Customer Reviews

NEC Mobilepro 780 Portable Computer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

SHORTLY AFTER POSTING THE FOLLOWING REVIEW A NEC REPRESENTATIVE CONTACTED ME TO INFORM ME THAT THEY HAD CHANGED THEIR MIND AND THEY THEN FIXED AND RETURNED MY COMPUTER. IT'S WORKING GREAT.

A warning to anyone who is purchasing a NEC product. NEC has taken possession of my handheld computer and then blamed it on me.

In November of 2001 I eagerly opened my re-manufactured NEC MobilePro 790 which I purchased at a very reasonable price over the internet.

I enjoyed using it. It served as an easily used companion to my main computer. I could easily carry it to me to meetings and write notes. It much easier than a laptop because of it's light weight but more useful than the smaller handhelds because it has a decent sized adequate keyboard.

But there was a problem. I would go to turn it on after being putting it away for a day or two and it would fail to respond.

I called NEC multiple times and they taught me how to reboot it but soon this did not work and then they taught me how to remove the battery and again reboot it. One problem. I would loose all the stored information.

I again called and was advised to be sure to back up and this I faithfully did. Fortunately the computer information was easy to back up with the use of Microsoft ActiveSync.

This worked fine most of the time but was unreliable so I then purchased a CompactFlash for storage.

By being sure I saved my work to the compact flash card and by using Microsoft ActiveSync I no longer lost critical information but I was unable to dependably take advantage of the Mobilepro's other features such as the address book and calender.

I called again and was advised that since my computer was under warranty to send it in for repair.

This I did. I soon received a phone call from Joan Forster stating the cost of repair would not be under warranty and was approximately what I originally paid for it. She explained that the problem was water damage. When I tried to explain that the problem started from the date of purchase this NEC representative was extremely rude and objected to listen. When I asked to be transferred to her supervisor she said that she was the senior supervisor and refused to connect me to anyone else. I Later contacted Michael Rains but he simply referred the matter back to Joan Forster who again refused to consider the possibility that the handheld was defective from date of purchase. When I delayed agreeing to the repair price and then I did not accept the defective product back she wrote me a letter stating that it was now their property.

NEC still has my handheld.

Just a warning. It may be a very useful tool but if it is defective they will blame it on you and not cover it under warranty.

This machine is great!, I'm sorry to here about the other persons experience and i'll think about it in the future , but I have to say that this machine is simple yet fantastic it has most of the features of my highend laptop but none of the hassles of use although one thing I would like to point out is that I was unable to sync it with my laptop because my laptop doesn't have serial ports and also I have Windows Xp and some people are saying xp won't work with active sync but I have a good solution for this problem ,you can get a Compact Flash card reader for $7-$20 and a flash card for $20 AND TRANSFER ANY DATA TO ANY COMPUTER , I hope all the people with HP Jornadas are listening too because many people give up as soon as they hear NO USB . now back to what I was saying get one of these , it is about triple the size of a Palm Pilot so if you want something tiny this isn't for you but if you do alot of data input you'll love it as much as other Mobilepro users trust me ,Oh and be prepared for people interupting you to say how great the thing is good luck .

I purchased a refurbished Mobilepro 780 through Amazon from a real pro(fessional) and write this review because I simply feel good about this experience. I was interested in a handheld with a good keyboard, largely to write journal entries and letters on the move, had heard about the Nec and HP versions, found that HP no longer produced their Jornada and that Nec still produced one for about $1000, read a lot of very mixed reviews, got scared and almost turned-off despite some good prices on used/refurbished machines, and happened upon "llewyn" as the seller of several models, noticed his incredibly positive reviews (96% five stars) and decided to proceed, gingerly. I am glad I did.

I started by writing an email to Larry Lewyn, asking questions about what might fit my purpose. He wrote back a very thorough, thoughtful and well-written response. After a few more exchanges of email, I bought one of his Nec Mobilepro 780s through Amazon. The price was good, but even more important the service was outstanding. He shipped my computer quickly, it came with lots of software that he had developed or installed, a full backup CD which also included not only the complete documentation but several short pieces with helpful hints, and all the necessary hookups. Inevitably, being a computer novice, I had questions (e.g. about transferring files from my Mobilepro to my desktop). Larry answered my questions quickly and with the same thoughtfulness and thoroughness that he had done before I bought from him.

