Dedicated vs. PDA

[DMT]

Hi, I was hoping someone could help me decide between buying dedicated handheld chess computer or a low end PDA and chess software for it.

I am interested in buying this for my son. Right now he isn't very good (he's young) but I want something he can grow into, so I want it to be decently strong. More importantly is fast. We have a table top chess computer right now and he never plays it anymore because at the level where it is a challenge for him it moves too slowly and he gets too bored waiting around.

I've been looking at the high end dedicated handhelds, like the now obsolete Excalibur Talking Chess Deluxe (I was thinking about looking at the new one when it comes out next month) and the Novag Star Ruby.

But I realized I'm getting up in the price class where I might just be better off buying something like a Palm Z22 with HIARCS on it.

So, aside form the obvious extra features I get with a PDA, if we pretend I will ONLY use it for chess, what are the pros/cons for one vs. the other?

For example, I haven't seen a Z22 up close and personal ... how would the graphics on the Z22 compare to the excalibur deluxe? What would be one model up from the Z22 in terms of graphics, but still not too big a price jump?

What about features?

And also important would be battery life and how fast it plays?

Anyone have good tips and advice for me?

Thanks!

[mclane]

hi .

i have the zire 21 (black and white) and the zire31 (color and with light)
and several dedicated chess computers.

of course the palms are cheap and small.
also you can connect them with the pc. they run with 125 mhz or even 192 mhz and you can even overclock them. you can run hiarcs, genius and chesstiger.
and even you can run freeware chess programs with fruit e.g. and other strong engines.

on the other hand you don't have a realistic 3D chess board.

there are 2 dedicated units that are very cool :

the mephisto milano (~50euro at ebay)


and the star diamond (stronger and more complex with connection to PC)

[Cubeman]

I use to be a dedicated fan but now have switched to the PDA as the best portable chess playing and analysis.I have chosen the Pocket PC way to go mainly because there is much more software and better hardware and user replaceable batteries compared to Palm.I have 1000's of test positions loaded on to my PPC such as mate in 1,mate in 2, winning combinations and sacrifices etc these are all in PGN files and use PocketGrandMaster to read these files.There is a good website where you can download these PGN files http://loiodice.com/chess/ and you can use whatever engine you wish to find the winning moves as most are strong enough to show the winning continuation after a few seconds thinking.The best PPC that I have used so far is an iPAQ hx2790 624mhz.Be careful not to get a too old PPC ie one that uses PPC 2002 or less as I found these to be extremly slow and crashed alot if too many applications were run at the sametime.

[Cubeman]

Also depending on your budget the best screen is a VGA PPC and the biggest is that I know of is the iPAQ hx4700 but Dell also make the Axim 51V which has a VGA screen but slightly smaller.

[DMT]

Thanks. Cost is an issue, so I can only really look at low end PDA's.

What is the actual resolution and screen size of the excalibur deluxe and the star ruby for comparison?

[Cubeman]

I don't know much about the Star Ruby but understand that the graphics are poor in comparison to even a low level PDA.If look at the Ebay auctions you will be surprised how cheap even good quality PDA go for.I live in New Zealand and have picked up top end PDA's which cost new about $600US for $200US.

[Steve B]

only Two Thor?

Surely there must be some others that are also good?

Regards
Steve

[DMT]

But I'm not interested in table top, only handhelds (so not Phantoms).

[mclane]

of course. but these are IMO the best for the money.

the milano, cheap but strongest ed schroeder program that is available in 8 bit. many nice features. laptop design.

star diamond comes with a nice bag. and it very very strong.

and it has the PC connection for free with it.

[mclane]

the milano comes with a nice laptop design. you can close the machine and play with some tiny piece sets .
i would say for the money the milano offers the most ELO.

the star diamond is IMO the most attractive in his class.
strong. many features. and nice bag.

if they are both too big for you. take a palm. the pocket pcs are IMO to expensive.