Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

I'm new to the world of PDA's. After seaching high and low, the Visor seems like the best choice, but I'm debating whether or not to get the 2MB or the 8MB.

Q1: Is the 8MB worth the extra $$$?

Q2: Will the Springboard thingy - like the MP3 - need the extra 6MB? Or will it work just the same with the 2MB?

I'd LOVE any feedback.

Looking forward to buying my Visor,
ken

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Bronx, NY
Posts: 12

Yes, 8mb is worth the money. 2mb is very, very limited and I'm sure you, like the rest of us, will find app after app that you "must have".

There are very few people who will find the 2mb unit sufficient... for most users, I think it's too limiting.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

go for 8mb. i currently only own a palm III, (sorry, but i am definatly getting a visor, or spring board capable palm when the time is right) an 2 mb is just barely enough, i would have gotten the 8mb if it was out then. the mp3 player has its own memory, first it will only have 32 mb, and thn later in the year will have 64.

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for every sprinkle i find, i shall kill you

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 74

Personally, 2meg is not enough for me. But everyone else that I know that owns a PDA has either a 2meg Palm III or V and has plenty of capacity left. I ran into a friend last week that has had a III for well over a year and he has used 250K.

If you think you might be using your Visor to download web content, read documents, maps, etc, then you should go for the deluxe.

If you are just going to use it as an organizer and add a few games and applications then 2 meg is enough.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

One thing I considered was how long I felt it would be before I was ready to buy the next better/faster/color thing figuring it would be easier to justify handing down the old device to the kids if I didn't have as much in it.

The gadget lover in me won out and I couldn't resist the 8MB. I just hope I get two years out of it now.

I've got 6064K left with Avantgo, an e-book, and a handfull of other apps loaded so I know I could easily live with 2MB if I just used my Visor as an organizer.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: "Children are a gift from God, they are a reward"
Posts: 1049

Good golly I'm a pig.
Currently I have 1.6 MB free on my internal memory and 5.5 MB free on my flash module. If I've got my math right that means I'm currently using 8.9 MB!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Hillsboro, OR, USA
Posts: 64

Do the words "640k is enough for anybody" ring a bell? Get the 8 meg Deluxe version. You'll soon be wishing they offered a 16 meg version.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Thanks everyone. This is really helpful!

I'm hearing a lot of cheers from the 8MB camp. I guess it really does depend on what I'm going to use it for, huh?

Well, any die hard 2MB fans out there?

ken

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Redwood City, CA
Posts: 55

I started with a 486K Palm Pilot Personal and never thought I would fill it up.

Then I bought the 2Mb upgrade kit and I knew I had more than I would ever need.

Now I have an 8Mb Visor Delux. Currently I have 1021K of free memory left.

The more you use your Palm OS hand held, the more you will like it. The more you like it, the more you will want it to do. The more you want it to do, the more memory you will need. It is ultimately your choice, but knowing what I know now, I would go for the 8Mb in a heart beat.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 153

Wait 'til you start:

1) downloading images
2) caching favorite web pages
3) saving too much email and email digests
4) downloading audible books (for MP3 player)
5) and so on

you'll understand why this whole flash memory module exists. In my years of Newton use I found 18-20 MB satisfactory if I did a minimum of housekeeping.

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

you dont download anything for the mp3 player onto the visor memory. it goes onto the on board memory on the mp3 player, which will be either 32 or 64mb

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Beaverton, OR USA
Posts: 87

I bought a 2M Visor standard, and wish I went with the 8M. I can shuffle things around, but 8M would have been a lot nicer!

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Mark N.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

I recieved my first Palm based product, an 8 meg BVD 2 1/2 weeks ago. I had been using a 1 meg Zaurus since 1995. In the last two years I would constantly be dumping stuff so that I could add new stuff.

I currently have ~1600K left out of the 8000K available on my BVD. Thus, after two weeks of use I am close to maxing out the VD and am ordering an additional 8 megs.

Buy the 8 meg VD!

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Mark N. - you're comment has scared me into buying the 8MB!!! No offense, but in 2 months (or even 1 year) I don't want to be wishing I had forked out the extra $100!!!

I'm sure "bregent1" and "dtplink" are right - I'll be sucked into the PDA world before I know it, downloading more than I can even imagine at this point.

Thanks again for all the advice everyone.

ken

PS - There must be a 2MB voice of reason out there somewhere!

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 247

Sorry! I am making a case for 8MB too.

I'm a reviewer for an IT publication in my country and I've tested the Palm V, Palm IIIe SE, Compaq Aero 2100 and 1500, HP Jornada 430se recently.

Anyway, I love the Handspring and I opted to buy the 8MB BVD because I was testing the Palm IIIe (which has 2MB) like the cheaper Visor and I found that I soon ran out of space with just 2MBs.

The biggest culprit is AvantGo - I read a lot of Tech news and download a lot of channels (11 of them to be exact) for offline viewing. However, after 11 channels, I would only have about 21% of my 2MBs left.

So I say go for the 8MB - at least you won't have to think about how much space you have for a long time to come!

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 1

Well, while not a "die-hard 2MB fan" I am a Visor solo (read 2MB) owner.

My purchase decision was primarily due to immediate availiability here in Jamaica - I may be one of the only Visor owners to have bought his or her unit at a retail shop. That being said, I have to admit that 2MB seems to be sufficient for my use: lots of contacts and calendar entries, an Outlook inbox in desparate need of pruning, a few games, and several AvantGo channels. (With about 750K free.)

The future may bring applications that require more, but by that point I'm sure I'll be lusting after another machine anyway.

For you Stateside dwellers the pricing between Solo and Deluxe machines isn't so great. But just for the sake of debate, I must say that 2MB is good for me so far, and having the Springboard socket on the back brings peace of mind - in the form of the 8MB flash card.

Every'ting cris in Jamaica with 2MB...

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 16

After reviewing the posts here as well as in the newsgroups I have canceled my order for the Visor and re-ordered a Visor Deluxe.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 242

Good move, Troy.

2 megs is plenty if literally all you want is an address book, datebook and to do list.BUT then I discovered BDICTY, a set of lexicons. So I have a French-English, English_French dictionary on my Visor. Plus, German, Italian and Spanish. Then I discoverd neat little travel programs, like one that computes the best route on the Paris Metro. And then I discovered Teal Doc, a document reader. And Handango, a web site that has zillions of e-books that can be read with the visor, from Shakespeare to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Arthur Conan Doyle. That took up lots. ANd then there were the cool games like ZAP. And the indispensable utilities like JOT (which lets you use the entire screen for grafitti) and LaunchEM (Which alters your "home page" and gives you lots of additional options on how you display things).

And then....well, who knows what will happen tomorrow!