Do I need a laptop?

The_Bullman

At the moment I am thinking of buying a cheap laptop. The main reason I am doing this is because I have some documents(.pdf's, html, .doc's, etc) that I would like to read when I am not at the desktop(in front of the tv, in bed, on the john, wherever)

Is there any other way for me to do read these types of documents? And would a cheapo laptop be more useful than these ways?

Webmonkey

I don't know of any other device that will allow you to read Portable Document Files - PDFs. HTML and DOC yes but i would really advise you get get a laptop. A cheap second hand one should do you no bother

MrPinK

If it's just for reading docs then you should look at a PDA instead of a laptop. I like the Palm pilots myself

Fabre

if it is just for reading +1 for the pda

Fabre

Can palms read pdf and word files?

I would go for a pocket pc they are in same range of price but with much more memory I would personally go for an ipaq H1930 or maybe the toshiba e330 both from komplett.ie

Below a pic of the ipaq h1930

PPC

Yeah i've a iPaq 3850, got it cheap in australia for €200.
Its dead handy, theres the ms reader for *.lit and then you can get pocket acrobat. Also it comes with word and IE so ya can read practically everything else. It'd be handy if it had wlan or bluetooth but unfortuneatly it doesnt
Plus its only the size of a notepad where as a laptop is quiet big compared.

elexes

having both of whats mentioned if all ur going to do is what uve said a tosh e330 would work wonders for ya . but a laptop has a much nicer feel to it . if u can find a decent laptop get it but in some places those pocket pcs can cost the same as a good second hand laptop

Oriel

I'd go for the trusty Psion5 Mx.

Cake Fiend

There's this stuff I use for the very purpose outlined in the first post. It's called paper. You put it in a thing called a printer, which kind of 'writes' the documents onto the paper. Marvellous invention, if only they had this kind of technology for the past few hundred years.

Sorry to be sarky, but I think a lot of techies turn to far too complicated (and expensive) methods sometimes when less hi-tech solutions might do. It'll also save your eyes some strain.
Reminds me of when an accountant wanted to know how to make certain valuable documents safe from hackers. I told him to print them and put them in a safe. You can't hack paper.

MrPinK

Originally posted by Fabre
Can palms read pdf and word files?

There are several viewers that you can d/l. Don't know if they come standard with the lastest palms or not

The_Bullman

Originally posted by Sico
There's this stuff I use for the very purpose outlined in the first post. It's called paper. You put it in a thing called a printer, which kind of 'writes' the documents onto the paper. Marvellous invention, if only they had this kind of technology for the past few hundred years

I have thought of that you know but I really don't wan't to be printing out thousands(yes I said thousands) of pages. Think of the environment and all that

Originally posted by elexes
if u can find a decent laptop get it but in some places those pocket pcs can cost the same as a good second hand laptop

Thats what I noticed elexes. The price of some of those pda's is in and around what I was thinking of spending on a second hand laptop. Of course that means skimping on the spec of the pc, but even then surely it would still have more uses than a pocket pc. I know that I did say that the primary reason that I was thinking of getting a laptop/pda was for reading documents, but wouldn't the laptops flexibility(watching divx's, downloading in college, etc) be more useful?

Of course all this talk about decently priced second hand laptops leads me to ask, anyone know where to get one? I seen one in for sale recently and I am a little concerned that people think that they are worth more than they should be. Especially in comparisson with desktops.

Thanks to the rest of you for the replies too lads. Keep them coming