BN Nook as posible tech pdf reader

neocybe

while researching the Barnes & Nobile Nook as a potential reader for my long list of technical pdfs I found this review~

Nook eBook Reader and PDF Documents

Not sure if this guy is on the payroll at B&N but at first glance looks like a good case for the 6" display nook for those who dont want to shell out $350+ for the Amazon Kindle.

Cheers!

I wanted to append this to one of the existing threads but could not find them.

down77

Author of the article was also the author of the pdf that he copied to the nook. Not a bad review... looks to be much better performance than the old sony ebook reader I used a few years back

tbgree00

I actually have a nook that was purchased for the exact reason of studying the pdf versions of my certification guides. I have been less than impressed with the results. The performance isn't bad but there is a lot lost in formatting with MSPress books if you put it at a readable font level. In the end I couldn't adjust to it on the small screen. I think that a 10 inch screen (iPad or Kindle DX) would be perfect. In fact I loaded a free MSPress book ebook on my friend's iPad and it was perfect. Those are also very costly alternatives.

The nook itself is pretty great. there are tons of free ebooks and very low cost ones on their marketplace plus they have all of the google books. It's very hard to find exactly what you want from google books but they exist.

If you want I can take picture of a book on it when I get home.

dynamik

I'll get the Kindle DX when it comes down a little more; I want my PDFs to be at that size. The Kindle 2 is now something like $189 if you're ok with the smaller size.

tbgree00

dynamik wrote: »

I'll get the Kindle DX when it comes down a little more; I want my PDFs to be at that size. The Kindle 2 is now something like $189 if you're ok with the smaller size.

If you look at Amazon's warehouse deals they have the white DX refurbished for 299. They also just dropped the price on the slate colored one to 359.

Nobylspoon

I have a Sony 505 ebook reader and it is fantastic for paperback sized books but I was able to get decent functionality out of tech books as well after using a PDF editor to crop out all of the dead space on my MS Press books. Before being edited, the font of the A4 sized pages are way to small to read but after cropping all the blank space the font size is large enough to comfortably read. Unfortunatly, the refresh rate of eInk devices isn't that great so if you flip through a lot of pages for research then you might not like the results.

I have since upgraded to an HP Touchsmart TM2 tablet PC that I read all of my tech books on and it is fantastic. I really haven't used my Sony reader too much since I picked it up. With the Wacom enabled screen I can also write notes and highlight text when I am studying.

tpatt100

My wife and I had the first gen Kindle which we upgraded to the new one when they came out. Its "ok" for PDF files. I keep some general IT PDF files on mine just in case. I just like it for reading novels though. The search text and highight features seem more natural on my iPad though.

dynamik

tbgree00 wrote: »

If you look at Amazon's warehouse deals they have the white DX refurbished for 299. They also just dropped the price on the slate colored one to 359.

I'd want to go with the current version: Amazon.com: Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works…

The $359 version is a generation back now. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on the warehouse; thanks for that

RTmarc

tbgree00 wrote: »

I actually have a nook that was purchased for the exact reason of studying the pdf versions of my certification guides. I have been less than impressed with the results. The performance isn't bad but there is a lot lost in formatting with MSPress books if you put it at a readable font level. In the end I couldn't adjust to it on the small screen. I think that a 10 inch screen (iPad or Kindle DX) would be perfect. In fact I loaded a free MSPress book ebook on my friend's iPad and it was perfect. Those are also very costly alternatives.

I have the same opinion except I'm not even too impressed with the performance. Way too many lockups.

neocybe

I think I'm gonna bite the proverbial bullet and order the amazon kindle refurb for $249, if it doesnt work out I'll just return in before the 30 day return policy is up. . I'll let you know how it goes vs the 6" nook.

tbgree00

neocybe wrote: »

I think I'm gonna bite the proverbial bullet and order the amazon kindle refurb for $249, if it doesnt work out I'll just return in before the 30 day return policy is up. . I'll let you know how it goes vs the 6" nook.

249 is a great price for the DX. I didn't see that one when I first looked it up. I paid 259 for my nook plus 70 for a warranty. I feel like a sucker because I paid so much sometimes.

RobertKaucher

I love my Kindle DX. I paid $500 for it, but I believe it was worth every penny. My only regret is that I did not get the one with the black cover as it was only in white back then. I work in a very dirty environment, no Dynamik - not pr0n, so I have to clean it a lot.

TheShadow

Well I also have a nook but for normal reading. I have never had it lock up but I added a 16 Gig micro SD level 6 chip into it. The few PDF's that I have placed on it run off of that chip. Depending on who made the PDF the results varies. When I first got the nook I changed the default font to serif from sans serif. Don't know if that made any difference.but it is very readable with titles and so forth still in sans serif. Complaints are outline boxes are missing but the text is there. On Microsoft's 70-536 and the ASP.net series I found a few code display errors but I have read that the Android people are still working on the PDF reader code.

It will do in a pinch but I still prefer my 10.1 inch netbook rotated and my 22 inch HP display in portrait mode for heavy reading. The nook has improved quite a bit with the 1.4 OS and I am tempted to jailbreak it now that it also comes with the beta web browser. It is handy at Starbucks and McDonald's although I don't care for either place. Both have outside seating which is nice for a few hours of outdoor reading. My netbooks battery lasts much longer with the wireless on 7 to 8 hours. ATT 3G is not that great in my area but B&N is not too far away; they have better coffee and are open until 11p.m. at night. eReaders are really not intended for continuous net access but the current OS seems to handle it more intelligently.

The DX is tempting but my frugal brain is saying just how much digital crack do I need; so I will be happy for now. SWMBO still likes paper so I can't palm the nook off on her, besides for my normal non technical reading I love the thing; DX is too big for that.

Technology it's a hell of a drug!