The four USB ports on the back of the iPAQ Home Internet Appliance are a nice feature. We immediately attached the new optical Apple Pro Mouse and found that it worked like a charm. We were grateful too, since Compaq has included what can only be described as the worst pointing device ever integrated into a keyboard. The Push Pad is an oversized directional control pad used to move the cursor around the screen. The Push Pad is centered at the bottom of the keyboard for left or right-handed use. Two buttons below the Push Pad act as left and right mouse buttons. The Push Pad's muddy response made it difficult to operate the pointer while keeping our hands in a comfortable typing position. We had to fight so hard to control the cursor on-screen that Web surfing hardly seemed worth the trouble.

The iPAQ IA-1's base unit features a 10.1 inch LCD passive matrix display that can be angled for optimal viewing. We would like to see passive matrix LCDs go the way of the dodo, and the iPAQ's LCD display only reinforced that wish. The image quality was adequate, but the viewing angle limited us to sitting front and center. The iPAQ's passive matrix LCD introduces a problem with the on-screen cursor — it vanishes. Any time we moved the cursor quickly across the screen, the cursor itself would dim and become hard to spot until we stopped moving it. More than once we "lost" the cursor along the edge of the display while moving the cursor across the screen. A USB mouse did offer better cursor control, but did nothing for the dimming problem.

If you need 56K dialup Internet access without the hassles of setting up a PC and finding an ISP, the iPAQ IA-1 fits the bill — for a price. We feel that a $400 appliance without a decent pointing device, crisp display, or broadband connectivity is not a great deal. Limited ISP options are common with most Net appliances — buy an IA-1 and you are essentially tied to MSN for the life of the device. If you have the initial $399 for a Compaq's iPAQ Home Internet Appliance, consider something with a little more expandability like an eMachine or a refurbished PC.