Sidekick does have calendar, notes, IM, etc.

Raq, if a UMPC is out of the running for you, I'd go with a Blackberry Pearl of meara's two choices.

The blackberry pearl doesn't have a true qwerty keyboard, though, which makes it a little less convenient for taking notes. It has two letters per key, and uses predictive text to figure out which one you meant. I understand it works quite well, but isn't as good as a full-on QWERTY pad.

Actually, Raq, I'd recommend either one of the larger Blackberries with the big comfortable keyboard, a Treo, or one of the many Windows Mobile phones with a keyboard (like the Samsung Blackjack or the Motorola Q) if you really want something that's got "PDA" in mind. The Pearl and Sidekick are both communication devices first, PDAs a distant second.

The cheapest way to surf the web that i've found, by the way, is with an unlocked Treo and T-Mobile. It's possible to get full, fast, unlimited web access using their T-Zones service, which is only $6.95 a month. Blackberries and sidekicks have their own special plans that are a bit more expensive.

What is the sweet spot these days in terms of price/performance with intel processors in wintel machines?

Also for a machine which will be used for graphics heavy apps, but not used often (and graphics heavy refers mainly to photos and DTP not videos, though I suspect she will eventually play with those too) is 2 Gig enough memory?

Is it possible that my Macafee Security stuff is preventing gmail from loading properly on my computer?

I mean, it says it's loading but it hangs and hangs and hangs.

Alternatively, could it be my dial-up connection that's doing this?

Is it possible that my Macafee Security stuff is preventing gmail from loading properly on my computer?

AFAIK it shouldn't.

Do you have Javascript enabled? (I think you need to, right?)

I think I do.

I mean under tools I have something called the Sun Java Console.

No, that's not it. (Java is different from Javascript. An annoying marketing decision.)

It depends on your browser, but the setting is probably under "security." It's usually on by default, so if you're not sure, it's probably already enabled.

$6.95 a month for web access, Gris? Wow, that's way cheaper than most! I was looking at T-mobile anyway, as they seem to have fairly cheap plans. OTOH, getting an unlocked phone would make it overall rather more expensive.

Of course, the fact that my plan is up in July makes me ever so tempted to get an iPhone, but I don't think even the prettyshiny can make me spend THAT much on a phone...

but I don't think even the prettyshiny can make me spend THAT much on a phone...

Plus, Cingular's data plans SUCK. Which makes the fact that it's basically a tiny GPRS internet tablet seem... dumb. Because you have to pay ridiculous prices to use it.

Definitely, the T-Zones plan is a nifty thing. It's not very publicized how easy it is to make it work with even fancy phones, but it's VERY easy to do with my Treo 680. As in, select the right network in the preferences, then browse. And I can get really fast connections, even running my laptop off it through bluetooth.

An unlocked Treo 680 costs $400 at a Palm store. If you're saving $30 a month on data (like I am) then that price difference doesn't take too long to make up, plus, no long-term slave contract (though you do have to get at least one year if you switch to a new provider, sadly, even phoneless).

Both "scripting" and "java-aplets" are enabled.