Portable Word Processors for Writers

Two weeks ago, my trusty QuickPad died. I am not sure what happened to make it suddenly act sick, maybe it had been dropped one too many times. Anyway, my take along wordprocessor died and I was very sad. Luckily, hubby said I should get another. So, off to price QuickPad I went. You can get them through the manufacturer for a mint ($300) or you can shop around at places like eBay. I personally prefer eBay. I priced and searched for all the portables out there.
Let's take a look at a few:

QuickPad

Retail price: $199

Pros: Rugged, long battery life (takes 4 AA batteries), portable size, light weight (1 lb), USB port/infared transfer, 4 line display, PC & Mac compatable, saves 70 pages, calculator & spell check.


QuickPad PRO

Retail price: $299

Pros: Rugged, long battery life (takes 4 AA batteries), portable size, light weight (1.5 lb), 2MB of built in memory, USB port/infared transfer, 16 line display, PC & Mac compatable, Flash card memory expansion, spreadsheet, personal organizer, calculator & spell check.

AlphaSmart Neo

Retail Price $249

Pros: Rugged, long battery life (takes 3 AA batteries), portable size, light weight (2 lb), 2MB of built in memory, USB port/infared transfer, 6 line display, PC & Mac compatable, calculator, spell check, thesarus, find/replace, word count, Spanish-English look up.

AlphaSmart Dana (or Alphasmart Dana Wireless)

Retail Price: $350 / $429 (wireless)

Pros: Rechargable battery pack, AC adapter, Documents to Go software, Palm OS technology, USB/Infared, stylus (onscreen entry), WiFi connectability, Palm Reader, Multimedia card expansion capability, 2 lbs.


So, which did I get? I got the QuickPad Pro off of eBay for about $55.

Why choose a portable word processor? It is easy to carry with you than a laptop, and can take being dropped a few times, unlike the laptop. Perfect with being around little kids (I have 2 five year olds.)

Marianne LaCroix
www.mariannelacroix.com
www.pirateromance.com