Electronic
Organizers
How
big a hole will they burn in your pocket?
If a regular paper Dayplanner can keep you organized,
an electronic organizer costing several hundred dollars more is
bound to keep you running like clockwork. Or perhaps not - maybe
you’ll just be more organized since you’ll have less
cash to keep track of.
Electronic organizers or Personal Digital Assistants
(PDA’s), as they are often called, are now one of the fastest
selling gizmos. Originally limited to keeping track of appointments
and phone numbers, their use now ranges from email retriever to
mobile phone. And their uses are growing. Perhaps in the near
future having to end that fizzling romance will be a thing of
the past - your PDA may just contact their PDA and suggest that
all future dating engagements be cancelled. Better the PDA’s
do the dirty work than us!
The price of high tech efficiency
While pen and paper dayplanners have a lower price
range of $8 to $300, electronic organizers have a broad price
range running from $200 all the way up to $800 or more. The pen
and paper day planner still remains the cheapest option. However,
although the PDA may be a costlier option than a basic pen &
paper option the drop in price of PDA’s has made them a somewhat
more competitive option versus the higher priced pen and paper
organizer systems. Still we found that the cost of the pen and
paper planner page refills was similar to what a person could
expect to spend on batteries. Rechargeable electronic organizers
didn’t have the ongoing battery expense, but tended to have
a significantly higher original cost. Thus, despite their overall
decline in price, PDA’ generally still remain the costlier
option.
However as new features and options are added,
such as playing MP3’s, receiving email, phone call capabilities
- allowing these devices to do more, prices on basic models are
likely to continue to fall. This means they may soon become as
cheap or even cheaper, than the low-tech alternative for being
organized.
So for simple planning -- scheduling classes,
exams, assignments, bill payments, keeping track of your love
life -- a basic PDA model will usually do the trick. Our survey
found that basic models are now running in the $170 - $250 range.
The basic useful features -- Getting your money’s
worth
- PDA’s also have two big features that may be worth the
cost to you. First of all the with any day planner the part
that is often of greatest value is the info it contains. Thus
if you loose your day planner binder you have often lost all
that invaluable info you need. Most electronic day planners
now allow you to synchronize the info with your home PC - a
great advantage considering you’re not likely to make a
handwritten copy of your day planner notes every day. Check
to see that your PDA has the software to allow you to synchronize
with your desktop PC. and that your home PC is also capable
of this.
- The second big feature is the audio reminder that these devices
provide - reminders of important events and deadlines - something
that your binder won’t do for even the most telepathically
connected student. A useful feature for upcoming exams, assignments
or simply for a wake up for those evening classes, or never-ending
dates.
PDA’s are probably one of the most rapidly
evolving devices, so if you thought your home PC had a short shelf
life you may find your PDA is on an even faster road to obsolescence.
Your most cost efficient option should be to buy a machine capable
of organizing your life and managing your address book. Unless
you absolutely need the “neat” features that higher-end
models have, wait until you actually need them at which time they
will likely to have become standard on most of these devices.
Money in your pocket, not your "Palm" -- Keeping
the costs low:
- Decide ahead of time what features you need in a PDA. Buy
only the features you have decided you needed ahead of time.
Sales staff can often oversell you on a lot of features that
you will likely never even use.
- Go for a monochrome display rather than a colour model. Unless
you plan on watching full-length movies from you PDA, then the
monochrome model will cost you much less.
- A monochrome display will also use a lot less power thus reducing
the amount you have to shell out for batteries or if you have
rechargeable batteries, the frequency with which you’ll
have to recharge.
- If you think that you will need to add extra memory i.e. your
dating life has really taken off and you can’t fit them
all into your address book, then check to see if the model that
you’re considering has an expansion slot to add more. Currently
2-8 Meg tend to be the average, but the ability to add extra
memory may save you from having to make a costly upgrade as
soon.
- If you like the convenience of a PDA but still like the option
of hard copy you may want to consider a low priced model along
with a blank notebook for under $10 to do your detailed notes
and planning out charts and diagrams.
The price of a PDA will still set you back several
hundred dollars and more if you end up buying into some of the
added accessories. Your cheapest route is still the low-tech pen
and paper planners. However if you’re bound to go the tech
route a basic model with the flexibility for adding memory will
likely be your most cost effective choice. Either way how organized
your life is will ultimately come down to how well you use your
high, or low-tech planner.
To compare the cost and features of various organizing
systems, view the charts.
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