Neo2 Alphasmart Word Processor with Full Size Keyboard, Calculator

Using it for writing early draft of story. No bells or whistles. Perfect machineamundo!

I just bought my third Alphasmart device off eBay. It’s a Neo2. I also have a Neo lost somewhere in the detritus of my flat. It’s was simpler to just buy another one cheaply for £27 that to tear the place apart for the third time. I also own the Neo’s predecessor the Alphasmart 3000 but that has a crappy keyboard in comparison with the Neo’s.What is a Neo? It’s a writing device pure and simple. There are no distractions coming from email or Facebook or your browser since they do not exist on this device from an earlier age of computing. They were originally intended for school children and the Neo2 has lessons software embedded in it. None of which is useful to me. I just use Alphaword, the word processor. Occasionally I might use the calculator but that’s about it. The Neo2 has a standard keyboard layout except the top row where the function keys normally lie the Neo has its own set of keys. There are eight numbered file keys and a few others like Clear and Send. Hitting a file key opens a file space that can contain up to twenty A4 pages of text easily enough for a chapter of your magnum opus. You can however manually save more that eight files by naming files. I have never bothered since eight do for me. Actually I use the eight file as an index for the titles of the other seven file keys. I also write shortcut commands and other quick notes in there like REM’s etc.To get the text out of your Neo is a simple task. You just plug in a usb lead, the one with a square shape printer type connection into the back of the Neo, the other usual usb shaped end you plug into your laptop of PC. It’s best to do the plugging in while you are on your desktop rather than inside a piece of software. My MacBook got very confused when I plugged in my Neo while I was in my Bear app. It sort of went haywire and my heart raced a little thinking it might have corrupted the files! Nope but still it was a tad scary. So with the laptop or desktop connected the little screen on the Neo will say “connected and will prompt you to press the send key to transfer your text. So open a note or word processing program on your PC. Create a new document and hit the send key on your Neo. Viola line by line your text appears as if typed by a magic typist. It’s not the fasted of operations.If you can find the Alphasmart file manager software and get it working then there are other faster transfer methods even two way from PC to Neo. You can find a link to it easily enough on the web. it comes in a zip file format. The main issue is that the software is old like from 2014 and it might not run. But give it try if you want.I love my Neo’s. I can just chuck everything down with very little editing or spell checking as I can do all that later on my laptop. The small lcd screen only displays a maximum of six lines and as few as two depending on how you set it up. Yes, it is small but you can easily see what you are typing. You can use basic Markup commands on the Neo which will format the text when it transfers across to your PC but never bother most of the time. The Basic nature of the Neo makes you concentrate on your writing. There are no distractions just you and your ideas and your keyboard to get them down. I find it liberating using my Neo to write. I do edit like I do on my laptops screen thinking ‘oh blimey that looks crap’. Instead I just throw it all in warts and all. I can always fix it later.Have fun with your Neo if you manage to get one. You won’t regret it. Oh, I nearly forgot. Battery life. Three AA’s last 500 hours, yes you did read that right. 500 hours! Get in there.

I’m beyond pleased with the capabilities of this product and the condition in which it was delivered to me. Packaged well, usb cord included, brand new battery for full power. This seller has respect for the buyer and for him/herself. It also arrived the next day with Amazon Prime.The photo shows the Neo2 lying on top of my MacBook Pro. I wanted something that was super portable so I could carry it in my usual handbag and whip it out at a moment’s notice to continue writing my novel. For my needs, the Neo2 is superb.Dimension-wise, the Neo2 is slightly larger than my MacBook and measures about 12” long and 9” high. But it’s less than half the weight! So all night long, I’ve been whipping it onto my lap to write. And because I tend to carry larger bags, it’ll slide right in. I would buy a larger bag if I had to though - priorities ;)No loading time, just press “on” and you’re good to go. No pop-ups or any chance of falling into a Google Spiral. 8 different files you can write in (like creating a new document in Pages or Word). I’m writing my novel in File 1 and when that fills up I’ll continue to File 2, and so forth. I’m typing plot points, themes, etc. in File 8. Of course the capacity of each file is limited so you have to transfer to your computer at some point (with a USB cord, though the one included is not compatible with a Mac). That’s fine for me, because the last thing I need to be doing is scrolling 1,000 lines back to re-read everything I’ve just written (ego kills).It has decent editing capabilities. Scrolling, select all, copy and paste, a very basic spell check, and maybe more that I haven’t discovered because I’ve only had it for one day. By the way, there’s a Quick Reference Guide right on the back of the device! Maybe I’m showing my age here but I FRICKIN LOVE THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS THING!Bonus: It’s a full-size keyboard with super smooth keying, and it has a fun typing lesson that can score you on how well you do. For my 11 year old who’s usually glued to his PS4, this is a cool little diversion, and I can already see us trying it out next time we’re at a restaurant waiting for our food. Don’t judge, just don’t.I do want to point out that my seller was Princetons fulfilled by Amazon. I cannot attest to the quality of the product sold by anyone other than Princetons.

