Slashdot Mirror
Tablet PCs Enter Reality
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like Tablet PCs are finally hitting real-world budgets. Averatec released a Tablet PC with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+ processor and will be at Costco and Staples for $1349. Here is a link to a photo overview where you can see how the pen snaps into the LCD area when not in use, what the touchpad looks like, and quite a few other pictures." Element Computer seems to have radically changed their business model -- I had hoped they'd succeed with their $999 VIA-based tablet.
Its still big and bulky. Might as well cary a laptop. Handheld could be so much more usefull and still be smaller in size.
Good to see that you're supporting the newest stupid pyramid scheme with your dig there... way to go!
My sig is blank, I typed this by hand.
I would think a big market for the Tablet PC's are for teaching/educational/demonstration purposes.
At my university, a lot of the professors are switching to Tablet PC's and writing on their powerpoint slides instead of fiddling with the overheads.
The professors can save the notes they wrote on the powerpoint slides and make them available to students online. Try doing this with either a PDA or a traditional laptop... it's possible, but difficult.
We received an HP tablet PC as a free gift with a bunch of switching equipment that we ordered. I'm not sure if it had a model number, it seemed to be some kind of demo unit or something. The overall impression was that it was a toy.
The handwriting recognition software was not installed on the unit that we received, so the stylus was just used like a mouse. The screen would rotate around so you could use it like a tablet or more like a laptop; it was a little bulky and short on features for any real work.
For the money I'd rather have one of the new Vaio picturebooks or an ultralight Thinkpad x31 ...
Actually, my company is deploying these en-masse now. We use them on customer visits for lots of things, like block diagram sketches. You can also write directly on a PDF or other doc, then send that to a co-worker with all your notes intact. It's very cool. A PDA just doesn't have the screen size to enable this stuff, and the cost is marginally higher than for a laptop. Only field guys get them, because a regular suit just doesn't need the functionality.
I can think of a few things, and they're all related to one thing: drawing.
If you're an artist (the kind who actually draws), I could see some use for a tablet. Especially if you want to get into doing computer-based things without going through the hassle of scanning, or if your computer skills are significantly inferior to your artistic skills. Penny Arcade, IIRC, uses a tablet PC for all the artwork now.
Some of our factory people have tablet PCs - they bring up a PDF of a schematic, and they can draw on it while they discuss things with engineers. Useful.
I think the tablet PC has uses... its just that they're not going to be for everyone, ever.
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
Sometimes, when a good, hard slashdotting like this takes place, people suggest that Slashdot be nice and create an internal mirror of the site before posting. Then it is inevitably pointed out that this would be copyright infringement and take hard-earned food from the mouths of the developers, ad-clickthrough-sellers, etc.
But no one seems to have a problem with caching proxies -- right?
Therefore, I suggest that instead Slashdot create its own caching proxy specifically for use with the sites it tries to melt. Maybe it would simply forward you directly to the site if the site was still responding, and respond with its internal cached copy if the site was struggling.
Taco? Anyone?
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Ummmm...check the link to the $999 Tablet PC. at the end of the writeup.
Isn't Lycoris Linux? Okay, maybe it's no Gentoo, but I'm sure it could do the job just fine. =P
I've seen quite a lot of adversity directed at Tablet PCs which I really don't understand.
I've been using a TC1000 since November 2002 and it's an absolutely fabulous piece of hardware. It's the kind of stuff people on the cutting edge of technology should be embracing, and instead of asking what you'd want one for, finding out what you can use it for. Writing on the screen isn't as gimmicky as you'd think - taking notes, annotating diagrams, documents, roughing presentations is incredibly easy. The form factor means you can pull one out in a meeting without hiding behind a laptop screen, you can pass it around more easily to show people ideas and you can get information into it quicker.
To put it bluntly, since buying a new laptop - because I started to believe that it was a gimmicky toy - I am really missing the tablet functions and realise that I was wrong. Sure, my new laptop is faster, bigger, better, etc. etc. but the tablet functions just opened up a new way of using a PC that I really miss now. I can't comfortably lie in front of the TV and work, and note-taking isn't as easily transferred to emails, document etc. Before I could quite happily rough a document outline up in a meeting and have it mailed off by the end to all present. Can't do that with a laptop, or handwritten notes come to think of it. So, they aren't just giant PDAs, they're a new platform that needs to be exploited by apps like OneNote. I certainly hope the form-factor succeeds and heaven help us if we're tied to desktops and laptops for the foreseeable future, because that would severely cripple the importance of the computer in it.
