NEC 780(Black)

long battery life, lightweight, instant on, email & Internet.
Can be used in so many ways, from taking notes at a meeting to input
info in field w/ the pocket version of Word & Excel.

I've used it for expence and survey data in Excel, taking notes at presite
meeting w/ my clients for new system or network installs and printed via IR or
emailed to myself (and others at my company)and client. I noticed that if you
create a Word file on the 780 save it to a flash card, you can read file (w/out
any converter) on PC or Laptop, add to the file, and as long as you save w/
yes and yes responce to the prompts(maintaining original format [.pwd instead of
.doc]) you can put flashcard back into 780 and continue to work on the file,
original margins, font, and pitch will be maintained, printing via IR from 780
or from your PC/Laptop will match!!!!!!!!!! The ActiveSync(MS) application
is easy to use for add/remove programs and Exploring as though the 780 were a
folder on your PC/Laptop.

This was NEC's HPC most popular HPC for a long time. Except for the MP790, It is the best of the MIPS cpu machines. It is by far the most commmon Mobilepro available anywhere, thus parts are normally easy to find. If you can find the ROM chip to a MP790, you can slip it in your 780 and run CE 3.0 instead of the native CE 2.11.

The cons: It does't fit in your pocket. It needs to be carried in a small pouch about the size of a double CD case. The DSTN screen stinks outdoors and is practically impossible to see. All DSTN color units are this way. It uses a non-standard earphone jack (2.5mm) so you need an adapter to listen to the HiFi (not stereo) sound. It doesn't support the latest software as most of it is written for the ARM processor such as in the Jornada 720. It handles animated graphics very poorly as does all HPC units no matter the brand. Forget any action game play.

The pros: A real workhorse for typing on and data entry. Responsive touch screen and great colors indoors. Lots of HPC software available to do most anything. There are hundreds of great utilities, games, and productivity programs available for free. Batteries last a long time...you can use this thing for well over 5-6 hours without a recharge. Try that with a laptop. Instant on means just that...no warm up time. Works great with wireless networks. The Internet Explorer is an older version and doesn't allow you to connect to many of today's secure web sites such as your bank accounts or others. You cannot connect to AOL with it either as they use proprietory connections. But the good news is that CE 2.11 was around the longest of the older operating systems and there are a ton of programs you can obtain for free and run on this machine, more than enough to satisfy anyone.

To see more info, visit HPCNEC.COM for non-partisan information, or the forums at HPCFactor.com to talk with real everyday users.

This is a perfect item. I don't know why it's not being made anymore. The size is large enough for typing but not too big to carry around. The touch screen and stylus are easy to use. It turns on and off easily, rather than having to boot up like a laptop. I bought it because i wanted to do transcription work (typing) in a part of the house where there isn't enough electrical wiring to support a desktop computer. I wanted to download a word processing file from my desktop computer, modify it elsewhere in the house, then put it back into my desktop computer to be formatted and emailed to the client. It seems it would also be quite useful for someone who wants to carry around a power point presentation.

Although this invention is perfect for my needs, the operating system is old. My local computer assistance service won't help me with it because it is so old. I am not computer savvy enough to make it work for me on my own. So, this beautiful piece of equipment so far has just sat around, except for playing solitaire a bit. If someone could show me how to make it talk to my desktop computer, it would get used. I don't even know for sure that it can talk to my desktop computer.

I didn't ask questions about the battery before buying it. The battery is shot, only holds a charge for 20 minutes or so. I can still use it by plugging it in. So, be sure to ask about the battery.

If you are technically savvy enough to make an old operating system do what you need it to do, then i would definitely say this is a great piece. Is it possible to install a newer operating system? I don't know.

I first saw this item at the laundromat. A man was typing on it at a table while his clothes were washing. My partner pointed to it in astonishment and asked whether i thought it was a whole computer. We approached him and he showed it to us. He said he had bought it for about $100 on eBay. I went home and found one on eBay for approximately $100 and bought it. I do love it very much but i just don't know how to use it well enough.

Hope this helps.

We had to carry Jornadas at my job in Connecticut way back when, and was wanting one of my own, more of a gadget than anything else, when I came across this NEC Mobilepro 780 on ebay. It seemed like a nice unit with big display and keyboard. This particular one had all the cables, a 64mb PC card and a network card, some extra software and 2 batteries.

