Ipod touch?

[AntiFreze]

Hello,

I am looking for a gift for my father for Christmas. I know he is interested in a device that can store audio, pictures, and video. He would also like to be able to pick up on local wifi to surf the net on this.

At this point, I thought aha! Ipod touch, then he says this...

I want a lot of room on the device (8gb may not be enough), I would also like to be able to use MS office/other suite to edit excel, word, etc files. (for college work - which he does in his free time).

I then thought a laptop, but he doesnt want to lug around something that big. I then thought about a smartphone - but he does not want to pay a monthly fee for service.

Anyone have an idea that would meet these (many) requirement? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[AntiFreze]

I have been looking around, and I did find an ultra mobile PC at newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834131006 but that is kind of pricey for me.

Are there any PDAs that would fit the bill (of features and price)?

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Asus makes a very ultra portable laptop for $400. But if 8 gigs wont be enough you might be SOL. I can't think of anything off the top of my head because most devices of that size that do what you want have SSD drives which don't come very big, 16gigs at the max (iPod Touch) without getting really pricey.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
Asus makes a very ultra portable laptop for $400. But if 8 gigs wont be enough you might be SOL. I can't think of anything off the top of my head because most devices of that size that do what you want have SSD drives which don't come very big, 16gigs at the max (iPod Touch) without getting really pricey.

I'd have to agree with the Asus Eee PC. You could always get him a smallish external HDD if he needs more room.

 

[jdoggg12]

I've heard the ee pc is really not worth it considering you could get a decent 'real' laptop thats 2-3x more powerful for only $100ish more

 

[alfa147x]

My sister enjoys her touch she has all her soaps on it with a ton of songs
I am a student and i have a smartphone but I HATE using any office app on my phone plus

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: jdoggg12
I've heard the ee pc is really not worth it considering you could get a decent 'real' laptop thats 2-3x more powerful for only $100ish more

The main perk with the Eee PC is its size. For $400, the laptops you will get are usually 14" or 15.4" and clunky. The Eee is super *small*. I hate carrying around my 15.4" laptop around, even to class in a backpack.

 

[AntiFreze]

great suggestion with the Eee! I have been looking at it, and it might be a viable choice. I also read that the ipod touch can view google docs *not edit* (yet). so maybe that will work.

also looking into a HP pda for $400, since that will do all of that, and has an SD + CF slot for a possible 16gb + internal.

i'll keep looking- thanks again!

 

[imnot]

I second the Eee PC.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Newegg has the EEE pc for $350 I just saw last night, so it's a bit cheaper. Plus it uses Linux I believe so all the Office are free of charge along with most software for linux.

Also they have little tiny external HD's that plug in and get powered from the USB slot so that might be an option for the tiny PC.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

You could tell him that a device that meets his exact needs doesn't exist yet. a 16GB ipod touch is the best option. jailbreak it and you can install all sorts of apps for editing word files or excel files. A lot of people for some reason like to have their entire collection of crap on their media player, but to me, digging through 160GBs of crap is just to much work, as is categorizing all of it on a PC. I just like to grab some tunes or a tv show or 2 and drop it on and go.

 

[QueBert]

another vote for a 16 gig Touch + Jailbreak, didn't know you could edit Word and Excel files, I gotta look into the new 3rd party apps. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but the Touch is freaking sweet, especially when you Jailbreak it.

 

[LtPage1]

Get the Touch- you don't get any extra capacity with the EEE, and I'd rather have the pocket-sized player (with better battery life).