For many small and large businesses equipping your staff
or workers with the right business tool does present a
small dilemma: should you go with a PDA or a Laptop?
Examining the features and benefits of both these technical
marvels will help you or your company make the right decision.

First, you probably already know PDA stands for "Personal
Digital Assistant" and are handheld computers. Popular PDA
brand names include PalmOne, Tungsten and BlackBerry.
Although these devices are small and fit in the palm of
your hand, they can perform a whole range of functions
including calculator, clock, calendar, web browser, send and
receive e-mails, typewriter, word processor, video camera
and even GPS (Global Positioning System).

Newer models now come with color screens and can also be used
as a mobile or cell phone. Apple has recently introduced
the iPhone which will offer many of the above features
accessible via a touchscreen. It will have an OS X system
and many advanced features that will revolutionize the PDA
market. According to Apple the iPhone will be available in
Mid-2007.

PDAs are convenient, multi-functional and very easy to
carry around. They are great business tools for working
in the field or on the factory floor. A virtual office in
the palm of your hand. Many professionals become "addicted"
to their PDAs and couldn't imagine work or life without a
PalmOne or a Blackberry!

However, while the small size of the PDA is its main
advantage, it also presents a major stumbling block.
In an ageing workforce or for those "digitally challenged",
using or manipulating those small buttons or touchscreens
can be a problem. Many people find using such small devices
and small screens somewhat troublesome to say the least.

Everything is at your fingertips but it feels like Lilliput
or Land Of The Giants revisited. Dialing numbers on a small
touchscreen can be a hit or miss situation. Organizing a
company spreadsheet on a minute 2 inch screen is a gigantic
task (pardon the pun). PDAs are just too small for some workers.
While not exactly its Achilles heel, it is something every
manager or boss must consider.

Thus we come the next business tool that should be on your
list: the business laptop. Basically, a laptop will give you
most of the functions of a PDA in a larger package. And if
your laptop comes with a VOIP phone just about all the
functions can be preformed on a laptop instead of a PDA.

A laptop will give you a much larger screen for all those
spreadsheets and diagrams, not to mention any video
presentation will go over better on a laptop. Laptops
usually come with more robust options and a larger storage
space than PDAs. A regular size keyboard on a laptop will
make word processing, typing and sending e-mails much,
much easier. It is something you must consider.

With the recent developments of the Intel Duo core
processors and the new Windows Vista operating system,
laptops are becoming more powerful and more lightweight.
Laptop batteries can now last the full business day or until
the next re-charging without any interruption in function
or service.

A laptop offers all this convenience in a larger package
and makes for an excellent business tool for any company
or home office. Laptops are usually more expensive than
PDAs but this price gap is narrowing as laptop prices
have fallen dramatically in the last couple of years.

What you really have to ask: "Does size matter to you?"

If you or your workers can easily use the small touchscreens
and buttons on a PDA than that may be your business tool of
choice. However, if these small screens present a problem,
then a lightweight laptop should be considered as your next
choice.

Of course, companies with unlimited resources can equip
their workers with both a PDA and a Laptop; making
the whole argument rather moot. However, most of
us are not coming from this vantage point so you
should let size be your deciding factor. This is one
case where size comes before form or function in
determining your business tool of choice.


...

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous niche
websites, including one on business marketing tools. For the latest
and most effective web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
For the latest PDAs and Cell Phones go here:Free Cell Phone
Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.