Alphasmart USB Alpha Smart 3000 Word Processing Computer Mac PC

First I have a disclosure to make: I sell a lot of these on Amazon Marketplace. Until I discovered the more advanced, but less reliable Dana I also did most of my writing on one of these. I still occasionally pull out my rugged old 3000 when I need to be away from home for a while, for instance if I'm going on a week-long camping trip. I have done some of my best writing on my 3000; and I love the simplicity of it. The AlphaSmart 3000 is an example of a well made product that does everything it was designed to do with excellence.Who Would Benefit From Owning It:The 3000 is a good choice for both children and adults. It was designed and built with grade school children in mind. It is therefore simple, rugged, and reliable. They come standard with an applet that teaches touch-typing on a QWERTY keyboard. As well as a spell check and a simple plain text word processor. The 3000 weighs about two pounds and is built on a chassis of rugged ABS plastic. Depending on the software version you may or may not be able to add and remove different learning applets.Adults may also benefit from the 3000. It has a full size QWERTY keyboard and stores up to 87 pages of plain text. Its reliability and toughness are nearly unmatched, only the much more expensive NEO is more reliable. The 3000 is ideal for writers who need a portable tool that can go almost anywhere. For example if you were taking a road trip, or a camping trip, or a cross country bicycle trip and you wanted to be able to write on the go without worrying about your laptop then this is the tool for you. The 3000 turns on and off almost instantly. And there's no forgetting to save because it saves everything you type as you type it. One of the greatest additional benefits to writers will be that the 3000 is COMPLETELY DISTRACTION FREE.Batteries:Beware of used 3000s which include a rechargeable battery pack. These batteries are usually very old, don't work well, and often leak. Adding and removing the AlphaSmart rechargeable battery pack to/from a 3000 is a real pain in the neck. You have to take the whole unit apart to get to it. I recycle all the batteries from my stock so you don't have to go through all that. Fortunately the 3000 will run perfectly and for a really long time on normal AA batteries. Both alkaline and NiMh AAs will work... for a really long time. We're talking months on one set of store bought batteries with frequent use. The manufacturer claims they will last 700 hours on a single set of batteries. You will also NOT lose your data when your AA batteries eventually do die. There's a secondary CR2032 button-cell battery inside which keeps your data safely stored.If the secondary CR2032 battery goes dead you will lose your data as soon as you turn off the 3000. These batteries can last a really long time. I have seen 3000s that have been in storage for 7 years and still had data on them. That being said, most of these things have the original CR2032 in them and you would do well to replace them first thing. (batteries are recyclable at your local Ace hardware.) To get to the CR2032 you have to unscrew the back cover. It's easy, but time consuming.Software:There are two software versions for AS 3000s. There is the older version 1.x and the newer version 3.x. There is no version 2. The version 1.x units are very limited in their abilities. First of all they only store eight files. Your only option for getting data to your computer is by hitting the "send" button which will slowly scroll what you typed across your computer screen. Then you have to save the resulting file. This is a slow and cumbersome process.The version 3.x units are much more efficient. There is an AlphaSmart Manager program which will pull everything you have typed off at one go. It takes about half a minute. Version 3.x. also has many of the same features as the more advanced NEO, though you still have the physical memory limitations of the 3000. Some of the features you get in the 3.x units are the ability to add larger or smaller spell checks, large or small thesauri, file naming which will allow you to exceed the 8 file limitation, you also get AlphaWord version 3 which is absolutely superior to version 1 because you have keyboard shortcuts which mimic the windows/mac keyboard shortcuts.Cables:Sellers often advertise 3000s that come with a wide variety of cable attachments. Most of these cables were designed for use with pre-USB computers which were very common when the 3000s were made. The only cable you will actually need for a modern computer is the USB cable. The 3000 takes a Type-B USB cable just like the one you attach to your printer. You may already have at least on extra one, and odds are good that even if you don't, one of your friends or neighbors will. If you ask around you can easily get one for free. They can also be inexpensively purchased at most major and many minor retailers.Things to Consider when Buying a Used One:These things are old and were usually used by school districts, who then auctioned them off to someone like me. They are usually grimy and germy when they first arrive from the school (I handle them with rubber gloves until after I clean them) and they have a relatively high failure rate. A failure may be from a leaky battery, a bad keyboard, a faded or non-working screen, or a burnt out main-board. When buying a used one read the seller's description carefully and weigh the cost-benefit of an inexpensive, but uncleaned and untested one versus a more costly one which has been cleaned and is guaranteed to work out of the box. Has the seller taken the time to clean and test it? Or are they just pulling it out of a shipping carton and repacking it for you? If it doesn't work, what then? Have you time to wait for a replacement? What if you have a technical question? Can the seller answer it? I spend a lot of time cleaning and fixing