Data to go.(personal digital assistants)(Buyers Guide)(Cover Story)

The personal digital assistant, or PDA, seems to be showing up in everyone's hands. The dot-com CEO has one, naturally, but so does the dot-com gofer. The soccer mom uses one and so do her kids. The college freshman is just as likely as the dean of students to have a PDA. There are now more than a dozen to choose among, from miniatures the size of a credit card to smallish computers complete with a keyboard. In between lies the design most people equate with the PDA--the tablet with a stylus and squarish display screen--pioneered by Palm Inc. several years ago. Today, the choices include clones using the Palm operating system, low-priced knockoffs that only superficially resemble Palms, and Pocket PCs that use a scaled-down version of Microsoft Windows.

What all PDAs have in common--and why people buy them--is the ability to store and retrieve thousands of phone numbers, appointments, to-do chores, and notes. All models can exchange, or synchronize, information with a full-sized computer.

Most work with both Windows and Macintosh computers, either out of the box or with an inexpensive adapter. Many can serve as a wireless entree to the Internet, most often with the addition of an extra-cost modem or cell-phone accessory.

Which of the myriad sizes and styles is best--whether you're buying a PDA for yourself or as a gift for graduation or Mother's or Father's Day? To help you decide, we tested 15 leading PDAs, putting them through lab tests and asking testers to gauge their ease of use.

PALM--STYLE ALL-AROUND ORGANIZERS

PDAs using the Palm operating system are small, low-priced, and simple to use. You enter data with a stylus, either by tapping on an onscreen keyboard or by writing in a shorthand called Graffiti.

The choices available. The Palm line ranges from the basic m100, $150 (see page 22), to the wireless-connected VIIx, $400. All come with the basic four functions--address book, memo pad, appointment calendar, to-do list. Most have a monochrome display; the IIIc (tested June 2000) gives you color, for $330. Most Palm models have 8 megabytes (MB) of RAM.