The Alphasmart is an amazing tool for not only school children, but writers as well. This is why I decided to go off and purchase one for myself from Ebay.com. I spent roughly $28.00 on this piece of machinery and loving every penny that I spent on it. No matter how much better it would have been if I would have purchased it brand new I find the value to be worth it. The Alphasmart is quite simply A small word processor that resembles just a keyboard and a 4 line monochrome screen.

The functions that are included with the Alphasmart system depends on what model you decide to purchase. For example, the Alphasmart 3000 has your normal word processor and a calculator. The calculator is surprisingly functional and can handle some very long equations and will show some of the previous steps that you have taken so you can double check your work. There are also a few models of the Alphasmart system that has excel spreadsheets, and power point presentations.

The Alphasmart system costs usually $200 plus anything else that you add to the Alphasmart such as a rechargeable battery, which costs you a couple extra bucks.

However if you are a little more ambitious and a bargain hunter, just like me, then you can try to find a good deal on Ebay. On Ebay, like I said above, I paid nearly $30 on mine and it is in perfect working condition with a rechargable battery. The only drawback to this is that it didn't come with any cables to connect to my computer, although I'm sure I have some old USB cables lying around the house that I can use to send the information from my Alphasmart straight to my computer.

The word processor and quick witching between different files is very useful for a wide variety of people. For example, a student would find the Alphasmart to be very useful for organising: a homework list, to do list, a lot easier for people with poor handwriting also. Another vital function would be for aspiring writers. Writers will find the Alphasmart superior to a laptop for many reasons including its battery life. The battery life with 3 double A batteries is at around 300 hours. Of course it is safe to assume that this is an exaggerated estimate, like all other companies do. Many people claim that they have been using their Alphasmart for over a year without changing the batteries and still have over 80% power. This is thanks to the ingenious design and lack of power for anything unnecessary functions.

So, in conclusion I think that the Alphasmart is worth looking into whether you are an aspiring writer, or just a normal student thanks to its small size and amazingly easy to use functions make it a must have. Purchasing it brand new may be a little expensive, but if you find it used from a school or anything like that on Ebay you will save a good bundle of money and be very happy with your investment.