Examining a Tablet PC

Mister Buttons writes "There really haven't been any real technical reviews of the new Tablet PC operating system from Microsoft yet. Those marketing stories published on CNET and the like do little more than whet the appetite. Luckily it looks like someone finally took a close look at the Tablet PC. The folks over at AnandTech have a good tablet PC review up which includes information on both the hardware and software that the tablet PCs use. Maybe it's time to break open that piggy bank..."

Comments

Not for me

[Quasar1999]

I can't see myself playing a first person shooter on this thing... Or a racing game... Heck, this thing just doesn't lend itself to games.... And that means that there is no reason for people like me (who make up most of the 'blow lots of money on new toy' market) to buy these things.

Re:Not for me

[hermescom]

OK, so all the reflex-requiring games are obviously out of the question here... But I think I'd enjoy playing a nicely paced RPG or a traditional adventure game on this thing while sitting somwhere in a nice and cosy armchair.

And it's probably awesome for those long hours of turn-based strategy gaming. A game of CIV3 anyone?

Re:Not for me

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Many of the (including myself) actually see things like Tablet PCs have a productivity advantage over a laptop."

I know a LOT of people out in the art world just *aching* to try Photoshop on one of these.

Overhyped?

[Nevermore-Spoon]

Does anyone else out there have the same feeling I do, that the Tablet PC is over hyped? The only tangible benefit I can really see is totally comfort motivated. The laptop has never been that comfortable to work on sitting on the couch. The tablet PC would make such computing more comfortable. However when it really comes down to using my PC I really prefer a keyboard over a pen & screen combo.

Re:Overhyped?

[Meddel]

>> However when it really comes down to using my PC I really prefer a keyboard over a pen & screen combo.

Why on earth would you have to choose pen and screen if you're doing something where a keyboard is better? Sounds like a convertible Tablet is right up your alley: completely normal laptop keyboard, high-end laptop specs, and you can rotate the screen into Tablet mode if you like.

The fun of my Tablet is that I can take notes (I'm a CS student, being able to make diagrams in my notes is key), but that if I want to type an email, I rotate the keyboard into view and *type it*.

Sorry to say.

[FreeLinux]

But, it looks really cool to me. I'd have to admit that MS has raised the bar with this OS. I wonder if the KDE team will show any interest in such things as the hand writing interface?

Tablet PC's

[ccgr]

I've played with them at work. They have nifty features like voice dictation and handwriting recognition but they are about 85% accurate. It can even partially understand cursive! Very cute lil things but not quite there yet.

Re:Tablet PC's

[mattyohe]

No. The software is not "learning" your handwriting. They found that by learning.. it ended up causing even worse recognition. Instead of "learning", Microsoft bought code from to companies that were working on this type of OCR, and combined their own code with them. I personally tried writting on one of these using the prodigal "Hello World" and it converted it to text very quickly. Then I wrote it again, but also adding twitching into the words... It still was able to read it. Very powerful software.

Re:Tablet vs Wacom

[Tenebrious1]

I still don't see what the hype of a tablet PC is all about, for much less you can pick a a PC, or even a laptop and a Wacom Graphics tablet.

Insightful?

What are you going to do, walk around with it strapped to your leg?

The entire point of the tablet pc is so you can use it standing or walking, situations where you can't easily open your laptop.

In terms you might understand, it's the equivalent of having a clipboard and being able to jot notes and flip through pages of info. Yes, you can also use the clibboard on top of a desk, but that's not the idea- the idea is mobility.

Don't want to spend $1000+? Try a Progear!

[Hollinger]

Check out the SonicBlue ProGear. It's a Transmeta 400 Mhz CPU with 128 Megs of RAM, 5 Gig HD, WiFi, IR, and a touch screen. It comes in two flavors, Windows98, and a bastardized Linux (that can be replaced with your favorite distro). I've got one that currently runs Slackware 8.1, and I've heard of others that have RedHat installed.

If you want to check out the "Progear Scene," head over to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/progear/ to check otu the Progear User's Group. We've been hacking away at this thing for a a good six months (or so) now.

<SHAMLESS PLUG>Check out www.mira2go.com to buy a PG for circa US$600.</SHAMLESS PLUG>

How I use my Tablet

[Diamon]

I was a lucky enough b@#%!rd to win an Acer TM C102Ti as the MS Tablet PC launch. After piddling with it for a few weeks I've definitely noticed some interesting usage habits.

