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What Kind of Tablet PC to Buy?
nic barajas asks: "I'm going to be attending college this fall, so I have been looking into a computer to use on campus. My preference has been to looking at the Tablet PC, although they are still in their proverbial infancy. I have been looking at a multitude of vendors, including Sager, Acer, and Toshiba. I'm looking for something that has a sizeable screen (at least 12"), decent storage (40GB+), and a long battery life. What are some of the better models on the market with these characteristics?"
Seeing as I am now in the same shoes as you, I have been thinking about this too. At first I was going to look into tablets, and the obvious choice looked to be a tablet/notebook crossover. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how much I would actually use the tablet functionality, and what the overall advantage would be over a pen and paper. But it seems like adding the notebook stuff to a tablet kills all the advantages of the tablet, such as the really small size. I've been developing some apps for my high school that we're running on a Fujitsu tablet (I think it runs for about 2G), and that seems like a really nice just tablet, if you want to go in that direction. But what I think what I'm going to do for next year, is get a lightweight centrino book, and a 19" or so LCD monitor for my pc. I can use the laptop for portability, and the computer/RDC for anything more.
And returned it very quickly. Wait another generation or two if you really need to buy one. Give time for kinks to be worked out. Likely by then you'll find yourself not needing one and will have saved yourself a few bucks. If you seriously feel you need to have a computer in the classroom, there's no reason a small laptop can't do what you need better than a Tablet PC. Baring that, hadwritten notes will be easier to take and study with later on.
Try checking out the comparisons here. Why? Check out the links on the comparisons, as well as the owner of the domain via whois... At least you know this (unlike Computer Shopper magazine) site is not being whored out by some vendor. It's a pretty detailed site on specs, vendors, etc.
MoFscker
I own an older Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet and can honestly say they aren't worth all the trouble you put into them...get a laptop. Here @ Purdue they are piloting a test program of the Acer pen tablets and they are nothing more than a fancy laptop w/ a stylus and a keyboard that folds back. They ran slower and seemed very flimsy than other laptops I've used, even ones a few years old. They also have alot of software that is needed for all the "special features" that in all honesty doesn't get upgraded that often. Just my 2 cents
I've used the Acer one. It's pretty nice, built in ethernet, wireless, and pretty easy to use, but I don't feel it's practical.
I used one for software compatibility testing (it basically is as compatible as an XP laptop would be), but I did find myself using it in laptop mode most of the time though. Passwords and login information are really hard to enter in in tablet mode. Since the pen input usually assumes you're typing in words, it'll tend to add extra spaces when writing login information and passwords. As for other types of writing, it's easier just to type in keyboard mode.
I've only found it useful in Tablet mode for tapping out check lists. Maybe someday I'll find a better use for it.
Found a review of Lycoris's tablet:4 3,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,1127
And here's a homemade project that'll run on a Compaq:
http://linux-tablet-pc.dhs.org/
I don't use Emacs; it uses me.
I'll second this. I'm doing my second round of school (PhD after years of working) and am using a clipboard and paper instead of my notebook (computer) for notes. I had bought a nifty Vaio to take notes on and quickly abandoned it in favor of the tried and true pen(cil) and paper approach.
;) ).
Three other advantages are:
1) Paper notes don't disappear when your hard drive crashes
2) The resolution of paper and ink is still better than computer monitors (save for the IBM Bertha display)
3) Layout flexibility - it's much much much easier to just draw something on paper inlined with your notes than it is to do it in a word processor (though ASCII art in Emacs can be fast
Get a good notebook (or desktop) computer for other uses, but for taking notes, experience has taught me that you still can't beat a pen and paper.
-Chris
As I said when a similar topic came up in October:
I use my Acer Travelmate T102i every weekday for about 8 hours a day.
I'm a college student and researcher in Biochemistry.
Tablet PCs are _perfect_ for this setting. I can take notes without having to lug around huge notebooks, I can reference professor's webpages on the fly, and most importantly: I can include all the diagrams and drawings needed in my field in with my notes, saved on a computer to search and reference.
