Why buy anything but a Dell Axim?

[num1bearsfan]

As far as i can tell, Dell Axims seem to run up to %50 cheaper than any HP or Compaq equivilant. Take the Dell Axim x50 for example. $350 after tax and everything. 520Mhz processor, CF AND SD slots, Wifi, Bluetooth, 64 megs of ram, 128 megs of built in flash memory, pocket PC 2003, voice recording, pretty much every possible little feature a PDA can have. Its a high end PDA, easily a $500 PDA if it were a Toshiba or somehting.. so,... I dont get it..

please by all means, set me straight, I just want to understand..

[AnswerDude]

You are correct that Dell Axim provides great value and they are cheaper than comparable models of other brands. And most people will certainly be happy with it. However, there are some iPAQ models that have features that Axim do not have (yes, with higher prices than axim). There are people who are less sensitive to prices and need these certain features such as bigger 4" screen of iPAQ hx4700 or 128 MB of ram , fastest cpu, biometric security of iPAQ hx2750. Others may need combination of phone and pocketpc of imate pda2k.

[num1bearsfan]

Well, of the examples you gave, only the 128 megs of ram is a good enough reason to me, since any clock speed 400Mhz and up on a pda will do the job just fine, and any increase will probably not even be noticable. But even then, im betting that its not very cost effective.. What pocket PC aplications require more than 64 megs of ram? and to have a model with 128 megs of ram as well as all of the other features you would get on an Axim X50, what does that run $599? an additional $300 for an extra 64 megs or ram you wont really need..

Im still convinced there is no good reason to buy anything but a Dell Axim..

[AnswerDude]

Again, i agree with you that Axim is a good value, and i've been recommending axim for users here who are price conscious. But you asked why people buy other brands and obviously they are still buying other brands. For a lot of users, price alone is not the only factor. I've known of individuals who will purchase the latest top of the line iPAQ when it comes out regardless of the price just because. There are many users on both sides that will argue all day long that hx4700 screen is better than axim x50v and vice versa. Coporate users are also less sensitive to price, the security hardware and software combination in 2700 can be very attractive to them. There are also many consumers who will not buy electornic stuffs online (however irrational it maybe), they need to see it, touch it and talk to actual sale person. Which will make them reluctant to dell.
As for your question about ram, 64 mb can be a little tight in some situation especially if you are using bluetoth and/or wifi. After the OS itself which can take close to 20 mb of ram, a few installed applications and a few programs/drivers in memory, there are times when 64MB of ram is just not adequate.

[brianinca]

Dell did a Microsoft with the Axim - the first ones out were nothing special, they kept refining them, and now they are the class leaders as well as price leaders. HP blew it dropping the sleeve concept, and their lack of responsiveness to the community (in total contrast to Dell) is only part of their problem.

I have used an iPaq 3955 for the last three years, and still think it's the best general purpose PDA ever made. It's ergonomically better than any new HP or non-HP out there and is still my preferred daily driver. I support users with Toshibas, HP's, and Dells, and have an Asus 730 myself - the 39xx series is still my preferred platform.

The Axim is perfect for business use, and Dell is aggressive about bundling with notebooks & desktops. I can't see anyone buying an HP for 50% more money and zero additional functionality. Storage is cheap when Gig SD cards are $75, the users with Axims are happier than any of the others.

Hope HP can pull it together, but they waited to long to dump Carly.

Brian in CA