[svlug] Zaurus SL-5600?

[Bill Kendrick]

On Thu, Apr 10, 2003 at 11:35:51AM -0700, Greg Herlein wrote:
> Is the newer SL-5600 noticably better than the older SL-5500?
> Is the faster processor that noticable?  Other advantages?

I can't speak to the speed difference (if there is one), but the SL-5600
has some other obvious advantages:

  * Real speaker & mic
    (SL-5500 has ONLY a piezo buzzer and headphone jack;
    SL-5600 has this, plus a normal speaker and mic, so no external ones needed)

  * Bigger battery
    (Both in capacity, and physically)

  * More internal storage
    (64MB of RW Flash storage on the SL-5600;
    SL-5500 had 16MB of RO Flash, and then 32MB of its 64MB RAM was used
    for files.  Note: The SL-5600 only has 32MB of RAM, but none is used
    for files.)

Check out this post I made to Slashdot recently:

  Zaurus SL-5600/SL-5500 Comparison Whitepaper
  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/22/1345236&mode=nocomment


<snip>
> I had an Agenda and it was pretty slow, really...

Yeah... Poor little Agenda. :^(  (I'm the guy who wrote 'Aliens' and some
other games for it, BTW :^) )


> I can't seem to find a store that has a Zaurus to play with to get a feel
> for the responsivness.

Fry's in Sacramento has the SL-5500 on display.  (Missing its stylus,
of course...)


> I'd hate to buy the older unit and then find
> out I really want the fast one.  :)

Sadly, it sounds like you missed the Home Shopping Network deal. [*]
People were getting SL-5500's for about $170.  The SL-5600 is at _least_ $400,
if not $500, right now.

(Last I checked, the SL-5500 was still about $400 at Fry's, though.)


Anyway... Good luck!  If you do get to compare SL-5500 to SL-5600, please
let us know your feelings!

-bill!

-- 
bill at newbreedsoftware.com                                            Hire me!
http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/    http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/resume/

[*] See this other post I made to Slashdot:
      Sharp Ships Zaurus SL-5600; 5500 Available Cheap
      http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/17/1924257&mode=nocomment