So you come into the Palm world, huh?  Let me describe
the different models that are available and offer my
opinions:

The available Palm's are the IIIx, the V, and the VII.  The
other models basically suck or were not widely released to 
the public;  I bet you couldn't find them if you tried.  
(You probably weren't expecting an opinion quite so soon...)
The applications software and databases that are available 
for the models are all pretty much the same.  The differences 
between the models are:

IIIx:  "eXpandable" to 8 megabytes memory (from 2 mb).  Kind
of large but good and cheap.  8 meg is more than anybody
will ever need on these devices unless they become addicted
to the video games, which are memory-hungry.

V:  Slightly smaller and half as thick compared to the
IIIx.  Has 2 mb of memory and is not easily expandable.  I get
along fine (2 mb is a lot of text!), but have to memory-
manage every couple of months to clear out unneeded stuff.
(And no games for me...)  It is possible to send the unit
away and have a 3rd party solder in an 8 mb chip; I will
eventually do this.

(Vx:  Brand new and hard to find, expensive.  Like the V,
but comes with 8 mb memory.)

VII:  Same size as the IIIx, but with an antenna.  It uses
cellphone-like networks to browse the web or do "live" email 
from anywhere.  Chicago is within a service area.

Personally, I like the V because it is small and fits in my
pocket.  I argue that the Palm does you no good if you
always leave it in a drawer; you need something you will
have all the time so you have it when you need it.  I can't
stress that enough: if you don't have your Palm with you,
you're not limited by it's memory, you're limited by your
own memory!  I download newspapers and read/write email 
(albeit "offline") with the Palm V as it is, so I don't 
really see the need for the wireless model, especially if 
it is too large.  Maybe I would change my mind if I had a 
VII to play with, but right now, if I were to do it all 
over again, I'd get a V or Vx for sure.

If you are looking to buy a palmtop device, you should go
to Best Buy's case and hold a few.  You should decide for
yourself if the things are small enough to carry everywhere,
that's the important thing.  Play with them a little bit if
you want, but remember that these things are software-barren
out of the box, like a computer if it came with only DOS and
Quicken.  Plan to blow $100 on third-party software shortly
after purchase (but most software is free anyway so $100
goes a long way!).

I made some HEP-specific databases and plots, you can get
them from the Particle Data Group webpage (I'm a consultant
now).  I crank out more stuff on occasion, when I get my
head above water for more than a couple minutes at a
time...  The "computing" portion of my webpage has a little
list of Palm applications I downloaded and found most
useful, as well as a link to PDG.  There is also a really
great site called www.palmgear.com where I both learned about 
and bought all of my software.  (If you have fears about buying
with credit cards online, get over it!)

Jeez, I wrote quite a lot.  I think I'll save this email and
put it on my webpage!

    - John