Gift for dad. A digital notebook/pad type suggestions please

[slicksilver]

I've looked at livescribe and there are rumors all over the forums saying they are out of business or something like that. Lots of users seem to be having a problem with it too.

Basically this is what he does the most :

1. Writes a things to do everyday. They can be close to 75-100 entries a day since he is busy all day. He is heading a manufacturing facility which is being setup currently.

2. He uses like 3-4 paper based notebooks for this a year.

I want him to move to the digital note taking. For whatever reason he refuses to type them on things to do list program on the computer or a mobile phone saying its too time taking.

What is the best way to move him to a digital note taking platform? Are tablet pcs good for this? Is the stylus accurate enough for free flow note taking?

Thanks in advance

 

[Crono]

Budget? Decent tablets are expensive.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Why do you want to control the way your dad takes notes?

If he isn't interested, let him keep using paper. It's been working fine for thousands of years

 

[FleshLight]

ipad

 

[NikolaeVarius]

If he wants to use paper, let him. He probably has a really efficient system worked out

 

[Kaervak]

If he wants to use paper, let him. He probably has a really efficient system worked out

I'm going to go with the "stay with paper" option. I work in private EMS, when I first started I did all my PT run reports with paper. After a few months I got trained to use the tablet PCs to enter our run report information. The tablet PCs are a pain in the ass and I look for reasons that I "have" to use paper reports instead. Technology doesn't automatically make things better.

 

[slicksilver]

Budget? Decent tablets are expensive.

No budget as such. Can go upto $4000.

Dont think he has any efficient system worked out as such. He just has a date on the top and enters his things to do. Things that are really important are boxed.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Paper and pen ftw.

 

[SandEagle]

No budget as such. Can go upto $4000.

Dont think he has any efficient system worked out as such. He just has a date on the top and enters his things to do. Things that are really important are boxed.

is that US dollars or rupees? $4000 aint no joke

 

[Crono]

ipad

As a former iPad owner, I can say it's worthless for writing.

Paper and pen really is the best solution if your father doesn't like to type.
If he needs digital backup and OCR, I would recommend getting him a slim scanner and set it up with whatever computer he is using and use a program like Paperport to scan.

If you prefer to get him a tablet, then I recommend the HP EliteBook 2740p. Well reviewed for writing features and within your price range at ~$1,700. Should work fine with OneNote, and you can set it to auto backup documents when it's docked with a computer (one of the few advantages over paper and pen).

 

[amdhunter]

As a former iPad owner, I can say it's worthless for writing.

Paper and pen really is the best solution if your father doesn't like to type.
If he needs digital backup and OCR, I would recommend getting him a slim scanner and set it up with whatever computer he is using and use a program like Paperport to scan.

If you prefer to get him a tablet, then I recommend the HP EliteBook 2740p. Well reviewed for writing features and within your price range at ~$1,700.

Former? What happened?

 

[Crono]

Former? What happened?

Sold it. Not that I didn't like it or use it, just needed some quick cash. I'll probably end up buying another or saving up for whatever comes next (iPed maybe? lol).

I purchased a good number of apps, though, so I'll probably just go Apple again relatively soon. Maybe this time with 3G version.

 

[aceO07]

There isn't really any electronic tablet that can do better than pad of paper and pen/pencil for pure note taking. To really reproduce the accuracy of writing with a pen and have pressure sensitivity, it'd need to be Wacom based or something similar. (I have a Thinkpad x61t tablet.)

Some tablets and various applications have help to store/organize/translate notes in digital format, but if those features aren't important then it might not be worth it to have a ~4lb tablet. To carry around a 4lb tablet that's as big and thick as an encyclopedia to take notes.. OR a small notepad and a pen...

If the MS Courier was real and available, I'd suggest that...

 

[hellfreeze]

You mentioned being cautious of the Livescribe Pulse, but I personally have it and have never had any problems with it.

 

[slicksilver]

is that US dollars or rupees? $4000 aint no joke

It is USD bro. Long due gift to make things short!

I shall lookup the HP EliteBook 2740p.

Hellfreeze - I dont mind trying livescribe pulse. Its just that I've read a lot of negative posts on their forum. How much do you write everyday and from how long are you using it?

 

[hellfreeze]

Hellfreeze - I dont mind trying livescribe pulse. Its just that I've read a lot of negative posts on their forum. How much do you write everyday and from how long are you using it?

I've been using it for three semesters now. Last semester I took 19 units and never had any problems with it and was using it for a couple hours almost every day. A lot of the negative reviews are because they don't support Linux and because they previously wouldn't let you erase pages.

The only "negative" comment I can make about it is that when the ink goes out, it goes out. There's little warning. This is easily remedied if you keep a couple spare cartridges in the provided case.

Battery life was also excellent. I charged mine every weekend just to make sure it never ran out of juice during class. Recording quality is also excellent.

One thing I really like about it is that you can easily send a PDF to someone with your notes. I don't know if this will apply to your situation though.

I'm happy to answer any other questions if you have any.

 

[dpearson]

edit: double post

 

[dpearson]

I have the Livescribe Pulse as well and I've been very happy with it. Though starting out I did have some issues getting the pen to transfer the notes to my desktop. Though once I got through that little hiccup it's been working well. There's some neat apps on it too. ^_^

Also as a general rule of thumb, people go to the manufacturer's boards to bitch. No one is going to get on there and make posts like "ohmygawd guys, I srsly luv this pen lolololol."

 

[yhelothar]

Tablet PC FTW! I have an X41T and for note taking, I can't imagine a better device. Wacom tablet built into most tablet PCs will own any pen out there. Not to mention that you have any kind of pen/pencil imaginable with a VERY FINE interface and searchable handwriting with microsoft one note. You can have billions of pages of notes stored in a very well organized manner.

Granted for every day general computing, tablets are annoying to use, but for pure note taking on one note, there's no better alternative bar none.

You could also get a slate if you're dad is absolutely not interested in using a keyboard. Slates are smaller and look much sleeker. Although ultraportable tablets, such as the ones from Lenovo's X series are nearly as sleek as any slate.

You don't need to spend a truckload of money on it either. Any tablet as fast as a netbook would suffice for note taking.
Here's the one I got.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2063961&highlight=