PDAs Vs Laptops For Your Business Tool Of Choice

Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins

For many small and large businesses equipping your staff or
workers with the right business tool does present a small
dilemma: should you go with a PDA or a Laptop? Examining
the features and benefits of both these technical marvels
will help you or your company make the right decision.

First, you probably already know PDA stands for "Personal
Digital Assistant" and are handheld computers. Popular PDA
brand names include PalmOne, Tungsten and Blackberry.
Although these devices are small and fit in the palm of
your hand, they can perform a whole range of functions
including calculator, clock, calendar, web browser, send
and receive e-mails, typewriter, word processor, video
camera and even GPS (Global Positioning System).

Newer models now come with color screens and can also be
used as a mobile or cell phone. Apple has recently
introduced the iPhone which will offer many of the above
features accessible via a touchscreen. It will have an OS X
system and many advanced features that will revolutionize
the PDA market. According to Apple the iPhone will be
available in Mid-2007.

PDAs are convenient, multi-functional and very easy to
carry around. They are great business tools for working in
the field or on the factory floor. A virtual office in the
palm of your hand. Many professionals become "addicted" to
their PDAs and couldn't imagine work or life without a
PalmOne or a Blackberry!

However, while the small size of the PDA is its main
advantage, it also presents a major stumbling block. In an
ageing workforce or for those "digitally challenged", using
or manipulating those small buttons or touchscreens can be
a problem. Many people find using such small devices and
small screens somewhat troublesome to say the least.

Everything is at your fingertips but it feels like Lilliput
or Land Of The Giants revisited. Dialing numbers on a small
touchscreen can be a hit or miss situation. Organizing a
company spreadsheet on a minute 2 inch screen is a gigantic
task (pardon the pun). PDAs are just too small for some
workers. While not exactly its Achilles heel, it is
something every manager or boss must consider.

Thus we come the next business tool that should be on your
list: the business laptop. Basically, a laptop will give
you most of the functions of a PDA in a larger package. And
if your laptop comes with a VOIP phone just about all the
functions can be preformed on a laptop instead of a PDA.

A laptop will give you a much larger screen for all those
spreadsheets and diagrams, not to mention any video
presentation will go over better on a laptop. Laptops
usually come with more robust options and a larger storage
space than PDAs. A regular size keyboard on a laptop will
make word processing, typing and sending e-mails much, much
easier. It is something you must consider.

With the recent developments of the Intel Duo core
processors and the new Windows Vista operating system,
laptops are becoming more powerful and more lightweight.
Laptop batteries can now last the full business day or
until the next re-charging without any interruption in
function or service.

A laptop offers all this convenience in a larger package
and makes for an excellent business tool for any company or
home office. Laptops are usually more expensive than PDAs
but this price gap is narrowing as laptop prices have
fallen dramatically in the last couple of years.

What you really have to ask: "Does size matter to you?"

If you or your workers can easily use the small
touchscreens and buttons on a PDA than that may be your
business tool of choice. However, if these small screens
present a problem, then a lightweight laptop should be
considered as your next choice.

Of course, companies with unlimited resources can equip
their workers with both a PDA and a Laptop; making the
whole argument rather moot. However, most of us are not
coming from this vantage point so you should let size be
your deciding factor. This is one case where size comes
before form or function in determining your business tool
of choice.

----------------------------------------------------
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
niche websites, including one on business marketing tools.
For the latest and most effective web marketing tools try:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com
For the latest PDAs and Cell Phones go here:
http://bizwaremagic.com/Free_Cell_Phone.htm
2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.