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Examining a Tablet PC

Posted by michael on from the etch-a-sketch-just-as-good dept.

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..."

2 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Overhyped? by Nevermore-Spoon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence. Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1845
  2. How I use my Tablet by Diamon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.