Young Writers Society

I finally saved enough money to buy one. It's a neo, and I got it off Ebay like Kel. I'm still waiting to get it, but one thing's for sure, I'm going to be on here a lot less because I'll be too busy writing...ANYWHERE!


MM

I'd never even heard of them before. I looked them up, and I think they look like a pain. From their website, it looks like the Neo model runs at about $250, the Dana at $350 ... a hundred dollars more (from the Dana) and you can get an acceptable laptop computer. (link)

... but if it works for you, that's cool. I think that tiny screen would drive me absolutely batty.

I have an Alphasmart Neo, and I love it because I can write everywhere, it loads in three seconds, and the batteries last for 700 hours! It's so awesome. But, I hate how I can't make words underlined, ittalic or bold, and how the text can only stay one size. But, it's definitely a great tool for writers!

Horror Story:
I started writing a story, and I wanted someone to get to read what I had written, I tried uploading it onto the computer, but it didn't work and whenever I tried to turn on my alphasmart it would freeze at the loading screen. I got it fixed, but lost all of my stories saved on it.

Meep, I think the tiny screen is better. It eliminates distractions, and the urge to go back and read over/edit what you've already written. It totally works for me, and it would be more useful than a laptop in my opinion since all I need for is writing.


MM

I agree with Magicman. All of the extras on a laptop are great if you need them. We just happen not to need WMP, internet, etc. etc. that are standard on a laptop. Most people anymore have portable media players (mp3, video, etc) that we can just use otherwise without the alphasmart.

The alphasmart is lighter than a laptop, too. It's smaller and it does pose a lot less of a distraction. It's both a blessing and a bane that the Pro model only shows 4 lines of text. I sometimes forget where I was in the story and have to read back a bit. Not to mention I'll forget something (like a bracelet) that I mentioned earlier.

Laptops just have a lot of unneeded extras for what I want to do. I'd love to have one, but right now the Alphasmart is great.