10. Optical Drive

Since the PaceBook does not include a built-in CD-Rom/ DVD-Rom, PaceBlade includes another approach for adding DVD-Rom connectivity to your PaceBook. PaceBlade includes a 1394/Firewire external DVD-Rom drive with the PaceBook. The included 1394/Firewire external DVD-Rom drive uses a two-headed cable with one 4-pin 1394/Firewire connector, while the other connector is a power connector that draws power directly from the PaceBook, whether on AC power or on battery power. We found the external 1394/Firewire drive to be both quiet and fast. Use of this custom cable can present a challenge in the event you happen to leave home without it, as you will be without the use of your DVD-Rom drive. The outer housing and look of the external 1394/Firewire DVD-Rom is, in our opinion, rather 'sexy.'

To keep the current form factor, PaceBlade had to use an external 1394/Firewire DVD drive.

Input Methods

One area in which the PaceBook is not lacking is input methods. The keyboard is the most obvious, while with the touch screen display, you gain the ability to actually write your documents with the included stylus. If you are in the Laptop mode, you can enable the virtual or on-screen keyboard. Enabling the virtual or on-screen keyboard is done using the Menu button, which launches the Menu program. Once the Menu program is launched, you have the ability to configure the keyboard, input data, and configure or launch shortcuts.

PaceMenu will help when using the PaceBook in either Landscape or Portrait mode.

If you are in a relatively noise-free environment, you can use the voice recognition software built into Windows XP for voice recognition input. If you don't like the built-in software included with Windows XP, it is possible to use other third-party software, but PaceBlade does not include any voice recognition software beyond what is included with Windows XP.

PaceBlade also has their new smARTwriter software. When installed, the programmable any-key becomes the 'Handwriting' Key. Upon pressing the any-key, the smARTwriter software will launch and the smARTwriter control pad will appear. The smARTwriter handwriting recognition software worked just the way it is supposed to, after training it, of course. Personally, we think that the Graffiti solution from Palm allows for much faster writing, but that may be because we are more familiar with the Palm features. The only problem we encountered with smARTwriter was that when we were writing, our hands would touch the screen and change the location of the cursor. That was annoying. With the cursor moving, we had no idea what character would appear.

In the upper right hand corner you will notice the PaceWrite Form.