You can't type a lot of college notes- there are too many diagrams, drawings, and weird flowcharts to do that.
I haven't used a notebook since November 2003, when I first got my Tablet PC, and it's completely changed the way I get my work done.
I'd reccommend the lightest weight one you can find-- using it like a notebook means often holding it or resting it on your arm for extended periods of time.
This statement is solely an opinion. Kindly take it as such in all cases.
My initial impression has been favorable, though you're right on in your assessment that tablets are still in their infancy. Microsoft's handwriting recognition is excellent, definitely the best I've seen. They also have some limited support for gesture and shape recognition, though they don't appear to be using them for much at the moment.
As far as I can tell, there is not yet a "killer app" for the tablet pc platform. The only thing that comes close is OneNote, which is pretty damned cool, but not really worth the extra money, imo. The tablet platform still has quite a few warts, the biggest being the lack of decent integration with existing apps. MS's solution to ink input for legacy apps is a rather clunky keyboard/writing area applet that sits above the task bar and transmits your handwriting as text to selected text input controls after a short delay. I suspect that this will get better and better with future revisions of the tablet pc operating system services.
As for the hardware, the Toshiba is a nice machine. It's fast, being Centrino based, though not as fast as some of the other Pentium M machines out there because they've pushed it as far in the battery life conservation direction as possible. Mine gets about 4 - 5 hours under normal conditions. The display is good, and I like the high resolution (1400 x 1050). The graphics accelerator is middle of the road for current laptops. Overall performance is decent, though noticably slower than my Thinkpad T40p.
That said, I do have a few gripes with this particular model. It's much larger than you might expect, especially given that it has a curiously cramped keyboard. It's very thick, and fairly heavy for a tablet. I vastly prefer the form factor of my T40. It is, however, leaps and bounds above the 1st gen HP/Compaq tablet we have, which was based on a suck-ass tranmeta processor and just felt cheesy as hell. Apparently the newer ones are much better.
As for competitors, we have one of the Motion Computing slates, which definitely wins in terms of sex appeal. It's thin, good industrial design, and very appealing. I haven't had a chance to play with it, though, and I think I would sorely miss the keyboard in short order.
To summarize, I think my advice would definitely be NOT to buy a tablet right now . For the extra money, you can get an absolutely kick ass notebook that really blows the tablet away in terms of overall capabilities. I like my tablet, but I like my T40 even more. It's much friendlier to use, and I find myself wishing that I were typing when I take notes on the tablet.
If you just have to have the tablet because of the cool factor, make sure you have an opportunity to play with both types (slate and convertible) before you take the plunge. Buying a convertible is a concession to practicality. When you stop using the tablet features after the first month, at least you still have a decent laptop to use. With the slate, you're pretty screwed unless you use the docking station all the time.
- adam
Hi!
My oldest daughter is a sophomore in college, and she's had both a desktop and a laptop. I've been working with various kinds of portable computing initiatives since 1995--including working with a predecessor of the Fujitsu Stylist in Japan.
How will you use it?
Unless you're going to tote spare batteries with you all day, chances are you won't take your computer to class. There are very few notebook options with real world (as opposed to advertised) battery life records of longer than 2 hours. There are very few college days with fewer than 2 hours of class. Do the math: you either carry extra batteries, or leave the computer in your room. (A survey of Daughter #1's dorm mates: nobody brings a computer to class.)
So a desktop is a good idea?
The big advantage of a desktop is the price--a desktop these days is extremely inexpensive. Taking a desktop to school will save your parents (or you, if you're financing college with loans you'll have to pay back) a ton of money. The down side of the desktop is that it pretty much stays on the top of your desk. So when you're in the library--you're stuck. You take notes by hand, or you stand in line at the photocopier. A laptop makes an enormous amount of sense at the library--and you'll find that most schools have wired the carrels in the library for the campus network. So you can work on your laptop in the library, access Internet resources, and use whatever local file & print resources you have set up with your roommates. Getting a laptop makes a lot of sense.