It's everything I thought it would be. It works with the ease of paper and pen -- you just pick it up and write. No passwords needed; no time needed to power up or down; no power cables looking for outlets; auto-saves; light weight. In addition to having no internet connection, which of course eliminates one huge, time-sucking distraction, there is also no big, glowing white screen to cause eye strain and mental exhaustion. I used to use a notepad and pen to get away from the computer for first drafts, but naturally my longhand takes longer than typing. Solution found.I think the writing world needs to be reintroduced to this baby and hopefully get production going on new units. Writing productivity only has one way to go with the Neo2...

The Neo2 Word ProcessorOctober 30th 2020…These are my first words typed into the Neo2. It arrived 3 days early. The company Princeton’s that sells these preowned word processors handles their orders promptly. There are a few scratches on it, but it is in really nice shape. The keyboard is excellent, I like it more than the one on my Chromebook. The screen is very readable with only the afternoon light from the window to the side of my chair. I like the four line set-up, it is perfectly readable. It had a little pull tab sticking out of the battery compartment, I pulled it out and hit the on-off switch and it came to life. So far it looks like a winner. No fuss no muss, simple and well made. It is built like a brick. I will now set-up the two keys on-off so I dont turn it on in my bag. After doing the file transfer to my Chromebook I wrote this line because it worked. I did set-up the two keys on-off and it works. I am very happy with my purchase! I might buy another as a spare, since they haven’t made them new since 2013. This is going to be my distraction-free writing machine for all of my first drafts. It has been three days since I received the Neo2, and I like it even more now. It came with AmazonBasics Industrial batteries in it, I changed them to AmazonBasics 10 year leak-proof batteries. By the way, when I took the batteries out of the Neo2 it didn’t lose my files. I have written over 3000 words with it and it is a dream. I purchased a “Hooga, Model-Hoogalite_01” book light for it on Amazon and it clips right in the middle at the top of the Neo2 and does a great job. Great device!!

Writing - it certainly helps keep you focused.

I bought mine from LarryliBooks. In perfect shape! I need to know if it saves the docs after I load them into my Mac, but what i DO know, is no more Hackers screwing up my novels, letters, emails, poems. No more Ads, streaming across, below and side to side on my Mac screen! This little device is lightweight, give you enough screen to follow what you're doing, fits my lap holder (normally for laptop), and when the file is completed, I can SEND the entire text to my iMac. Plug it into the back of the Mac with enclosed USB and sit back and watch your words load into Pages (or whatever you've got on your computer). This even auto corrects! It is a miracle. There is a way to connect to your printer from the Neo2 but I don't know how to do that. I just print out my word from the Mac, then erase my Mac doc after storing it on my Flash drive. No more Hackers, , cause Neo2 needs NO electricity, NO WiFi, and they can't do squat. I even load my files from Neo to the Mac when the WiFi is turned OFF. A gift from Heaven, this little device! All sorts of stuff you expect on a keyboard, QWERTY, 8 Files, you must use the direction keys to move the cursor around. Make sure you get the cord with the Neo2 Alphasmart Word Processor so you can upload your work to your computer. It's a cable which fits into the back of the Neo2 and connect to the back of your Mac. I'm a Senior Lady with bad vision and no computer smarts and this device is marvelous. You have to push those keys harder than a Mac keyboard but it's no big deal. Easier than a typewriter! I LOVE IT, LaryLiBooks! A+++++