Ouch, that hurts!

[hbrsvl]

Hi-I went shopping yesterday for a PDA that would support BIE. Went to Best Buy & CompUSA (only ones available without an hours drive.) I had DL & printed the specs I need. Here's where the Ouch comes in- At both places only units available were between $300 and $400 per copy. To me, that's a bit much to play a game-I'm retired. Does anyone have an idea where I might get a playable unit for about $200.00? Thanks, Hugh Browne

[jvgfanatic]

I got my Palm TX for about 249. I picked it up after returning a Windows Pocket (or whatever they are calling 5.0 nowadays) because I found that the 5.0 Microsoft product would not allow the installation of unsigned code. What that means is that developers have to pay Microsoft (or somebody) a fee to make software on the device. The single piece of software I wanted for it was free and thus also unsigned (they'd have to charge for it in order to pay the signing fee).

Anyway, this kind of discouraging policy immediately changed my loyalties to Palm...and Palm had a less expensive product.

I believe that if you look at the "tested devices" list you'll see a list of Palm models (and perhaps Windows models) that predate the models you'll pay full retail for at your local retailer. I'd suggest doing ebay searches (or if you have have an active Craigslist.org site in your area, check there too for deals).

If you do use craigslist, always meet the seller, never send cash through the mail.

Things you'll want to watch out for if you buy a used PDA:

Scratches on the screen, always use screen protectors
Dead/Stuck pixels (either black all the time or lit all the time)
Shoddy/Worn connectors, the connection to the PC is your PDAs link to the real world despite internet functionality on the devices.

There are probably more things to look out for, these are just the first things that spring to mind.