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Tablet PCs...

S

Shyatic

Platinum Member
My cousin is entertaining the idea of getting a tablet PC... I'm not so sure they are worth it but BillG loves them 🙂

Anyhoo... anybody have any experience with them? My cousin is a doctor and wants to use it to jot notes in classes he has to go to as well as on his rounds and stuff.
 
I ordered IBM's new Thinkpad X41T convertible...reviews of it are pretty good but I don't expect to see mine for like a month because IBM is in serious undersupply. I'd say it's pretty much the ideal choice for someone who wants a tablet without completely giving up the ability to type. Of course, nothing stops you from using a USB keyboard with a tablet.

Outside of that there is HP's TC4200, it's similar, slightly inferior build quality in screen, slightly heavier, and slightly faster and more upgradable. HP also has a pure table(tc1200 or something) for around the same price which has a dockable keyboard but not permanently attached one.

Then there's the Toshiba Tecra M4, which is more of a laptop with a tablet screen just useful for dabbling in it. It's heavier than the others, but also very powerful, and rather poor build quality for a tablet. Then Toshiba also has the M200, which is more of a traditional convertible.(toshiba has a few more tablets besides that too) The screen on the M4 is poor but high resolution, whereas most are much lower res. There's also the protege, and acer has some. Acer even has a sub $1000 tablet, but I don't think it's light wait or powerful.(well, it's better than the transmeta and VIA based tablets, it uses an athlon xp cpu)


As far as pure tablets, Motion's are supposed to be pretty good, they just released their LS800. I believe it's rated very similar to the X41T, except smaller screen(8.4 inch compared to 12"), no keyboard, and even lighter than the already very light X41T. X41T is 3.5 pounds with 4 cell battery and 4 pounds with 8 cell battery, whereas I believe the LS800 is 2.5 pounds.(obviously if you're writing on something you're holding in your hands, you want it light.

Check out this site: http://tabletpcbuzz.com/ and read some reviews or something.
 
I personally have a m200 and the build quality is superb. And the M4 and m200 have the best resolutions out of all the tablets. So if you need high resolutions, then toshiba should be 1st on your list.

There are 3 types of tablets out on the market: slate, convertible, and hybrid. The slate is just the tablet screen only(motion). The convertible is like a regular laptop but with the pen enabled screen(m200). Last there is the hybrid tablet which is a slate tablet but has an attachable keyboard(HP tc1100).

For doctors i would recommend a motion tablet because of the slate form as well as the option to get the view anywhere screen. For students, i wou ld recommend the m200, ibm, tc1100 or even motion really depends on how much a keyboard is needed in class if not needed the slate would be perfect for him to go on his rounds. If he needs over 10hrs of battery he can even pick up an electrovaya. There are tablets to fit most peoples needs, just not 1 tablet that fits everyone.

Go to tabletpcbuzz to read some more, deinitely worth the reads.



 
Tablet is only good if you are going to install a specific app that was written to take advantage of the tablet functionality.

Other-wise, you are just wasting $$$> 🙂
 
Originally posted by: WackyDan
Tablet is only good if you are going to install a specific app that was written to take advantage of the tablet functionality.

Other-wise, you are just wasting $$$> 🙂
Click to expand...


Do you even own a tablet?

All tablets already come with preinstalled software specifically for using the pen. There are also many free tablet software available to download.
 
>I personally have a m200 and the build quality is superb.

Same here. I was surprised reading the other guy say opposite. Another advantage of the M200 is that, since it has been out a long time, you can get used/refurbished ones really cheap. My 1.5GHz one was 900$ several months ago. It's not the latest specs, but it was nice and cheap and I have no use for a slightly faster processor/memory anyway.

>only good if you are going to install a specific app

Actually I find the pen much faster than the touch pad for most things. There's no moving the pointer around for one thing, you touch exactly where you want.

My most common action is copying and pasting some code, then editing it a bit. With the pen: drag the pen across the code you want, make the copy gesture (single directional stroke while holding down pen's button), tap where you want it to go, make paste gesture (opposite direction), tap where you want to edit.

With the touch pad: mouse around to the code, select it, do copy either via ctrl-c or a right-click->move to copy->left-click, mouse around to insertion point, another ctrl or right-click sequence, mouse around again.

The pen always wins there. Although maybe you could setup corner hotkeys on the touchpad for copy and paste functions or something that would help it compete. I can actually type with the pen between my fingers or sitting right above the keyboard ready to get picked up by my hand on the way to the screen. So switching between pen and keyboard is quick.

Thing I hate most about the M200 is lack of a TrackPoint. I had an IBM previously and the TrackPoint freaking blows away the touch pad (I can still play Starcraft well with the TrackPoint, but not with the touch pad, for example).

The screen has a weird anti-glare texture to it as well, but I hear you can remove that if you are the brave enough. ^^ I don't notice it anymore, but it's the opposite of the new glossy screens that are so popular.

I love reading books and web browsing with the tablet, though. It has replaced my morning newspaper while at the breakfast table when in tablet mode with the keyboard tucked away. ^^
 
Originally posted by: riceprince
Originally posted by: WackyDan
Tablet is only good if you are going to install a specific app that was written to take advantage of the tablet functionality.

Other-wise, you are just wasting $$$> 🙂
Click to expand...


Do you even own a tablet?

All tablets already come with preinstalled software specifically for using the pen. There are also many free tablet software available to download.
Click to expand...


Yes, I do....X41 Tablet. And it's real/full value is in business applications, not consumer. I haven't explored any of the free apps.... SO... I'll have to do that. Any you care to recommend??

As far as the pre-installed apps, they really aren't productivity boosters as much as they are enablers...



 
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