It really depends on what you want to do most of the time and what your preferences are. The two machines are quite different. The MP2x00 has the faster processor, 162 Mhz versus 25 in the eMate. The MP's screen has 16 grayscales as compared to 4 in the eMate. The latter one's screen "real restate" is larger, however, and although both machines are the same in terms of pixelcount and resolution, you can read letters and numbers at a greater distance on the eMate, which is less strain on your eyes while doing type-work. The MP has two card-slots, the eMate only one. The MP comes with a built-in microphone, whereas the eMate has just a connector for line-in. It has a built-in speaker, though. As an additional feature, the two serial ports in the eMate are directly accessible. For one you need the interconnector, the other one is the standard serial interface, same as on the older Macs or the MP 130. That's a nice feature, if you want to use the eMate kind of like a Powerbook and hook it up to modem and printer
or Mac and modem at the same time. The keyboard to my taste is not as good as the external Newton-keyboard, but that is still better than fiddling with cable and interconnector, while trying to balance the MP on your desk or lap. To make real good use of the eMate, you have to upgrade it (4 MB system-RAM/4 MB Flash-RAM and 400 kB of heap). The original config. is 1 MB system-RAM/2 MB Flash-RAM, but I'm not sure on that. One more thing to know: the eMate's battery is soldered in, so if you' re on the road you need the external battery booster pack, if it runs dry. There is no way of just replacing the internal battery by a pack of alcalines from the next drugstore. Clearly, the MP is the more mobile solution, less than half the size and weight of the eMate's. If you want to do a lot of writing, the eMate is better. The screen does not have the taskbar on it (it's integrated into the keyboard), giving you some extra-space, and if your outside the office you'll notice that it is not as much affected by heat an
d sunlight as the MP's. (That was the most serious drawback in my MP 2000, compared to the MP 130 I'd been using before. You can read the MP better in the dark, though, because of its somewhat better backlight.) Last point: the eMate has only the "printed" handwriting recognition, not the cursive recognizer. It works fine, quite fast, and you'll see that you can cradle the whole thing comfortably in your arm, turning the eMate into a steadier writing-surface or -tablet than your MP.
Hope, this helps you make a choice. I had the 130 first, then the eMate, now two 2000's in addition to it. For office-chores, the MP 2000 is my number one, but the external keyboard is a clumsy affair. Didn't ever really make use of NewtWorks on the MP, because of that. The step away from pen-input leads to many inconsistencies. On the eMate, Works is the standard backdrop and better integrated with the OS, but the lack of integration with the other applications is as much to be felt, only just the other way round. So the MP 2x00 in a way is a faster 130, with additional options. Strange, as it may sound: the 130 in its own right (and in my humble opinion) seemed the most perfect model, restricted - by today's standards - in speed, memory and screen-size, yet a no-compromise PDA without unkept promises.
This mail sent by Michael Manthey, Melatengürtel 92, 50823 Cologne, Germany, ++49 221 5107445, using Simple Mail on Newton MessagePad 2000.
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