This is a machine which sorts the fun-seekers from the business types. If you want fun, expect to pay lots of money and walk away with bulky and heavy palmtops. If you're serious about your PDA requirements for business, you'll want something affordable and extremely portable - like the Palm Vx. We're talking about a palmtop that's less than 120mm tall and 1cm thick, and weighing barely over 100g (less than half the weight of Casio's Cassiopeia E-115). It really does feel like a small jotting notepad, compared with today's typical palmtops which feel thick and heavy when hanging in your jacket pocket.

Inside you get all the core PIM applications from Palm OS 3.5: Date Book, Address, To Do List, Memo Pad, Calc, Expense and Mail. You'll need third-party software if you want direct access to e-mail and the Web, but the built-in programs synchronise superbly well with your PC. As with other Palm products, just placing the unit into its serial/USB-attached cradle initiates the Hot-Sync process, recharging the battery at the same time.

The machine comes with 8MB of memory, which is plenty considering how small Palm OS software tends to be. The Palm Vx screen is just black-and-white and offers a resolution of just 160x160 pixels, but it's very well used thanks to the excellent quality of the built-in applications. We feel the screen is a little dark, though, and look forward to more contrasty alternatives in the future. That said, everything is perfectly readable and, combined with easy navigation and the reliable Graffiti pen-based input, the Palm Vx is very easy to use. It may not have the multimedia sparkle of PocketPC-based palmtops, but it handles PIM functions far better.