Any of you on a tablet PC right now?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

Mutilator

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2000
3,516
10
81
I'm thinking about selling my P2 400 Dell Inspiron 7500 to my sister and getting a new laptop. I'm considering getting a FIC Slatevision Tablet PC from Powernotebooks.com instead of a normal laptop. I've done a search and came up with nothing for slatevision. I read the Anandtech review last week but it never got updated with their views on the final retail version of the tablet.
Basically all I'm going to use it for here at work is email, internet, and office apps. I'm going to get it with the docking station and plug in a USB keyboard & mouse. Just curious to see if anybody has one of these already and likes it or not. The only reason I'm even considering a tablet is because it'd be a interesting new toy to have and it does everything my laptop currently does and then some. Plus if I bought another laptop it'd cost $2230 (Sager NP8887) instead of $1780. ;)
Anybody with 1st hand experience with these things?
 
rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,853
1,048
126
It's a bigger Palm Pilot... the size of a legal pad.

If they were priced like Palms, then maybe it'd be just as prevalent.
 
M

Mutilator

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2000
3,516
10
81
Originally posted by: Tyler
I still don't know what a tablet PC is. I'm getting behind the times.
Click to expand...
Go to my link(s) and be enlightened. ;)
I didn't know too much about them either until I started looking. I was surprised to see that Win XP Tablet PC runs all reg Windows apps plus the tablet ones... kinda surprised me. I thought it'd be dumbed down like handhelds.



 
Y

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
0
0
it's a laptop with a touch lcd that folds all the way back. It's severely underpowered compared to plain laptops in that price range.
 
K

Kevin

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2002
3,995
1
0
Doesn't Toshiba make a Tablet/Laptop hybrid? I know someone makes it, just forget the company...
 
R

royaldank

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2001
5,440
0
0
The one I used this weekend was a little slow. It wasn't too bad, but it seemed to load things a little slower than I expected. Working with the stylus to control the mouse takes awhile to get used to. After half an hour, it probably wouldn't be so bad.

Overall, I was impressed with the machine. Not sure what model my buddy had, but I could probably find out. He didn't have the docking station at home, so I can't give you an opinion on that, but I would assume it's fine.

It's neat, I'll tell you that. He does a lot of engineering work and they have to draw on pictures all the time to mark up requirements and things like that. That program was cool. We were going through some Access programs they use and it was running pretty good. Again, it seemed a tad slower than I was expecting, but not bad or irratating. Actually crunching numbers and running big queries seemed to chug along pretty good. It really did seem much like a comperable laptop in my opinion. And after holding it and messing around with it, it seemed like it would be easy to get used to. It fit in a nice notebook sized pouch that was like carring around big legal notebook pad with cover.

I think their company paid around $2500 for each, so it might have been a little quicker than what you are looking at (again, I'll email him and ask for the specs if he knows that much). Still, I would say as long as you aren't expecting a gaming machine, you'd be happy with it.

Also, I want to stress this, it was cool playing with it. It's an impressive little toy.

This was like the FIC...no keyboard attached.
 
M

Mutilator

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2000
3,516
10
81
Originally posted by: Kevin
Doesn't Toshiba make a Tablet/Laptop hybrid? I know someone makes it, just forget the company...
Click to expand...
Yeah... if you read the Anandtech review they explain that there are 2 different kinds of tablet PCs. One like the FIC that's just the screen, and others that have the keyboard attached to the screen like a regular laptop.
I know why nobody has one though... there hasn't been a Hot Deal on them yet. ;)

royaldank I only use my laptop at work and when I take it home it's to backup files off my desktop before a format if I have anything important so I don't care about gaming. Plus my laptop has spent probably 99% of its life plugged in so I don't care about battery life all that much either... that's why I'd get the NP8887 3.0GHz 1GB RAM system if I go the real laptop route. :)
I think it'd be kinda neat to be able to grab my computer and walk to someones desk when they have a problem... and be able to either write down some notes to look up info on the net, or simply plug it in and start trouble shooting right there. Plus I'd have wireless access to most of the area I'd be covering.
 