In short, this guy is a real professional, obviously knows his stuff, takes pride in communicating it clearly, cares about his buyers and their satisfaction, and keeps himself available for follow-up. I don't think there are many entrepreneurs like him anymore, where service really does come first. I have no idea about what else he does in life, but he certainly puts himself into his handhelds and serving his customers.

I am sure this sounds overblown, but simply having found and experienced this seller provides a lift to the spirits. I think he's one of those people you would really like to meet, but probably never will.

What more can I say? Whenever I look to buy things from the internet, Amazon, even small entrepreneurs anywhere, I am going to be looking for a Larry Lewyn.

I purchased the MobilePro 780 refurbished from TigerDirect. The first one wouldn't power up but they quickly sent me a new one that works fine. ActiveSync works fine with the serial port on my Windows XP computer. I did purchase a compact flash card that also works fine on the MobilePro. However, I was dismayed to find that it's not possible to store one's contacts and Outlook scheduling info on the CF card--this data must be stored in the ROM. I suppose it's not all that bad, since it's all text data. The MobilePro works fine with the slightly older U.S. Robotics 802.11b wireless card that I installed, too (downloaded the driver from the U.S. Robotics website). You can use it to access email at secure sites like Yahoo with the 128-bit patch that is available for the pocket version of IE.

I got this one used for $20 at a garage sale. They didn't know what to use it for. I saw the modem and figured it would be a good portable email computer. Well, it is and it isn't.

Internet setup was a breeze. So now for email. Well, like many people, I have more than one address. but I was pretty shocked to find that the version of IE that comes with it cannot log into Yahoo, Lycos, or AOL's webmail. So even though I have several to choose from, I can't get to any of them. So next I go on a quest for another browser and find CE 2.11 to be VERY hard to get additional software for. Nobody has anything. I remember that these CE devices weren't a #1 hit, and I guess this is the consequence - practically no software. I did get a solution which was to use Mail2web.com and access my POP3 email that I use on my Clie PDA and Outlook. So it ended up working okay because this POP3 account was already my mobile account. I would have used Outlook on this, but the Pocket Outlook doesn't send direcly. It must be synched. This was no good because I already have this ability with my Clie, and was wanting to use this for extended trips away from my PC where I could sync. So Mail2web.com has been a life saver.

Next came web browsing. Not bad. I was able to get to most websites with no problem. Although it did help to turn off the feature to fit the page to the screen. So I'm pleased with it as something to read the news and do Yahoo searches with.

Now for the office apps. I mostly wanted Word, and it does the trick. They keyboard has a great feel to it, and for that matter, the whole unit feels well made. I was able to touch type with no problem, but it did take a few minutes to get used it the keyboard size.

It has solitaire for games, and that' s good enough to kill time on.

The screen could be better. Better as in brighter and not having those "ghost lines" as I call them that the passive LCD's get. And it's pretty much useless in direct sunlight. But it's good enough for simple indoor use. Just don't expect to be impressed with it.

Battery life is awesome.

Shortly, I plan on seeing what options I have with the wireless internet through the PCMCIA slot.

As for recommending it to someone, maybe. I use it for email and light web browsing, and probably taking notes in class on it once the Fall semester rolls around. But for someone who wants music, high quality pictures, more versaility on the web and a good selection of software, go for something newer. This unit is just too old to meet a lot modern demands.

As for my history of similar products used, I've been a Palm guy. Palm IIIc and a Sony Clie T665c, which I'm still using as my primary portable device. The Clie with it's high res color screen and MP3 player is just simply higher on the cool scale than this Mobilepro, even though it lacks a build in modem and browser.

I recently purchased a refurbished NEC 780 from llewn3 a new marketer with Amazon.com. I am very satisfied with the product and customer service. I had follow-up questions. llewn3 responded promptly and fully addressed all of my questions. I will order from him again.

It is a very old model and it can not do much nowadays, but it is small, it is easy to type on and ok to read from. I use it to make notes, read ebooks, and this is mostly it. For the price I paid ($150) it does a great job and I still could not find a better balance of price/size/functionality in any other device for this purpose.

I received the NEC Mobilepro 780 Portable Computer in the worst condition you can ever imagine a computer being shipped in. I was incredibly angry over the condition of the computer. The seller Jtcamp indicated that the computer was in "very good" condition, however, when I received the device it looked as if someone ran over it with a truck. I would never have purchased this product if I knew that I could receive something in this condition.