Do you need a tablet?
In a word, "no." The business case for tablets assumes that the end user either a) doesn't know how to type, or b) isn't in a position to type. If you have enough typing aptitude to submit an article to SlashDot, you know how to type. You will enter a lot more data, with a much higher rate of accuracy, using a keyboard. And the gee-whiz features of a tablet (the reversible, touch-sensitive screen) adds a whopping amount to the price. It's kind of like buying an air-conditioner for your igloo: the feature is undoubtedly cool, but you're not likely to get much benefit from it.
What you should buy instead
First, you should buy a notebook. Second, you should buy an inexpensive, lightweight flatbed scanner. While you will want to take notes at the library, you will also find zillions of times where you will need to photocopy or type information that you find in a reference volume. If you have a scanner with you, presto! Just scan the pages. I strongly recommend the Visioneer 9020 USB scanner. It is very lightweight, it is extremely easy to use, and the work flow (what steps you have to take to scan pages) is very, very simple. The one concern that might surface is that an overzealous librarian might question whether you're violating copyright law by scanning. I'd suggest that you're not doing any more than you would be using the photocopier, but the library may "have a policy" about it. Let me suggest packing the scanner in and out in your backpack, and not make a point of drawing attention to yourself.
Bottom line:
Skip the tablet. Buy a laptop. Buy a cheap scanner (the Visioneer 9020 is $99). Spend fifty bucks taking your parents to dinner to say "thank you" for all they're doing for you, and put the other $950 you'll save aside for other, better uses.
I have a Motion Computing M1300 and it is probably the most awesome computing device I have ever purchased.
I bought this tablet after around a month of research into them. I also demoed alot of the alternatives to the one I ended up purchasing. The most obvious difference in tablets is obviously the difference between the hybrids and the purbred slate tablets. Yet you really don't realize how profound this difference is until you go down to a Gateway Store or CompUSA and try both out yourself.
What I'm saying here is do not get a Hybrid Tablet. If you want a laptop get a laptop, if you want a tablet get a slate tablet. Hybrids are bulky and obnoxious. They pretty much take away all the advantages that a tablet gives you. A tablet is ment to be more of a device then an actual computer and these hybrids are attempting to be desktop replacements as well as tablets, which is probably why they don't do so well at both. If you absolutely MUST get a hybrid I would suggest the Toshiba M200 if you are not on a budget or the Acer C110 if you are. The M200 has the highest screen resolution of any tablet, slate or otherwise, out there. If you want to go slightly cheaper then the M200, get the Acer 300Xi (I think thats the model.) It is slightly cheaper and has basically all the same features as the M200, except resolution.
If you want to get a slate, which is the path that I recommend, go for the Motion M1300 or the Electrovaya Scribbler 2000. The scribbler is the same speed, has a better screen, slightly less ram (256 or 512 MB built in, then an upgrade slot for one DIMM) then the Motion, but kills the Motion on battery life with a whopping 9 hours. It is however $2600, so that may make you think twice about buying it. The Motion has fully upgradable RAM and a slightly worse screen, however it is older and you can probably get one for around $1700.
The specs on two of them are 80GB HD, 12.1" 1024x768 screen, 800MHz, 1GB of RAM. You can get a slightly better system now.
THE PROS:
THE CONS:
XP Tablet edition isn't as stable as XP Professional. The mouse cursor gets laggy/jumpy sometimes and consume 100% CPU randomly. I've experienced the "blue screen of death" numerous times, and had system freezes even more frequently.
huh... that's weird... Battery life on my transmeta based T-1000 from compaq/hp has like 4/5 hours of life. Although now the latest model uses an intel mobile chip... harumph! t1100
Here's why I chose the tablet I did.
It was a TRUE tablet, not just these pansy convertibles. I could disconnect the keyboard completely not just fold it over.
