The high price comes from two things, the small market, and the expensive equipment, i.e., Braille cells. Most sighted people will never need either software or hardware that costs even half as much as blind people need. The reason I say the BN will never be a PC or laptop is that it just wasn't designed to be such. The PDI family of products all have the word "note" in their names, this is because they are notetakers. Yes, the BN is catching up to today's technology, but it's still a notetaker with PDA functionality added to it. In order to put all that extra hardware in a BN/VN, hard disk, USB Port, VGA monitor port, conventional memory, we would all have to send in our units for physical upgrading. While a few lucky people may be able to afford the expense themselves or get assistance from an organization or agency, most of us do not have that luxury. Just to clear up a point, I don't see it as a luxury, but the good old government does. (Smile) The other reason the BN family doesn't have all this hardware is the physical size of the unit. Most people I know who have BN/VN units chose to get them, in part, because of their compactness. Yes, the competition's product may do a little more in some areas, but it's almost twice the size of a BrailleNote, if both units under consideration have the larger Braille displays. I have thought about this since I got my BN updated with the new motherboard, and I can't see where PDI would be able to put extra ports, most of the available space has already been used. I hope these thoughts don't offend, they are just one person's opinions and observations.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Doug Lawlor Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 9:59 AM To: Braillenote List Subject: RE: [Braillenote] USB port on BN? I have to disagree that the braillenote will never be a pc or a laptop. Todays new motherboards are getting very small. Sure we won't see a CD/DVD rom drive but I can't see any reason why we can't have a hard disk, USB Port, VGA monitor port, and conventional memory. I think for the price we pay for these machines we should expect laptop functionality and no less! Doug At 06:31 PM 28/07/2004, you wrote: >We can say that the BN family should have been more mainstream, should >have USB, should be better organized, should be perfect. It's still just >a notetaker, it isn't, and never will be, a PC or laptop. There's only so >much room in the machine, and only so much we can afford to >pay. Something had to give somewhere, and not everyone is satisfied with >what we have. It's still a great little machine! > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Victory >Associates LTD, Inc. >Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 3:58 PM >To: Braillenote List >Subject: Re: [Braillenote] USB port on BN? > > >Hello Richard: > >In my opinion, hind sight should have been 20-20!! How so? Before the >advent of the BrailleNote, PulseData knew that USB ports were in vogue. The >company should have incorporated them into the BrailleNote from the onset. >However, there is always a reason to charge more, so we'd constantly go to >the drawing boards to re-do all the evaluations again. > >Sincerely, >Olusegun > > >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.725 / Virus Database: 480 - Release Date: 19/07/2004 ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