For taking notes I use MS Journal, they go in as ink and stay as ink. My recognition of my writing will always be better than their recognition and I don't feel like going through the correction just to get a smaller file size. If I was sharing the notes with someone else I might, but what I keep for myself I keep as ink.

Browsing I do a mixture or pen and keyboard. I definitely like browsing in tablet mode with the pen it just feels more natural, however entering URL's with the pen is still 50/50 so if I have to pull out the keyboard it's back to landscape mode.

Any type of command line work such as admin work or coding simply requires a keyboard, no two ways about it. If I remote accesss in to work I have to use a keyboard (they are running a version of MetaFrame that doesn't support pen). This is where the pen will fail to win over the gear-heads in my opinion.

Also I do find myself using keyboard and pen more than I thought I would. Glidepoints still just don't cut it for me, so I'd rather do the extra grab for the pen.

All in all I'm really happy with it (I should be since it was free) and I can't imagine buying a laptop without Tablet features after using a Tablet.

My experience

[cptgrudge]

I suppose I'll start my post while I wait for the load strained pages of the article to load.

I feel a little like I'm being a tool for Microsoft, but it's probably because I've made a few other posts on the subject. When someone puts together a great product I feel they should get credit where credit is due.

I purchased the Viewsonic v1100 after playing with it in the store for an hour. If I had to do it again, I would probably get one of the Fujitsus instead, since that is what other slashdot users seem to buy. Don't get me wrong though, I love the one I got. It's worth every cent I paid. I figured that if I was going to plunk down some money on one of these, then I would embrace it. And embrace it I did. I stopped using paper whenever possible, and tried to convert as many documents into their electronic counterparts.

I work as a technician between several buildings, so with this tablet I can connect, through 802.11b, to the help desk software we have. Using this, I have effectively replaced all of my notepads, lists, and papers that I used to carry around with me. It ends up replacing about the same weight, only now everything is organized, and I can bring it all with me.

All I can say is that it just works. The interface is simple, yet works extremely well, and it runs all the apps I need.

Oh yeah, and it hasn't crashed once in the three weeks I've had it.

user review..

[Suppafly]

Penny-arcade had a decent review of atleast one tablet pc. On 2002-11-27 and 2002-11-28.

finally..

[Suppafly]

I honestly don't understand why these weren't "invented" years ago. They are just touchscreen laptops that have the screen attached to the back. A lot of these tablet pcs even work like laptops except the lcd hinge is made in such a way they can be swiveled around and folded underneath.

good - another user interface

[spleenhead]

I always appreciate more options for entering data into a PC - and the Tablet PC is basically a laptop that offers another way to input data.

just look around your desk where you work - see all those scraps of paper? you probably used them because its too much a pain to enter it in a computer. In my case, they are usually diagrams and drawings to help figure something out. No way could I enter those quickly and easily in a computer. no way can I easily search through all those papers for a specific drawing done a year ago. the Tablet PC offers this.

for now, its a bit too expensive and probably not a good as it can be, but thats true of all new technology. in a couple years, it'll be just about right.

Anybody try an io?

[TheConfusedOne]

Anyone out there have or try one of the Logitech io's? This seems to be the real solution for note taking.

I've got an old CrossPad as well and it was a great compromise between the new Tablets and regular old pen and paper. The best thing is that you always had a hard copy of whatever you wrote no matter what. I imagine getting an application crashing error after an hour or two of taking notes would absolutely suck.

The needs of A Real Job.

[EmbeddedJanitor]

For any of the tasks you mention a TabletPC is the wrong thing. A thin-client slate is far better.

Nobody wants hostpital records, warehousing inventory etc done and stored on a heavy local harddrive. Nope, you want them stored back on the server. THus no need for the local harddrive (cost, size, weight, battery life).

For any real job you need better battery life that can take you through a whole work day.

In no real organisation will the BigBoss sign up to supply the blue-collar types with the latest most fancy and expensive computers..

Jslate and aquapad-style devices are far more suited to this kind of role.

They'll sell a few TabletPCs to the BigBoss who wants the coolest toy in town. That's it.

M$ have screwed up every effort they have made to move off the desktop. This is mainly because they into a new field and try to force the Microsoft Way onto folks without understanding their needs. Unfortunately they have deep enough pockets to dominate (force out of business) anyone with real solutions.

TabletPC is about Microsoft's sixth attempt in mobile space, why should this succeed when all their other attempst have failed? Naah, TabletPC can join the junk-pile with WinCE, Windows for Pen, Stinger for phones, CarPC (or AutoPC) and all their other stuff.