It has being organised that I am to have a Alphasmart 3000 for use at University.

I am waiting for confirmation from my LEA (Local Education Authority) that I can purchase one of these machines. Which I am expecting any day.

Here is what I know about the AS3000:
It has a Full Size keyboard with 80 keys.
Rugged, lightweight design.
4-line by 40-character LCD display.
Functions as a full-featured keyboard when connected to your Macintosh's or PC's keyboard port.
Comes with 3 AA batteries.
It holds 100 pages of text.
It has 8 files to store different data in, each holding approximately 12.5 pages of text(adding up to 100 pages)
Send the text to any application on your PC or MAC via special cable or standard USB
Print directly to most printers
It features: Spell Checker, Keyword Search, Keyboarding Timer, AutoSave, AutoPower off, Cut & Copy & Paste, Password Protection, Two-way tranfer(PC to AS3000), Features for special needs like Sticky Keys, Key Repeat, Different keyboard layouts.

The AS3000 also lets you add extra software to it, which are called Applets. These Applets are used to extend the functionality of the AS3000. Although most of the applets you have to pay for, there are a couple you can download for free.

The battery life in the AS3000 is:
3 AA Batteries = 300-500 hours
NiHM Rechargable = 100 hours

I Would suggest standard AA Batteries.

The size of the AS3000 is:
Height: 1.9 in. (4.8 cm)
Width: 12.4 in. (31.4 cm)
Depth: 9.3 in. (23.5 cm)

The weight of the AS3000 is:
Weight: 2.0 lbs. (.91 kg)

Prices:
AlphaSmart 3000 Non-Infrared keyboard for PC/MAC, with PS/2 & AT 'Y' cable, manual, batteries with 3 years return to base warranty.
= £199

AlphaSmart carry case
= £19.95

AlphaSmart 'GET' utility for a PC for downloading files to and from the PC to the AS3000 <
br> = £19

I will write another opinion on the AlphaSmart 3000 when I receive the product hopefully in 1 weeks time.