Need to decide on a low power portable PC

[Cascaderanger]

What I need is to word process about 2-3 hrs a day; and light duty email, but able to attach files & photos. I will have no AC power where I'm at this summer, only a couple of car batteries and maybe a 10W solar panel.

I need to keep power consumption down. I have the gear to log on for very short periods to email, but other than short connection periods must conserve power as the batteries will power my lights, charge my cell phone, etc.

relatively trouble-free syncing with Windows XP a plus.

Any reccomendations? Things to avoid?

 

[Ipno]

I can't tell you what to get, but I can advise you to avoid Dell's Axim. My wife had one and had no end of trouble with it before we shipped it back to Dell. With the Bluetooth on (so she could use her keyboard) it lasted maybe 2.5 hours on a full charge.

She was thinking about an alphasmart, but that won't do photos for you... I hear iPaqs have better battery life.

 

[GrammatonJP]

panasonic toughbook w4 ? 3 pounds ? 5 hour battery and wifi + dvd built in

 

[dwcal]

If you can live with the small screen, a PocketPC will pwn the laptop on power consumption. I'm pretty good with a thumb keyboard, and you can buy a fold-up full size keyboard that's as good as a laptop. I have one with Windows Mobile 2003, and the email program built in can attach files no problem.

 

[OSX]

iBook G4. WinXP compatability. About 6 Hours battery life, tested by me. Just turn on Windows Sharing under Sharing prefrences, and you're good to go.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: OSX
iBook G4. WinXP compatability. About 6 Hours battery life, tested by me. Just turn on Windows Sharing under Sharing prefrences, and you're good to go.

Yeah, because we can all expect objective advice from a guy named OSX recommending an iBook.

Anyway, the iBook G4 is more like 5 hours with the screen turned all the way down. A ULV Pentium M will beat anything by Apple as far as power consumption, without even considering the fact you can tweak your battery life with software that adjusts your CPU voltage and speed.

We're talking about actual power useage here, not battery life. No matter how long the battery lasts, the important part is how much it will take to recharge the battery. For example:

iBook G4 = 5 hours on a 50WHr battery
ThinkPad X40 1.2 ULV = 3.5 hours on a 33WHr battery
ThinkPad X60 duo = 8 hours on a 65WHr battery
Latitude X1 1.1 ULV = 3 hours on a 25WHr battery

Not quite sure if that's all exactly correct, but all the 12.1" ULV Centrinos tend to do a little better than the iBook. Something like the 10.6" LifeBooks are going to have even lower power consumption.

I would definitely look at the LifeBook P. Those are supposed to get 7.5 hours on a 56WHr battery.

Seriously, you need to quantify exactly how much power you'll be able to use. You have two car batteries and maybe a 10W solar panel... but obviously car batteries don't recharge themselves. What's the story?

I suppose you'll just have to decide whether the most important thing is having a decent computer (and going with something like the LifeBook) or having the absolute minimum power requirements (and going with something like a Palm).