Can Acer Turn Heads With Its Tablet PC?

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,102602,tk,dn071102X,00.asp">http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,102602,tk,dn071102X,00.asp</a><br /><br />I'm getting more and more excited about the Tablet PC as I envision being productive away from my desktop and not having to use a keyboard. Is that actually possible? I'm not sure - we'll see...<br /><br />"When Microsoft talks about the Tablet PC, there's no hiding from Acer's TravelMate 100. First unveiled in November at Comdex, the TravelMate 100 turned heads with its sleek design and swivel display, which could convert from a tablet into a notebook. Since then, the TravelMate has made repeated appearances to promote the November launch of Tablet PC, including demonstrations by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates. Now Acer is gearing up for a global advertising blitz, to be built in part around the TravelMate 100, with the goal of reestablishing its position as a top PC vendor, according to Stan Shih, Acer's chairman and cofounder."

[GadgetDave]

the aspect of tablets that's most interesting to me isn't the tablet pc at all, but it's cousin MIRA. I love my PPC for taking around, the idea of going back to a full size laptop is not real appealing. (And don't be fooled, the tablets are sub-notebook size or larger.) However the idea of MIRA, removing your desktois's screen and carrying just that, is real interesting.

[JonnoB]

For Mira, it will be great for productivity applications, but I can't see it being used for gaming... It uses WiFi and a Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Server in WinXP Pro)... On my 100mb LAN, the display update isn't fast enough for gaming, 2-11mb will be even worse. Mira is targeted for the home... where gaming is very important.



That said...
I'll probably still buy one.

[Kre]

The Acer unit really does look like a great piece of hardware. No legacy ports either. I just wish the specs on it were a bit better in terms of video memory, ram, and a few other things. But hey, you cant beat the convertible concept. I hope more manufacturers follow up with similar kit.

Mira is very cool. And Mira will not support video, audio, or 3d gaming in its first version. It couldnt anyway with `b` band WiFi. Version 2 will though, late next year. Theyll have to incorporate `a` band WiFi to have enough bandwidth to push video, audio, and gaming, and version 2 should have it. They should start out with version 2 IMO... I wont buy Mira until version 2. But its still very cool.

[timothyt]

Just about everyone I've talked to that's seen the Tablet PC prototypes wants one. I know that I'll buy one in November and replace my (outstanding) Toshiba S305. My reasons:

1. I use the Notebook 75% of the time as a remote desktop connection to my much more powerful home computer. My financial data, documents, etc. are always stored there, where they're safe. I know this is a very Mira-ish way to use it, but I really need a keyboard for this.

2. TOUCH SCREEN - I do a lot of graphics work, although I'm not an illustrator. I'm constantly revising advertising, layouts, mock-ups, etc., or just removing red eye from a picture of my kids. A stylus would make all of these much easier to do than my notebook's pad or an eraser. I've become so spoiled by the Pocket PC having a touch screen that I have actually touched the screen on my notebook more than once to try to click on something (maybe I just need more sleep :)

3. Form Factor - on a plane, or in a doctor's office waiting room, it's just not convenient to type in my opinion, and yet there are certain tasks I could easily complete with a Tablet PC. Reading email, browsing the web, and the aforementioned graphics work would be tasks ideally suited for the device. My eliminating the many spam messages that make it through my filters, I could focus on the ones that need my attention once I get to a point where I could use the keyboard comfortably.

Last thing: I probably won't get my wish in the first round but I really want a detachable bluetooth keyboard and would be willing to pay a couple hundred extra for this feature. The tricky thing is that the bulk of the machine (CPU, memory, graphics card, etc.) needs to reside inside the monitor piece but it's still what I want.

Cheers,

TT

[GadgetDave]

Mira is targeted for the home... where gaming is very important.


True, but I think the value of Mira is huge in the corporate space, where you could take your desktop (and all the resources) to a meeting (for those folks that don't also have a PPC :) ) - and do things like take notes right there, and be able to search for the answer to a question right then. Since laptops have such a higher TCO than desktops, this is a great "enabler" (Oh, I hate that phrase) ...