K

Kevin

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2002
3,995
1
0
Originally posted by: Mutilator
Originally posted by: Kevin
Doesn't Toshiba make a Tablet/Laptop hybrid? I know someone makes it, just forget the company...
Click to expand...
Yeah... if you read the Anandtech review they explain that there are 2 different kinds of tablet PCs. One like the FIC that's just the screen, and others that have the keyboard attached to the screen like a regular laptop.
I know why nobody has one though... there hasn't been a Hot Deal on them yet. ;)
Click to expand...

Kind of expensive too. The Toshiba's start at $2300. I remember seeing Viewsonic ones in a store, the screen looked really nice but it seems like its skimpy on the specs...
 
R

royaldank

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2001
5,440
0
0
royaldank I only use my laptop at work and when I take it home it's to backup files off my desktop before a format if I have anything important so I don't care about gaming. Plus my laptop has spent probably 99% of its life plugged in so I don't care about battery life all that much either... that's why I'd get the NP8887 3.0GHz 1GB RAM system if I go the real laptop route. :)
I think it'd be kinda neat to be able to grab my computer and walk to someones desk when they have a problem... and be able to either write down some notes to look up info on the net, or simply plug it in and start trouble shooting right there. Plus I'd have wireless access to most of the area I'd be covering.
Click to expand...

If that is the case, I think you'd like it. It was cool holding it and carrying it around for awhile. The screen looked very good and everything seemed to work perfectly. But, that laptop you mentioned would be a heck of a system, though. Not sure I'd trade it for a TabletPC. You're taking a big performance hit. However, unless you're doing animation, film editing, or rendering 3D work, I don't think it will matter for you.

I sent an email over to my buddy. I'll let you know what model they have. He's been using it about 3 months now and he's liked it. They have 4 that they pass around between 6-8 guys. If they are going to a site to take pictures or demonstrations, they'll grab a Tablet.

They seem a bit underpowered as mentioned above, but you probably don't really need that extra power.
 
X

Xionide

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2002
8,679
2
81
I think they are pretty spiff. I would get one if they put a p4m or centrino in it, And dropped it down to 1G's/ IM Poor Yo.
 
R

royaldank

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2001
5,440
0
0
They got 2 from Motion Computing and 2 from Gateway. He is thinking it is an 850 or 900.

 
K

KatLei

Senior member
Jul 17, 2001
381
0
0
I was given a Compaq TC1000 as my work computer. It's cool to fiddle around with initially, now it's just so damn annoying to program with a 10.4" screen at 1024x768. But there are other brands have bigger screens. My department just chose the cheapest of the lot out there. Haha.
 
I

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
good thing is you can actually write and draw diagrams and such... you can't really do that in a laptop.

I wouldn't mind having one.. especially the one from ViewSonic or Toshiba

plus they get like 5-6hr battery life per charge.. which is awesome
 
M

Mutilator

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2000
3,516
10
81
Originally posted by: royaldank
They got 2 from Motion Computing and 2 from Gateway. He is thinking it is an 850 or 900.
Click to expand...
I didn't know Gateway had tablet PCs... I don't go there very often though since we use Dells at work. I kinda like the way the Gateways look... but I'm not paying $2500 for one. :p

BTW xionide the Motion Computing tablets have Centrinos. ;)
 
kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,014
137
106
I have the Toshiba (1.33Ghz, 12" screen, 512MB RAM) which is a convertible model. If you want power, you don't want a Tablet PC. But most people don't really need as much power as they think they do. The tablet writing feature is very cool and besides that, actually useful as well. Microsoft is coming out with an app called OneNote that is going to make TPCs even more popular. I have the beta but haven't had time to install/play with it yet.

Adobe is working on a version of Acrobat that will allow TPCs to mark up documents.

For office apps, email, surfing, it's very suitable. Check out http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com for reviews and forums on TPCs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom