I am a huge supporter of traveling fully loaded, digitally speaking. GPS, PDAs, worldphones, digital camera, the whole nine yards. My trips wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun without all my gadgets. There are a whole lot of reasons for that, but the main one is that if I am properly kitted out, I can focus on having fun, and not worry about getting lost, or not being able to find my way back to the hotel, or having to sit around waiting to hook up with people. To this end, one of the things I had really almost sold myself on, was one of these mini-notebooks like the eeePC or the HP Mini. They promise to give you all the power of a notebook, anywhere you want it, at any time. The idea of being able to run my financial software, Google Earth, Photoshop, and any other app I might want, anywhere I find myself, is an enticing prospect. I had very nearly convinced myself that was all I would need in my camera bag, except of course for the camera gear.
The problems with this theory, of course, turn up the minute I start getting everything ready for my next trip. I suddenly realize, a notebook can’t stay on all day, because it doesn’t have anywhere near enough battery power. That means you have to put it to sleep when you aren’t using it. If it is asleep, it can’t do anything, like track your GPS so that you can see where you went over the day, or geotag your photos (if that is what you are into). If it is asleep, it can’t give you turn-by-turn directions to your destination as you bike through Tokyo. If it is asleep, it can’t let you know when you have an email. Furthermore, it isn’t exactly something you can just whip out and take a quick look at while you are walking down the street, or biking down an alley. You have to stop, get it out, open it, and wake it up. That means it also isn’t very useful for whipping out in a store, and checking the exchange rate, or seeing how much money you have left after all that shopping. In short, it isn’t good for half the things I want from a portable travel gadget.
So, suck as it is, it puts me right back into the world of PDAs. They are always-on, get the better part of a heavy day of usage on a charge, and can do things even while asleep. I hate Windows Mobile with a passion, but it does 80% of what I want, and it just doesn’t look like there is anything that is going to be able to do even that, much less make up that last 20%. So, I guess as much as I lust after the various UMPCs, Tablet PCs, sub-notebooks and such, it is till really not a replacement for the good old PDA. Now to shop for a good PDA.