Originally Posted by haniboo
can an expert please help me think this thru. which amkes the most sense--portable dvd, personal video player or lightweight laptop?
i am flying early next week and wanted a portable dvd to take with me. figured it would be good for the kids on long trips in the car or when flying, too. thought the best one for me was a toshiba at 180$ because it boasts a 3.5 hour battery.
but then i heard about smaller portable personal video players (i think that is what they are called) like ipod video, toshiba, etc for about 300$. i don't think this would be so useful for kids to share on long car or plane trips, but maybe it is the way to go for other reasons? does it have more advantages than a portable dvd?
and of course there is the idea to get a lightweight laptop, which would be great for movies and office work on the plane, even in the car, but is heavier, and more expensive--and many have a short battery life. what would be the least i could spend on a ;aptop that would be lightweight enuf to take on a plane, and have a long enuf battery life to make it worthwhile? what other features should a laptop have if i need it mostly for office documents and movies?
thanks!
With kids? Portable DVD player. They're cheaper, and accidents happen. Especially with kids. Also no boot time like a laptop, and no messy DVD copying stuffs like with some personal media players.
For yourself? A tougher choice; if you're very good with computers and computer video in particular, I'd lean towards a personal media player, or even a mid-range PDA. PDAs, after getting storage cards for them, become usable as media players in their own right. Take a look at TCPMP at
http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about, it's a pretty good video and audio player for Windows PocketPC. It'll play back the things that the built-in Media Player won't, like DivX and ogg.
If you're not so good with computer video stuffs, then look at a laptop. But only after justifying to yourself that it's a laptop you want, not a DVD player.