tablet pc and its usefullness

[xanther]

Hello, this is my first post so bear with me.
I am a graphic designer and I was thinking of buying the WACOM graphics tablet Cintiq 15 inch for 1800 dollars (it has a screen to work with). I was wondering if that was a good purchase because of the new tablet pcs that came out. I have looked through most of the tablet pc specs and they only had a RGB out, not a RGB in. I was wondering if I can use the tablet pc as a graphics tablet and use my workstation to do the heavy processing, as the tablet pc is pathetic for graphic work at best. The price difference between Toshiba?s Portege 3500 and the Cintiq 15x is a few hundred dollars. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with the Cintiq?s or graphic tablets in general.

I am also curious if a regular tablet for a few hundred dollars(w/o screen) is just as good as the graphic tablets with the screen, other then the obvious benefits of a screen to draw with. i have never used a graphic tablet before.

also i was considering buying two WD360GD (western digital raptor - serial ata 36gb, 10k rpm drives) and set it on a two hdd raid 0 - cost 360
or buy 4 ide- 80 gb 7.2k rpm and set it as raid 0. - cost 320.
or even 2 Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB 120GB PATA raid 0 - cost 300 dollars
would the performance of the SATA drives out weigh the size benefit of the regular IDE RAID?
and is PATA the same as SATA(other then one being serial and parallel)? my motherboard is a ASUS P4C800. it has two SATA and two PATA.

i know not many people can help me with the tablet question as it doesnt apply to most people's needs, but any leads would be appreciated.
thanks much!!

 

[AndrewNF]

I'd recommend trying out as many graphics tablets and tablet pc's before you purchase as possible, that's probably the best way to decide what works for you, along with advice from experienced users.

On the hard drive side of things, there's no performance benefit yet from SATA - the drives haven't caught up with either the ATA100/133 or SATA interface. As well, you should be able to find benchmark test results to help you figure out what drive configuration will give you the highest performance. Storagereview is a good place to start.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I think the tablet pc is very useful because its lightweight, small, and has a long battery life depending on the processor. I'm getting a Compaq tablet PC for a very nice deal soon and it comes with a Transmeta 1ghz processor which lasts very long and generates little heat.

As for the raid, I would go for 4 80GB drives but not in Raid 0. I would do a Raid 0 + 1 because with Raid 0 you run a high risk of failure. If one of the two drives fails, your whole array fails and you basically have to format and start from scratch. With rraid 0+1 (or 1+0, same thing) you will get the speed of 2 80GB drives and everything will be mirrored so if something happens to one of them, the other one can cover for it in a sense because it will give it the file it messed up.

There isn't much advantage with SATA for desktop need because in benchmarks it performs exactly the same, except for when you raise the RPM's. Still, if for the same price you can get 4x 80GB drives and a Raid 1+0 configuration, I would do that.

 

[xanther]

thanks, but would you know if there is a way to set up my tablet pc as a monitor ? so i can do my work on a workstation yet use the benefits of the tablet pc as a graphics tablet?

 

[Baronz]

I think that the tablet PC would have a much lower resolution in regards to sensing your movements on the screen compared to the drawing tablet, which would also probably have pressure sensitivity settings and the tablets AFAIK do not.

 

[xanther]

i was under the impression that most of the tablet PCs that are made have their screen made from WACOM and a few other companies, but Wacom being the largest, and i think i remember reading that the tablet PCs also had 512 points of sensitivity.
are there any/or other methods to use the Tablet PC as a monitor?