my 3000s so that they work out of the box. I even replace the little rubber feet if needed. And because I'm a writer who writes on an AlphaSmart I can probably answer your question.AS3k & Windows 7:You will not be able to run the AlphaSmart Manager in Windows 7. Or rather, you CAN run it. But it won't actually do anything. Windows 7 has both compatibility mode and XP mode (these are not the same) and neither of them do beans for any AlphaSmart.If you have an AlphaSmart 3000 running System 3 operating system (same as the Neo), then you can use the Neo Manager to sync your AlphaSmart to Windows 7. The Neo Manager will say you can't. And with the approximately 99% of the 3000s out there running System 1, this is the case. If you use or will be using Windows 7, make sure the AlphaSmart 3000 you get is running System 3.And FYI, Renaissance Learning no longer offers the old AlphaSmart Manager for download. So even if you do have a Pre-7 version of Windows, you may still need to use the Neo Manager. And it will ONLY work with 3000s that run the Neo's operating system.System 1 vs System 3:System 1 is AlphaSmart's operating system for the 3000. System 3 is their operating system for the more advanced Neo. The Neo's system is just straight up better. With it you can rename files, split files, and it has a better word processing program. It can also data-sync with either the AlphaSmart Manager (no longer available) or the Neo Manager, downloadable from Renaissance Learning.Little kids just learning to write probably won't benefit either way. But adults will definitely want to have System 3 on their AlphaSmart 3000. It allows you to download all of your files at once, as opposed to System 1's serial download which is super slow because it has to go one character at a time.A little bit about Testing:What do people mean when they say a unit "has been tested and it works." Well I can't say exactly what other people mean when they say that. But I might wonder about their ability to test. Do they themselves use an Alphasmart so that they know its ins and outs? How did they test it? Did they just turn it on and if some text appears declare that "it works"? My feeling is that that's what most sellers mean. There's a lot that can go wrong with an Alphasmart 3000. The keyboard can break. The screen can go all or partially out. The main circuit board can have one or more failed or failing parts. The secondary backup-battery can fail. Have they tested for ALL of that?I put every unit through a stress-test which has killed a pile of them so far. These turned on the first time and had I not stressed them out, would have failed in a buyer's hands instead of mine. If a seller claims that a unit has been "tested" you might do well to ask a few pointed questions. If they can't give knowledgeable answers, then you might do well to wonder what their "test" is really worth?Wrapping Up:If you are looking for a simple, rugged, and reliable writing tool then the AlphaSmart 3000 is an excellent choice; especially if you will be away from your computer for a long time. If you are going to be doing your writing close to home and want some formatting capabilities then you might consider getting an AlphaSmart Dana.For young kids, the 3000 is a great way to get them into writing since they can just turn it on and go without the distraction of the internet and games. They can also take it outside without you having to worry about them accidentally smashing an expensive laptop.

I bought this based on some reviews within the writing community as an alternative to the more expensive word processers. Between this model and the Neo2 I chose the 3000 because of the clear plastic (90s kid, not sorry) and I feel like it looks more retro because of that. I have increased my word count already and find the basic navigation to be helpful considering it is just annoying enough to prevent me from going back and editing instead of writing. I will eventually upgrade to the Neo2 as that seems to be the newest model/the most popular one, but the 3000 is a sturdy machine on its' own. Using this has made me kind of wish that my school had these when I was growing up, but I feel like despite how indestructible they are my classmates would have ruined them.The concept is easy, all it does it write and then can send that writing via cable to an open word doc on your computer. I did see a lot of confusion on how to export documents in my research, but it really is as easy as opening a blank document (or the same doc if you are writing a continuous thing), connecting the cable while the Alphasmart is on, and hitting send. The process does require you to not touch anything on the computer while it is sending (anything clicked will become the new source for the output). I love how simple it really is, and in general that helps to make it very distraction free. The only distraction now is my own attention span and discipline instead of unconsciously drifting over to the internet during down time on a computer/ipad.I would definitely recommend the Alphasmart line for those who need more focus while writing. The device may be bigger than an ipad, but it is portable enough that it can go anywhere with you (for example, I take mine to work for when I have downtime).My 3000 came in pretty close to perfect condition; one of the rubber feet is scraped and the battery door is missing, but so far no impact on functionality. I will say the keyboard is a little more stiff than the average laptop or wired keyboard, and in turn is a little quieter than you would expect it to be. The fact there are eight files that can hold separate stories is nice as well considering some of us writers may be working on multiple projects at a time. I hope that the battery life is as long as it brags, most of the Alphasmarts boast about 700 hours of battery life, as that would definitely make a huge difference over other devices used for writing.