Built in wifi (should be a given for any tablet but wasn't at the time of purchase)
Light and sexy form factor.
Ample ram / chipspeed
Here's what I didn't like:
Tablet edition of windows XP feels like a desktop os shoe horned in with scribble recognition/etc into the tablet. It "feels" like a PC with a Pen instead of a tablet (if that makes sense --> haven't put linux on it... yet...)
The screen on this model sucks ass in the sunlight, near useless (which is what we wanted it for -- mobile, outdoors GPS/GIS w/wifi... no love there if you can't see the screen)
if you do use the keyboard, it's counter weighted funny... the screen is heavier than the tablet portion so unless you put the screen at a 90 degree angle it's top heavy and prone to tipping over (or worse *gulp*)
We were kinda hoping to use it as an "uber" handheld, but found it was more an "uber" portable laptop with scribbling enabled.
*shrug* ymmv but figured some of those thoughts would help. Good luck!
E.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
For the most part, I agree.
It is my job at my college to support ~65 of the HP TC1000 Tablets that we received as part of a grant. I have used this tablet as my only on-campus computer for the last 10 months. I use my tablet throughout the day as my (only) note taking device (mainly in Journal) in my classes.
The good:
The TC1000 is nice for taking notes on. In addition to a wide variety of colors to draw with, when the prof decides to change a drawing or insert something, it is very easy to move objects on the page around. This results in more clear notes, without scratch outs.
The battery life of the TC1000 is excellent. With an aggressive power saving setup, I routinely get 3.5 hours of battery life. It's enough for all my classes and then some.
The TC1000 is very light and easy to carry around. At my college we have a mandatory laptop program. Many students will not bring their laptops to class because they are too heavy and they also have to bring a power adapter, which takes time in class to setup. In addition, taking engineering notes by typing is about impossible due to equations and drawings.
The tablet is wonderful for use at times when using a laptop would be difficult, like standing in the hall waiting for class. Try standing, holding a laptop and typing at the same time! The on-screen keyboard (much like on a Pocket PC) is fine for short URLs, though it certainly isn't the most effecient way to type.
Handwriting recognition, while not perfect, is very usable. Writing big and cleary helps. I don't really use it that often.Being able to annotate power point during a presentation is really useful. This is something not easily done with a standard notebook. Office 2003 integrates nicely with the Tablet's features.
The bad:
The integrated wireless, while a nice idea, is poorly implemented. The reception quality is not good. In areas of campus where I have no problem getting a wireless connection with an iPaq 5450 or an N800w laptop, I have a poor signal or no connection on the TC1000. I attribute this to poor antenna design. Save yourself the money on the intergated wireless and buy a PCMCIA or CF wireless card.
The pen. Maybe I write too hard, but I have broken my pen to the point where it will not stop writing when you lift the point off the screen twice now. At $40 per pen (if I had to pay for it), this can get expensive. Apparently this has been fixed on the TC1100, and I'd like to get my hands on one to try it out.
Performance is less than ideal, but it depends on what you want. The Transmeta processor is slow. The HD is slow, but I haven't seen one crash yet. I wish I could say the same for all our laptops. The new TC1100 uses a Pentium M, so I'm hoping it will be faster.
The base model does not come with enough memory (256MB). The software for the pen and other utilities takes up lots of memory. Add on a virus scanner and you're using ~160MB. Also note that because it is a Transmeta, you loose 34MB off the top. The result is predictable: Windows is forced to swap too often and lag is noticable when switching between Journal and IE. Adding another 256MB helped a lot.
The ugly:
Cost. Perhaps part of the reason these do not sell well is the cost. For $2200 you can get a much better laptop or a really really nice desktop.
Overall, the TC1000 Tablet PC is good at what it was designed to do: it's ultra-portable, has excellent battery life, and is useful for note taking. The hardware (minus the wireless) is high quality. It is a very well designed computer. But, if you intend to use it for Matlab simulations or don't have oodles of cash, buy a laptop instead.