The Zire palm pilot is one of the most useful models of PDA on the market today. The model 71 and the model 72 both have some excellent built in features like a digital camera, speakers, great display and touch screen. When shopping for a Zire palm pilot, it is important to determine what features are most important to you and shop appropriately.

There are many places to buy a Zire palm pilot, both on the internet and off. Palm pilots are available at many electronics retailers and computer stores. In addition, many Internet retailers sell these wonderful PDA's and the accessories to go with them. A nice leather case always makes a great companion to your new Zire.

The Zire 71 runs on the Palm OS 5.2.1 operating system, and it also includes great software like notepad, palm photos, palm reader, address book, photo reader, RealOne player, Kinoma Producer, Palm VersaMail 2.5, Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm OS and much more. The Zire 71 and 72 both come with a docking cradle and a carrying case.

The processor powering the Zire is a Texas Instruments 144 MHzOMAP310 model, and it comes standard with 16MB of RAM. Input is achieved via a stylus, a touch screen and the standard navigation buttons familiar to PDA users.

The screen of the Zire is a TFT active matrix screen running at a screen resolution of 320x320. In addition, the Zire can be expanded with the addition of an SD memory card, and it provides for IrDA wireless connectivity to help you work wherever you are.

Now for the big question: is buying a Palm Zire a wise decision in today's market? To answer that, you should consider your own needs as well as your budget. There are of course alternatives to the Zime, but ,ost of them are much more expensive. For example, Let's assume you consider purchasing an iPAQ of a standard model - say the hx2795 Pocket PC model. That iPAQ will cost you around $250 in an onlie or a retail store. The Palm Zire 71 will cost around $170. Now, it's obvious that the iPAQ has greater computing power and other abilities, but ask yourself - are you really in need for these extra capabilities? Or maybe a more modest machine will be sufficient.

It is a very good thing that us consumers have such a large verity to choose from.

We think you will agree that the Zire PDA is a great pocket pc for the money, and in many cases - quite enough for ordinary people with no special requirements.