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Clie PEG-UX50
Color 104MB PDA
As low as  
There's no more hectic time of the year than holiday time. With gift-giving to keep track of, holiday parties to attend, and kids to shuttle around, it's easy to become lost.

So for that person on your gift list who has too few hours in the day to accomplish all that needs to be done, but a personal digital assistant (PDA). It'll keep them on-track and well-organized. Come to think of it, you might want to buy one for yourself just to get through the holiday season.

Here's how to get the best PDA at the best price.

Start off with the most basic of decisions - what operating system do you want? You have a choice of two, Microsoft's PocketPC operating system, or else the Palm. Debating the pros and cons of each is like discussing religion, but generally the Palm is a simpler-to-use, stripped-down operating system that is ideal for keeping yourself organized, while the PocketPC is a bit messier, but offers better integration with Microsoft Office documents.

PriceGrabber users favor Palms, although several PocketPC-based PDAs are among their favorites as well. The top-selling PDA is the Tungsten T3 64MB PDA which offers a screen that can easily display data vertically or horizontally on its screen that slides open to provide 50% more viewing area. The second-best seller is the less-expensive Tungsten E Color 32MB PDA. Users also like the PocketPC-based iPAQ h2215 Color 64MB Pocket PC, in fourth place. No matter what you buy, make sure the screen is color, backlit and has at least 65,536 colors (16-bit). All the top sellers come in with those specs as a minimum - which is one of the reasons that they're top sellers.

Installed memory is important, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. You'll find that Palm-based devices sometimes ship with much less memory than their PocketPC counterparts - but the Palm operating system takes up much less memory than the PocketPC operating system. You'll tend to pay more for devices with a lot of memory. The Zire 71 Color PDA for the Palm comes with 16MB and sells for as low as $218, while the Tungsten T3 64MB PDA goes for as low as $338. Also check what kind of memory expansion slots the PDA has. The Sony Clie PEG-SJ33, for example, uses the Sony Memory Stick standard for adding memory, and so it's easy to add more when you want.

Extras often make all the difference with PDAs. The Hewlett-Packard iPAQ H2210, for example comes with an integrated MP3 player as well as Bluetooth wireless capability. And the Clie PEG-UX50 Color 104MB PDA is stuffed with about every extra you can imagine, with a built-in camera, MP3 player, Bluetooth capability and built-in WiFi wireless networking.

There are a lot of PDAs to choose from on PriceGrabber, so use my advice and check out the PDA area to find for the best one for you.

Highlighted Product

Clie PEG-UX50 Color 104MB PDA If you want a PDA packed with every conceivable extra, here's what you want. With WiFi networking, Bluetooth capability, a whopping 104MB of RAM, an integrated MP3 player, a mini-keyboard, Palm operating system, and Sony memory stick capability, it's got everything you could ever need in a PDA.

Bonus: Free Software

There's plenty of free software available for your PDA, whether you buy a Palm-based unit, or a PocketPC. Palm-owning game lovers will want the free arcade-like Lemmings game. Albums to Go is a great free graphics tool for Palm owners that lets you display digital photos and transfer them to others. If you have a PocketPC, you'll want the PocketPC version of one of the best games of all time - Quake. PocketQuake includes a variety of beasts, and weapons that help you dispatch them to kingdom come. The more serious and financial-minded will instead want a copy of the free HandWallet, which tracks time and expenses and lets you do budget planning. It's available for the Palm as well.