HP IPAQ 5450 Review

The HP IPAQ 5450 is probably for folks who like to be the first on the block to have the newest, coolest gadgets. The 5450 is pretty snazzy, but not cheap.

The IPAQ 5450 has integrated wireless and Bluetooth. And to make you feel very secure and special, it has a fingerprint scanner. The 5450 has 64 MB of RAM and a nice processor. And the software bundle is packed full of goodies too.

The HP IPAQ 5450 has gotten some good reviews, but it's also gotten some pretty bad ones. HP may have tried to put too much into the 5450 before the technology was quite ready. But there are plenty of people who are perfectly happy with their 5450. Of 121 votes on one web site, 70% recommended the 5450.

Professional Ratings: 7.7 out of 10 (3 reviews)

User Ratings: 5.8 out of 10 (20 reviews)

The IPAQ 5450 seems to be one of those things that you either love or you hate. Of those people who hate it, here are the chief complaints. As with all expensive PDAs, many believe the 5450 is overpriced. And to the dismay of some, there is no CompactFlash slot. The Wi-Fi tends to use a lot of battery power, which requires frequent recharging. And perhaps most importantly, some folks have experienced a lot of crashes with the 5450. It may be that there's not enough memory for everything the 5450 is trying to do.

Memory

64 MB RAM
Expansion slot
Compatible with Secure Digital & MultiMedia cards

Display

240 X 320 pixels
Color

Processor

Intel PXA250 400 MHz

Operating System

MS Windows for Pocket PC 2002

Audio

Built-in speaker (with volume control)
Stereo
Headset jack
Voice recorder
MP3 playback
WMA playback

Dimensions

3.3 X 5.2 X .6 inches
7.2 ounces

Software

Voice Recorder
Pocket Word
Pocket Excel
Pocket Internet Explorer
Windows Media Player
Microsoft Reader
MSN Messenger
VPN Client
Outlook 2000
IPAQ Backup
IPAQ Image Viewier
IPAQ Fingerprint Reader
Nevo (remote control)
Flash Player
Adobe PDF Viewer
RealOne Player for Pocket PC
iPresenter PowerPoint Converter