I won the bid and it arrived in a few days. Of course I immediately applied the service patch 1 to it, got the networking card working and charged up both batteries. It was time to put it thru the tests. I mainly bought the thing so I can go exploring online which it does ok but it's not perfect since it's using an older version of Internet Explorer. I couldn't get Yahoo to come up, or ebay for that matter. The sites that work best should have support for Windows CE, this way the web page loads properly.

The applications that came with this unit are simple but functional. With Word and Excel, Calendar and Contacts used often.

The unit didn't come with the proper Microsoft ActiveSync software so I had to hunt around the internet for the right version. I first tried the latest version 4.5 but the Mobilepro would not sync up. I then discovered that only upto version 3.8 would work with this unit. I loaded that version onto my PC, connected the serial cable and it sync'd right up.

For $32 I think I got it for a steal. To think this thing was selling new for close to $900 is unbelievable.

I highly recommend one in your arsenal.

The item work as advertised. I bought the item because of its portability when I work outside my office. It beats dragging a regular laptop in the field. I will definitely will use the MobilPro from now on. It might be an old gadget, but its function is almost as comparable to using the PDA. I like the MobilPro beacause it has a bigger keyboard that any PDA available in the market today.

It works, gets the job done, and the battery life it pretty good 5+ hours. I prefer the 790 instead. The 790 Seems to be faster and better battery life.

This is very usefull device. Mainly because it has a touch screen, so you can draw or handwrite right on your documents. It will be a very handy tool for my schoolwrork. I received it for a very good price off the ouction.
I am very happy with its performance. There are many programs available for download for free off the internet for windows CE.
Thank You e-bay for allowing me to have this product.

i bought this pda because i am baker and i need all mi recipes whits my and this is tha thing what i found tha best and i need a other one . for my colection ....i have colection of laptops and pda...

The keyboard on the MobilePro 780 is the most comfortable keyboard on a PDA that I've found. The screen is big enough to be easy to read. The 780 is small enough to be convenient in places where a full size laptop would be too much to handle. The pocket versions of Microsoft office that come on the 780 are surprisingly full featured and the resulting files are compatable with Microsoft Office 2000 on my home computer. Adding a wireless network card took little effort and it works beautifully. I use a compactFlash card for additional file storage. I love the 780 and the only thing I would change if it were up to me is to give it a stereo headphone jack and more audio/video software. I realize that it was designed to be a business tool, but it would be nice to be able to listen to high quality music in a relaxing moment.

For all those looking to have a very portable laptop. I'm a network engineer and the NEX fits my work nicely. I can put such applications such as a TFTP server, telnet, FTP Server, and ssh. These applications can be found (most for free) and having something with minimal email and HTTP is ok for me. The old bad issue can I state is that the OS (PPC 2000) limits you to some applications. Other than that, great little unit. I bought a CFII 6 gig memory card and I can push down most work and excel documents. I have having a real keyboard to work with instead of those little thumb keys.

For some the size of a portable computing device can be to small, making it nothing more than a novelty. The MP 780 for me is just right, smaller than the average laptop and larger than the average hand held. The keypad is large enough to prevent double-keying or having to use a pencil and "hunt & peck" entries. The touch sensitive display is a plus, the stylus stores out of the way and is easily removed for use. Being able to network wireless with a desktop or laptop makes the MP780 a versatile means of having access to data on a conventional PC. With a wireless phone service account the 780 can be a handy means of accessing data stored in your home PC.
Like all things, technology has made the MP780 limited in desirability. Since purchasing it I have tried to find an extra battery for it and have been unsuccessful. I use Windows XP on my home PC and haven't been able to network the MP780 with my home PC. The lack of hardware and operating program upgrade capability limits the MP780's compatibility to Windows 2000 or older.
Even with those limits I've found with my MP780, I still find it to be a handy way of accessing the internet when away from home, and it is turning out to be a nice means of communicating with others via e-mail or just web surfing.

We bid on this little computer not knowing what to expect. After receiving it we were quite surprised. It contains everything you need, excel, word and a game we all share, solitaire. Once we buy additional products, our son said we can download and print, WOW!!! And we got all of this for $35.00 on Ebay, Great!!!

I haven't had much spare time to play with it yet but what I've seen I've liked. We were hit by a major storm and were without power for three days. Playing solitaire was one thing that helped pass the time after dark.