reps if the SmartPhones can be used with the sim card removed. Then, of course, I’ll buy them online where it’s a lot cheaper.