SL-5500 vs SL-5600 vs SL-C700

[nevarrie]

A friend of mine is getting ready to buy a Zaurus.  Right now it looks liek the SL-C700 is what he is going to get.  He has been asking me about the different Z since I have been looking at getting one for the past year.(Right now I am looking at getting a SL-6000 if they every come out)..though may  look into getting somethign like a 700 to start with and upgrade down the road...

The ones he is looking at to start with are the 5500, 5600 and the 700 since they are all under $400.  The one things I started thinking about it if the 700 is worth the 200 dollars more then the 5500 to get the 640x480 screen.  Is the 700 really any better then the 5500 in any other way when it comes to speed, operations, etc...also is there any problems with 700 that make the 5500 a better buy.

I do not think either of us are looking at the Z as a pda, we are both looking at it as a handheld computer for development.  I for one know I will uses my Targus IR Keyboard with which every Z I get so the clan shell vs Standard does not matter to me...I am a former Sharp Wizard Users so I understand the difference and have found I like both.

Any input would be helpful...

[Anonymous]

I think its more of a personal thing. just look at the specs and figure out which one does what you want.

[BlackCardinal]

I have a 5500, and I absolutely love this thing.    However, as a mobile development machine the 240x320 screen is a bit small.  I would lean toward the C700 if PDA functions are not as important.  The extra screen resolution would be very nice for working with text editors and reading error messages from compilers.  The vertical form factor of the 5500 is great for PDA use.  I do development directly on my Z but I mostly do it while docked and use ssh and VNC to access my Z from my desktop (or putty and VNC if I\'m on my Windows laptop).

[Anonymous]

I have a broken cracked screen 5600 and an a still working cracked screen SL-C860 (dang only 1 month old! I need to tie these things to my wrist with a bugee cord or something!).  I prefer the SL-C860, so I guess I would recommend to go for the C700. I do think it depends on your personality on the form factor, I love keyboards and the mini laptop like feel of the SL-C860.  With the 5600 I had to haul another keyboard around, something to prop the Z up to view, tilt it on it\'s side for landscape screen.   With the SL-C860,  I can get by with 4 finger typing on it\'s keyboard during meetings, where with the 5600 I would usually use an IR keyboard (I don\'t particularly like thumb typing but you can do that with the 5600).   I think I still want to use the IR keyboard to take notes if I go to training to get the typing speed I need, as the C860 layout is a bit cramped (even for my small fingers) and strangely layed out (but you get used to it - somewhat in 1 month). I hope my IR keyboard still works when I try it with the C860. I hope I\'ll just be able to rotate the screen because the IR port is on the back?   Other than boot time, I think the SL-C860 seems faster.  I think there was a micro-chip problem somewhere along the line?   I don\'t know what models.   But I beleive the 5600 took a bit longer to load programs than the 860.  When I switch from landscape to portrait mode on the C860 it takes a few seconds and that reminds me of how it used to be with the 5600 loading programs.   Good Luck in your choice, both are cool machines!!!