NM,
I'm in the same situation, looking for a PDA. The Dell and HP both fail my requirements for not having USB host. ie with USB host you can hook up an external drive and bingo, a PDA with a 60GB harddrive! All the mp3, divx, jpgs that you'd ever want (to go with the 640kb of memory that you ever needed too!)

I know that true PDA people scoff at the thought of hard drives, but I want a mini-laptop, not an electronic diary. On a long trip, copy a divx or a bundle of MP3s from the HD onto a CF or SD card each night, and there's your day's entertainment.

So what's out there? Sticking with the VGA models (again- as a mini-laptop for movies, wi-fi net browsing etc, QVGA would be annoyingly small), there are 3 contenders... Toshiba e830, Asus Mypal A730W and Fujitsu-Siemens Loox 720. The Loox isn't widely available in Australia, so it's down to 2. The Asus is Dell Axim sized, the Toshiba HP4700 sized.
The Asus is my leading contender, but they let themselves down in poor battery life, and stupidly, despite putting 2 batteries in the box, only allow you to charge them in the PDA, not in an external charger.
If I get more confidence in an external AA battery extender, then I think the Asus will the be the best choice. About $750-800 in Aus (www.staticice.com.au for comparisons).