Tablet PC's

[DrtyBlvd]

Which One and what do you think of it?

Simple Pro's and Cons from users would be good in helping me reach a purchasing decision - We know what they are and sort of how they do it, but which one does it best :?: And Why? And does anyone know if Sony are bringing one out? :lol:

[acronym]

I have the compaq - I think its the best looking model out there, even with it's sluggish cpu (the graphics chip makes up a little bit). I'm afraid its going back, though. We've seen pocket devices go from 8088's to newtons, dos based hps, clamshell designs and current pocket pcs in about 8 years. I've gone through 10 wince devices at anywhere between $200 to almost $900 each. There's that limit you can spend on something that is almost ready for prime time, and I think $1800-$2500 is WAY over that. When I bought each new pocket pc, I kept in mind that in 6-8 months I will be buying a new one (with the exception of the jornada 548 - had that thing for almost 18 months). There is no way I'm going to turn this thing around when the next generation tablet pc comes out in the summer, or even by the end of the year - they are just too expensive. Perhaps by the end of the year I'll see a product that has a real shelf life. But looking at all the current offerings, they are way underpowered, have short battery lives, and (with the exception of the compaq) don't have a good enough design.

[Sven Johannsen]

If Sony was making one, soon, I'd wait to see what they came up with. I have the Motion Computing as sold by Gateway. It is very solidly built as far as I have experienced. It is a pure tablet, but as all of that type, does allow an external keyboard, and mouse if desired. The bundled keyboard has a touch pad. It is also bundled with a firewire CDRW/DVD. Overkill in my opinion. The drive requires external power (AC) and has a short cable. If this was your only PC (and it could be), I suppose it is worthwhile. I just need to load software. (I haven't even loaded the WinDVD or Nero that came with it


The screen is crisp, and in a dim room maybe too bright. I keep turning it down. The pen touch feels good to me. Similar to writing on a hard PPC screen, but the electromagnetic registration, rather than the actual touch screen feel will take a little getting used to. That is not entirely a Motion thing, all the Tablets have similar registration.

Handwriting recognition is an OS thing so that should be fairly consistent.

The motion feels good in the hand. It is smooth and rounded on all edges but for the connector side. I have a little issue with the button placement. After using it for a while, I think I would have liked them on the long edge, rather than the short. I like the portrait mode when reading docs and that puts the buttons on the top or bottom (you can rotate the screen 360, in 90 degree increments.) I find myself putting the tablet back into landscape so I can easily scroll with my thumb with the buttons on the right. (Haven't looked back at other models to se what they did, afraid to :) )

The battery says up to 4 hours and that comes pretty close. I've sat a couple of hours in the lounger, playing and going through tutorials and have a half charge left. A real nice feature is a battery charge check on the battery itself. You push a button on the battery and it lights up some number of lights based on the remaining charge (5 lights, 20% charge each light). This lets you get an idea of charge level without having to boot up.

The built in 802.11b had no problem in my home network. The 10/100 ethernet works fine too and is a pass-through on the base so that when docked you can take advantage of it if you wish.

I think for many folks the convertible style (laptop thing with screen that rotates and folds over the keyboard), is going to be very attractive. The Tablet does take some getting used to though and I'm afraid that having the laptop configuration option would tend to keep one from using the tablet as intended too much. My goal was to use the Tablet and get comfortable with it.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Sorry about the book :oops:

[DrtyBlvd]

Sven - perfect reply!

That's the sort of review I wish you found in magazines - I note your comments re the Handwriting recognition

The screen is crisp, and in a dim room maybe too bright. I keep turning it down. The pen touch feels good to me. Similar to writing on a hard PPC screen, but the electromagnetic registration, rather than the actual touch screen feel will take a little getting used to. That is not entirely a Motion thing, all the Tablets have similar registration.

Handwriting recognition is an OS thing so that should be fairly consistent.

Did you try the Compaq at all? I have read that the tc1000 has a glass screen as opposed to polysomething-or-other, and wonder if one is better than the other? It seems a pretty fundamental component for the big boys to not be in agreement over - that's to say, Compaq go with glass but everyone else doesn't?

I have the compaq
Do you have any thoughts on the screen acronym?

But looking at all the current offerings, they are way underpowered, have short battery lives, and (with the exception of the compaq) don't have a good enough design.

I know what you mean - I've 'burnt' my fingers on Sony stuff numerous times - I don't seem able to stop myself though! I know I should wait for the second generation of stuff, but but but .....

[David McNamee]

I use a pure slate from Fujitsu - the Stylistic 4110. I'll be doing some reviews of it shortly.

The question of "best" really depends on what you're going to be using it for. I wanted something that was lightweight, comfortable to read long documents with, super easy to travel with and - this is important - not do ANY coding on. This is the unit I use when I switch into my "information worker" role and am not being a code monkey.

So, the big question you have to answer is, do you need a keyboard available to you 100% of the time.

[DrtyBlvd]

Re the keyboard - No, but then do I need an overgrown ppc? ROFL

Sorry - should mention I'm favouring the Compaq at the moment... :D

[David McNamee]

Re the keyboard - No, but then do I need an overgrown ppc? ROFL

It's even funnier when you see side-by-side photos. One is for people with big pockets, the other is for people with little pockets! :)

[acronym]

the screen does look good on the compaq. I've read where people complain that the texture of the glass give it a look like you're viewing through "pantyhose" (their quote). The digitizer works well. Compaq went with one that can be used with tempered glass instead of polysilicon, but it is not pressure sensitive. It hasn't bothered me at all.
here are some sisoft sandra scores:

TABLET PC memory ? ram integer : 369 ram float : 376
TABLET PC cpu arithmetic ?dhry 1858 whet 643
TABLET PC cpu multimedia ? integer 1274 float 448

you can see that the scores put it on par with a p3 400-650mhz computer.

I will admit, that it is handy to have - propped on your leg surfing the net or responding to emails. the handwriting recognition is much better than I expected. I think the tablet pc could take the place of my ppc, if the power/battery were a little better. Waking from hibernation takes a bit longer than I like. The size, I think, is perfect. The larger displays don't impress me, especially given they have the same resolution.