NEC's MobilePro 750C
For Some Users, BIGGER is BETTER!

By Rich Hall 

Click to enlarge.

I can type on it without looking! I'm 35,000 feet above the southernmost tip of Nevada, just crossing into Arizona. Occasionally I glance out at the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range, but I continue to type out this introduction in Pocket Word, even when looking out the 757's window. You see, I'm using an NEC MobilePro 750C, and it has one of the largest, most typeable keyboards of any H/PC. I'll come back to that, but first, let's take a quick look at the MobilePro.

A large, color-screen H/PC

The MobilePro has a slick silver and gray two-tone case. It's attractive, and stands out on a dark background like a desktop or restaurant tabletop ­ more noticeable and less likely to be left behind accidentally.

It has an 8" diagonal color screen that's relatively easy to read (except in bright sunlight). A color screen sure makes games and web browsing look nice, and it would probably come in handy if you made Pocket Power Point presentations directly from the MobilePro. I like it because it makes ordinary applications like Pocket Outlook and Pocket Word easier to read. Color screen H/PCs use a lot of power. You'll only get up to 8 hours of use with the MobilePro 750C's high capacity Lithium-Ion battery fully charged. Contrast that with 25 hours of use on monochrome-screen MobilePro 700, from an ordinary pair of AA Alkaline batteries. If you need to use your H/PC away from a power source for long hours at a time, and still want a big keyboard, check out the MobilePro 700 and see if you can live with the monochrome screen.

Click to enlarge.

The MobilePro 750C sports an 80 MHz NEC VR4111 processor. It doesn't have the fastest MHz rating of the H/PCs, but it's plenty fast, going quickly from one application to another and loading long documents quickly. Don't pay a lot of attention to megahertz ratings. Get a unit, test it, and see if it feels fast enough for you.

The MobilePro 750C comes with the traditional interface ports, including a Type II PC Card slot, a CompactFlash card slot, a serial port and an IrDA infrared port. It also comes with a VGA port that lets you connect your MobilePro to a video monitor or projector and display color PowerPoint presentations in a larger format. The MobilePro 700 also has this capability and even though the 700 has a monochrome display, it can project color presentations.

The MobilePro 750C comes with an AC adapter, a VGA monitor cable, and an RJ-11 telephone cable for its built-in 33.6 modem. These items are also on the optional accessories list, along with a spare Lithium-Ion battery, a 32 MB PC memory card, a 3-pack of replacement styluses, a carrying case, and the MobilePro "UltraCare" extended service program.

Built-in software

Of course, the MobilePro runs the Windows CE 2.0 operating system and all of its built-in "Pocket" applications. Specific details are in the sidebar, but it's worth mentioning a couple features.

The MobilePro comes with a built-in utility that lets you program it's "Quick Launch" keys. Access this "MobilePro Settings" icon in the Control Panel and select the Quick Launch tab (see Screen 1). Associate any built-in or user-installed application with one of the 12 F-keys on the top row of the keyboard. Then, launch your most-used applications with a single key-press.

MobilePro also comes with ParaGraph's CalliGrapher handwriting recognition software pre-installed. It lets you enter characters with pen strokes on the screen. It's a fine program, but I don't quite understand why, with such a typeable keyboard, NEC chose this particular application to pre-install.

Screen 1:  The MobilePro's Quick Launch feature lets you set the H/PC up to launch built-in or user-installed applications with the press of a button.

Its most important feature is its keyboard

I'm a writer and editor, and touch-typing is a basic skill of my trade. True, the keyboard on the MobilePro 750C (and its monochrome-screened cousin the MobilePro 700) isn't as big as the one on a desktop or notebook computer. But I was touch-typing immediately, almost at full speed. As I mentioned above, I could type easily while I looked away from the keyboard. I only looked back at the keyboard to find the backspace key when I occasionally made a mistake.

Of course, there are no free lunches. You pay for the larger, touch-typeable keyboard with the added size of the MobilePro. At 9.6 x 5.4 x 1.25 inches and 1.88 lb., the MobilePro is almost tied with the new Hitachi HPW-200EC as the largest of the H/PCs. You can still hold a MobilePro 750C in your hand, but it's large and heavy enough to drop easily, so be careful. I was able to slip it into the outside pocket of my jacket, but not easily. You're better off carrying the MobilePro in your briefcase.

There are comparably-sized sub-notebooks running Windows 95. Toshiba's Liberetto is one of them. I suppose it's an option for someone who absolutely has to run Windows 95 applications on a device this size. But the Toshiba is more expensive and its battery life is not that great. I don't think there are that many people who absolutely need Windows 95 and its applications. Most mobile professionals need communications capabilities, a personal information organizer and a word processor. H/PCs provide this and more. They are less expensive and have 3-5 times the battery life.

Rumors abound about "Jupiter," but Microsoft is saying nothing. This next version of Windows CE is supposed to be targeting the sub-sub notebook sized computer. Depending on which rumor you believe, it will be released next Fall, or in the Spring of 1999. Take a close look at the MobilePro 750C. It's probably the size of a whole new class of similar H/PCs.

I'd use this one

I spend most of my time behind a desk, writing and editing articles using the full-sized keyboard of a desktop PC. However, if I had to spend a significant amount of time on the road, or working in different locations, I'd want something like the MobilePro 750C to carry with me. It's lightweight, I can send and receive email, create simple spreadsheets to track projects, and write and edit articles. Most importantly, it has a keyboard I can use for an extended period of time.

NEC has offers two models of its Windows CE 2.0 H/PC. The MobilePro 700 has a monochrome screen and slightly better battery life. The MobilePro 750C comes with a color screen. Both have the large, touch-typeable keyboards.

Other H/PCs are fine for what they do, but if you have a lot of text or data entry to do and don't mind carrying your H/PC in a briefcase, take a close look at the NEC MobilePro 750C.