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- Visor & Deluxe (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)
-- Visor Deluxe vs Palm IIIx (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=669)

I am a student in high school and was looking at buying a PDA. I have narrowed it down to 2 possible choices. The Visor Deluxe or the 3Com Palm IIIx. I do like the 8 megs of RAM in the visor and the springboard feature. However, the Palm IIIx supposedly has better support, I can buy one for about $50 less from an online retailer, have heard from some that is built better, and it has **VERY IMPORTANT** a flash rom on which the OS is stored, allowing for upgrades (which the Visor does not). I am having a very hard time deciding between the two, so I am wondering which one is bettter. Thanks for your imput.

I have been using a 1meg palm pro since I-don't-know-when until I got my VDx. I never really missed running a 3.x OS. I think the advantages of the Visor, like 8megs, Springboard, better buttons, faster OS, outweigh the disadvantage of no upgradeable rom. And I wonder, if we come to rely on the Springboard, the rom will play less of a part there.

Adding on to my message and walt's:
Wouldn't the OS be the same (it is still Palm OS 3.1, right?) and isn't the case (including the buttons) the same? Just wondering. Furthermore, upgrading the OS using a springboard would mean leaving the springboard module in the port (non-flash ROM can me overrided, but not overritten) in wihc case the port would be used up and then you couldn't add in any more modules, right?

[This message has been edited by CompuPika (edited 11-28-1999).]

CompuPika,
IMHO, the flash ROM is a non issue. A PDA is a $200-300 hardware platform. Compared to a corporate computer costing in the thousands, a PDA is cheap to replace. Also a new OS generally needs new hardware to take advantage of the new features. One of the most hyped new feature in the next Palm OS is color. What good is a Palm III with flash ROM in this case? You will be better off buying the next Palm or Visor, which will also sport a faster CPU and perhaps better battery technology.

The Visor offers many advantages over a Palm III, which Walt outlined very well. Even for the extra $50, I recommend the Visor.

The buttons on the visr are like radio buttons with a very satisfying click, unlike the Palm's mushy and you-dont-know-when-you-clicked-them type of buttons. It is a very good feature the visor has.

The Visor is running a special, "custom" version of 3.1...someone told me it's called 3.1h (?). 3.3 on a Visor would be a useless upgrade (actually...it'd render the Springboard and USB useless AFAIK).

Anyway...any OS upgrade after 3.3 would probably be for color machines...and that'd be limited by your mono hardware in either unit (though the color OS might have mono support).

The flash upgrade wouldn't be a consideration when comparing the two in my opinion. These units are so cheap and technology is moving so fast, by the time changes in the OS were so great that an upgrade would be neccesary to "survive", the latest hardware would be so far beyond what you'd be holding in your hand you'd probably want (or need) to give the old unit to your cousin and buy new. That's my plan at least...

In the 2 years that I've used a Pilot Pro and then a 2MB upgrade card, there has only been one (yes, one whole one) flashrom upgrade from 3COM. And that was only recently because the Visor was coming out at that time using a similar code-optimized OS (read: faster performing). True, there were 2 or 3 minor patches along the way, but they are installed in the RAM anyway. So, IMHO, the lack of a flashrom isn't that important. Not even close to being as important as having lots of memory (for those databases, apps, e-books, bibles, etc) and the expandablity of the Springboard port.

Think about it this way: when was the last time you thought you needed to upgrade your desktop computer's flashrom, as opposed to getting more memory and a larger hard-drive?

Just my $0.02...

Due to all the comments, I have decided that it would be best to go with the Visor rather than the Palm IIIx. Even though it doesn't have a flash-ROM I don't think that I will need to update the OS anyway (especially since the next version will probably be a color-support version). I thank everybody who helped make up my mind.