In my job, I regularly travel to client sites. Sometimes this travel simply involves driving or traveling on a commuter train. At other times, it involves lengthy trips by air and stays in hotels far from home. Until recently, I would lug my laptop with me everywhere I went.

In performing my job, I primarily used my laptop for the following functions:

• Note taking during meetings and the creation of meeting minutes;
• Personal time management;
• Project management;
• Sending and receiving email;
• Web access;
• Creation of technical documents and status reports for my clients;
• Maintaining a personal reference library of documents related to the project.

I still do all those things, but my laptop stays at home.

The Palm IIIc
In this article, I want to share my experiences with using my Palm IIIc as a laptop replacement and talk a little about the additional software and hardware I've purchased to help make this possible. By the way, this article was written entirely on my Palm IIIc.

The Palm IIIc wasn't my first PDA. I previously owned a Sharp Mobilon HC-4100, which eventually suffered a serious hardware failure. That unit ran the Windows CE operating system.

When I replaced it, I chose a Palm IIIc instead of another Windows CE or Pocket PC device primarily because of its low cost and the vast amount of software available for it. The Palm IIIc offers me many advantages.

Screen
The color screen is very clear and sharp, and it's constantly illuminated. This makes it very easy to read under a wide variety of lighting conditions.

Battery life
Its battery life is outstanding. The unit's rechargeable batteries will run for days under the heaviest possible use before needing to be recharged. I can use the Palm IIIc constantly during a cross-country flight and still have plenty of battery power left when I arrive at a client site.

Size
The Palm IIIc is small enough to fit inside the Incipio wallet (at http://incipiodirect.com) I carry in my pants pocket. This wallet also holds cash, credit cards, drivers license, and business cards.