Barkings! | The Small Dog Apple Blog

My Apple Newton

Just this past fall I went to Channel Camp, which is an Apple seminar. I went with Morgan and he brought along his Newton and used it for many things like the calendar feature (gotta make sure we got up in time for classes), the note-taking features and the to-do lists. I was very interested in this gadget. Morgan kept telling how amazing it was and how it could do all of these tasks. The things that interested me the most was the hand-writing recognition, the to-do lists and the ability to read eBooks.

Before the trip ended Morgan had me sold. I bought an Apple Newton before we even left for home. I received the unit, it was in an almost brand-new condition. I had Morgan install a few applications for me and put an eBook or 2 on there. I’ve been using the Newton since then. I use it to keep track of all my things that I need to get done. I use it to makes lists (food shopping, projects, longer tasks) and just for simple note-taking. I also like how you can flip the orientation of the screen to a horizontal mode or a vertical mode. The vertical mode is especially nice when I am reading an eBook.

Unfortunately Apple no longer makes the Newton so you can only find them on a few websites and eBay. The funny thing is they’re still be sold for about the same price they were sold for when they originally came out.

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  1. Newton prices seem to vary. I’ve seen MessagePad 2000’s and 2100’s going for over $500, and a few months later, they’re going for a hundred.

    If you’re patient, you can get them cheap. I replaced my (bought when new!) MP 2000 with a 2100 I got on eBay for about $150, including a 32 MB flash card. Add a first generation Lucent Silver wifi card and buy the $10 WiFi Newton driver, and you have a handheld internet device, cheap!

    Newtons rock. Sadly, mine doesn’t get much use anymore. I haven’t been able to get iSync (Address Book + iCal) working under 10.4 Tiger, which is a deal-breaker. If you get it working, I hope you’ll post a blog with hints or instructions!


    Robert    2007-02-01 11:15    #
  2. I don’t know how I missed the fact that Jimmy posted this. I definitely try to never be without my Newton and was surprised when he actually bought one (guess I’m not so bad at sales after all).

    I have BlueTooth, WiFi, and all sorts of other stuff on mine, but I really only use those to get data to/from my MacBook Pro. As Jimmy mentioned, I use it for calendar, to-do, notes, and eBooks. Lately I’ve been tempted to reconfigure it for e-mail for sending quick messages on the road.

    There are some new developments on the Newton front which will really help us keep using them with Mac OS X. Simon Bell’s NCX is one of them.


    Morgan    2007-02-02 16:21    #
  3. I Too have a newton. These things are still awesome and are the most useful things ever. The handwriting rec. is amazing and the battery life is also. Palm Pilot still has not caught up to these things. Newtons Rock


    — Logan Cooke    2007-02-02 20:06    #
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