Buying A New PDA

There's a lot to think about when buying a new PDA: Pocket PC vs. Palm? Smartphone? Internet-enabled? WiFi? Bluetooth? In terms of digital storage, here's a quick guide of what to look for when buying:

Palm devices generally use memory more efficiently than PDAs running Windows. The more you plan to do with your PDA, the more memory you'll need. And if you plan to do anything more than the basic contacts/calendar management, you're going to need a RAM upgrade and a digital memory card.

In terms of RAM, here are some basic guidelines:

* 16MB is adequate to store contact information and perform basic calendaring.
* 32MB is required to run additional programs such as PDA versions of Microsoft Office applications.
* 64MB is recommended to play audio and view video files.

To give you an idea of pre-installed RAM, new Palm devices range from 32MB to 128MB out of the box, while Pocket PC devices go up to 256MB of ROM and 64-128MB RAM.

If you want to use your PDA to listen to music, store images, or play video, make sure you get a model that has an expansion slot for a digital memory card. PDAs generally take CompactFlash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), or MultiMediaCard (MMC) memory card you may already use in your digital camera or MP3 player.