Low-power laptops?

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Reviews of laptops tell battery life, but a long life could be due to big batteries. I'm interested in finding an inexpensive laptop that doesn't take much power, so I can easily recharge it. I don't need the latest and greatest, and in fact can do without color--color active matrix eats power I think. I do want something I can run my Windows software on, so I can do some programming. It would be nice to hook up something to my ham for packet radio, for one thing. I might consider a hand-held device if I had a way to program it--but not like the Palm Pilot, which runs for weeks but needs a separate machine to write programs.

This is not a real high priority for me, there's a lot of other stuff I need first, but I'd be interested in hearing any ideas.

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), March 16, 1999

Answers

Maybe a Windows/CE machine? There is a SDK for CE, but not sure if it runs on the CE machine or it's big brother. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 16, 1999.

Windows CE?? (aka "Wince" for a reason).

I guarantee you'll be disappointed with Win CE. It's not very good at all.

As for laptops, I suggest getting a laptop that meets your requirements, and have 3 batteries & a solar charger. Usually takes a day or two to recharge with good sun.

Obviously, you'll need to curtail your use quite a bit.

Jolly has 2 laptops.

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), March 16, 1999.


Hi Jolly. Yea, it is pretty lite weight, but he did mention a hand held maybe... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 16, 1999.

A couple of years back there were some very simple A4-sized word processors on the market. They ran on 4 AA cells (6v DC), and had a lcd screen 80 characters wide and maybe 5 lines deep. The one I bought, made by Casio, had a parallel port to go to a printer, and a 9-pin serial port. It can be switched to Telecomms mode, which makes it act as a dumb terminal. The only problem is that I cannot get back text once it has scrolled off the 5 or 6 line deep screen; but I consider it could be really useful if it becomes a case of batteries (very low power) or nothing, for an emergency packet radio setup. Couple this with a small 2-metre handheld and a low power TNC, and this could be the way to go. You should be able to pick up one of these word processors very cheaply.

-- David Harvey (vk2dmh@hotmail.com), March 17, 1999.

Sorry. My mistake. The wordproc was made by Citizen.

-- David Harvey (vk2dmh@hotmail.com), March 17, 1999.


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