The HP 95LX has the advantage of being both a DOS machine and of having a more friendly and powerful second layer operating system environment called "System Manager." The fact the 95LX is a DOS machine means that many DOS programs originally designed for an IBM PC compatible computer will either run directly on the 95LX, or can be modified to run (by the program's publisher) with relatively little effort. The 95LX's 40x16 screen, its small disk space, and its lack of PC-compatible graphics support are the major obstacles to software running on the 95LX.
System Manager has the advantage of allowing users to open more than one program at once. This is not normally possible in a straight MS-DOS environment. 95LX users don't think twice about opening their phone book, then switching to MEMO to jot down a note, going to Lotus 1-2-3 to check some figures, popping back to MEMO to finish the note, and then returning to PHONE, exactly where you left off.
In general, System Manager and its FILER application do a good job of hiding many of the complexities of the DOS environment from the everyday user.