OK I read people saying things about a tabletpc that just arent accurate. It is NOT a overgrown pda...its..well..its a really cool laptop with many of the pda benefits tossed in. So what can I do with it thats so cool you say:
1. I can read books on it comfortably
2. I can lay outside and surf the net easily and comfortably
3. I can use it as a nice picture fram system when im charging it
4. I can comfortably watch tv on planes during long trips
5. I can print to its journal our documentation, and then mark it up and highlight it before returning it to our tech department
6. I can take notes on it without offending people by using a laptop, or being as loud as many laptops
7. I can start our software, then hand it to a customer with a quick button click to rotate the screen to face them.
8. I can draw things on graph paper on it
9. Its easy to carry around and play with while waiting in long lines-you just can't juggle a laptop to do that very well
10. I can lay in bed and comfortably read.
11. If you have any graphical book, comic book, whatever-you can display it one page at a time in a nice near paper sized format
12. Its cool in a nerdy way-what more could any slashdot guy want?
I have a motion m1300. The one thing most important when choosing one of these is weight. mines around 3 lbs-don't get a larger one weighing more then 3.5 lbs or you won't find it comfortable and easy to use.
I don't know about you, but I would much rather read a book on a small-ish tablet PC than a PDA. The tablet screen, due to the way images are displayed on it, also simply feels more like reading an actual book. So, if I wanted to read an ebook in public, I would much rather have a tablet/laptop than a pure laptop.
If you have to ask, you'll never know.
There is a pretty interesting book on how the first tablet computer came about by Jerry Kaplan called "Startup". They came up with the idea of a pen-based computer while flying on Mitch Kapor's private jet, and started a company called GO. This was back in the 80's I believe. Here is a link - you can read the reviews for more info.
Other than drawing-related tasks, I've never thought tablets were good for much. However, I was in a hospital elevator with a pharmaceutical company salesperson a couple of days ago and she whipped a small tablet PC (about 8 inch screen, I'd guess) from her purse, popped out the stylus and started tapping and scribbling away. It was running XP. Apparently she was able to document her last sales call and check her to-do list between the 5th and 21st floor. It was obvious she was accustomed to using it in short bursts, whenever she had, literally, 90 seconds to spare. I thought it was kinda neat, actually.
When a tablet is used like this, as a sort of super PDA, I'm sure it's more readable and, for some, more comfortable. I'm not sure I'd have any use for one of them, but I no longer think of tablet PCs as silly and useless devices. For some people, obviously, they're the bees knees.
How well do the laptops handle pressure sensitivity in artistic applications? I know that a Wacon Cintiq has "512 layers of pressure sensitivity" (more than enough for me), but it runs about $2500 each (after a $1000 price drop, mind you!) If I were to do my web comic (link delibrately left blank, go away /. :) with a new tablet like this, would it be reasonably sensitive, or just on-off? Would I be better off with a regular old drawing tablet, where I can't look at it and see the screen as well?
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
...offers no services over a pda that I would want to use on the go. Unless of course you're talking about laptop-type activities, in which case, the laptop is the natural choice.
I almost agree. Despite the hype thrown behind the tablet PC, I consider it to be, at best, an evolution of the laptop. That's not a bad thing.
I bought the Toshiba Protege M200 when it came out and was really excited. Within a couple of months, I was using only it's laptop functionality 90% of the time. However, it's that 10% that keeps things interesting. A tablet has capabilities beyond that of existing laptops which opens doors to interactions that just weren't possible before. Alias Sketchbook Pro rocks! I'm excited about that untapped potential. My Treo 600 can record voice,(crappy) video, and act as a webcam now. It couldn't do that when I bought it.
Don't even bother asking about why one would need X to do Y when you've got A, B & C. For me it's about exploring the possibilities.
Some day the line between laptop and tablet will be nonexistant. Until then, save your money unless you're interested in helping that future get here a day or two sooner. Someone's got to be an early adopter. I can't wait for a Linux Tablet, which is made increasingly probable by lower priced hardware. Sometimes the slow, steady progress just isn't that impressive.
Michalangelo Progr
I never used a tablet, but after using a laptop for 6 months now, i could imagine how a tablet would be immensly convienient in crowded areas.
I always find myself being very concerned with somebody bumping into my laptop when using it on the subway - or anywhere there is people walking by or standing close to you.
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