NEC Mobile Pro 900

List Price: $899.99

Features:

• Compact size: 1.8 pounds
• Microsoft Windows H/PC 2000 operating system
• 32MB Flash ROM
• Touch panel function
• What's in the box: Mobile Pro 900, Backup CR2032 battery, AC Adapter, Rechargeable 2-cell Lithium-Ion battery, PC Connect USB cable, RJ-11 Telephone cable, Stylus pen, User manual

Accessories:

Targus PA870U Universal Wireless Keyboard

Customer Reviews:

More Hype than truth [Posted on 2003-10-26]
I really wanted a more powerful Jornada 720 which is sort of the claim that NEC puts on this product. They keyboard is pretty good and some parts of the design like the placement of the CF slot and the PC Card are perfect. However, this is not exactly a small form factor like the Jornada it is about the size of a Fujitsu P1120 or a Avertec P. Weight wise it is about .5lb from the the P1120 and 2lbs from the Avertec. A good part is that it does have the ability to instantly turn on but the screen is terrible. In fact probably the worst screen of any PDA / Laptop I have seen. It is all washed out. I wanted this so that I could throw it in a Gym bag and if needed instantly turn it on and trade stocks through a TMobile Aircard. I found that the syncing with ActiveSync 3.7 was terrible, sometimes it would work other times it would fail on WinNT2000K and with XP Pro it was a nightmare. Part of the NEC 900 that is rotten is the OS. THe HPC 2000 is just plain buggy. The AirCard software would die while it works on a PDA and over 6 laptops and tablets.

Pros:
+ Turns on fast
+ CPU is definately faster than Jornada like 4 times as fast
+ CF/PCMCIA slot are position nicely and takes both I/II
+ Keyboard excellent

COns:
+ Too big just isn't small enough to be like a Jornada and too small to be like a P1120 or Sony TR1 or JVC Interlink all of which are much more powerful
+ Screen is worst I have ever seen
+ Syncing/OS is out of date and difficult

Bottom line for the price it isn't too bad if you want something light to type on or run excel spreadsheets that will last 8 hours. They keyboard is awesome so if you have large fingers and need an ultra portable this is ok if you can get around the screen.

I found the answer!! The in-between-machine!! [Posted on 2004-01-18]
I love this-- I hated carrying around a heavy laptop-- and I did not want to shell out the crazy amount of $$$ for a super light one-- because only the lightest would have been useful to me-- This is the answer-- Instant on and instantly into documents and off to work-- I've only had it a short time but its already proved incredibly useful, I've given up my notebook(actual paper spiral) that I used to haul around to meetings and though I was hesitant to give up my calendar I decided to pitch it within a few days!!!
Adressing the other reviewers negativity-- just cause he is an IT guy does not mean he knows what he is talking about!!! Syncing with my computer took just a few minutes-- It is like MAGIC
Thanks NEC!

Nec Mobile Pro 900 [Posted on 2004-02-29]
Ok to all of you looking at an alternative to pocket pc and laptops then this device will be a welcome addition and a change of some sorts. I've owned a Jornada 720, 728 and a 547 which is a pocket pc. I honestly prefer handheld to the pocket pc because it encompasses everything into one unit with minimal lugging around of accessories and gadgets. When a unit can accommodate compact flash, secure digital and has a built in modem and PCMCIA slots then u have an all in one solution. These particular styles are more geared to the mobile professional and the frequent traveler. I'm considering buying this one and selling all of my old handhelds and pocket pc's because of nothing else technology. The only manufacturer left in the game is NEC and this unit has a 400 MHz Xscale processor (the same as in the high end pocket pc's) and has 64meg of ram and rom. The thing that people are going to say negatively about this machine is the screen. That's not NEC's fault. Until Microsoft gets off its lazy unsupportive billion dollar butt and offers a service pack to the hpc2000 OS then it will be hard to foresee change. I can stand being at the mercy of software developers. Hardware has always been ahead of software throughout the inception of technology. The current Handheld OS is 4 years old and wont support higher resolutions and color depths. However this unit does have external capabilities that allow it to be displayed at 800x600 which is acceptable for power point presentations and the like. Everyone that is a Handheld owner should write and send email to Microsoft to force a service pack upgrade because these units are more than capable of providing years of good hard use and its a shame that a new warranted unit like the NEC is hampered only by the software and not technology. It's a shame as well that HP got out of the market because their Jornadas were second to none. Anyway I'm a dreamer and I do foresee an upgrade to the OS and this NEC unit does have a ton of potential and a myriad of uses. Don't buy it expecting it to compete with a pocket pc in terms of the screen and performance due to the fact it uses passive active matrix screen versus the TFT screens on ppc's and the OS isn't optimized for the Xscale processor but nonetheless nothing else fills the void and hits the spot like the mobile pro900.

Best of both worlds [Posted on 2005-09-20]
This a the ultimate business machine. If you are a mobile warrior, who means business (without compromises), buy this machine yesterday.
It has almost full size keyboard with excellent feeling, all the functionality that you need. I hope the next model will have wi-fi functionality, and a little bit more support from the software developers.

The Brick [Posted on 2007-06-12]
This unit runs Windows CE operating system by Microsoft. Great built-in apps (Office, Excel, Access, Power Point, etc.). The keyboard is a bit cramped for speed typing.

This is my least favorite PDA device (I also have the IBM-Z50, HP Jornada 680 and 728 models, Casio E-125). The NEC 900 was built mainly to be used in industrial settings. The screen is dull and somewhat washed-out.

I only take this unit with me to job-sites in high-crime areas, so if I lose it, I won't care that much!

Still ... It's better than a PDA with no keyboard. The screen is OK when indoors. There is a lot of Windows CE software out there (on the Internet) for free. Good for the kiddies doing their homework on the run.

Better units are the Jornada 680,728 series - light, small and good screen,
and the IBM Z50 its almost full-size keyboard and great IBM support.

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