06-29-2002, 03:00 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Microsoft Promotes Dueling Tablets
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,102336,tk,dn062702X,00.asp
The Tablet PC is starting to interest me more and more. I've heard some really positive things about the software (the inking features), and the hardware designs the OEMs are coming up with are very impressive. A big factor here is cost: would I shell out $1500 US for a Tablet PC? No. But would I consider paying a few hundred more for my next laptop if it had Tablet PC functionality? You bet.
"Microsoft sees the Tablet PC, highlighted at the show, as being primarily for business use. Microsoft executives like to say the company designed the Windows XP Professional variant for "corridor warriors"--people who spend much of their days going from meeting to meeting taking handwritten notes, but who would also like to check e-mail or send the occasional instant message. Vendors here are offering several types of Tablet PCs. Viewsonic, for example, showed a prototype of its Tablet PC 1100, a Windows XP Tablet PC-based slate that will include many of the features in its existing ViewPod 1000. Based on a design by chip maker Via Technologies, the Tablet PC 1100 will have built-in 802.11b wireless connectivity and an optional keyboard."
I found myself swooning the most over this design from Toshiba:
"Fujitsu's Tablet PC prototype, the Stylistic ST4000 Tablet PC, is also a 3-pound slate, but an optional Tablet Dock provides an upright easel that allows the unit to look more like a desktop when docked. The base accepts modular optical drives as well as a full complement of ports, some of which are duplicated on the tablet itself. Fujitsu will also offer an optional wireless keyboard."
|
| |
|
|
|
06-29-2002, 03:28 PM
|
|
Editorial Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,411
|
|
I had a thought about usability of a tablet sized PC. If I touch the touch screen on my PPC, the touch is recognized. The screen is small though, so when I am writing on it, my hand doesn't rest on the screen. Get out a paper tablet (8.5 x 11) and start to write a note. Doesn't your hand rest, or periodically touch the tablet? If you are using a touch screen and Word, won't the curser jump to where the heel of your hand hits the screen? Have they worked this out? Or do they expect us to write with nothing but the stylus tip touching the screen?
I have played with OfficeXP and the built in handwriting recognition using a pen input tablet. It is a bit disconcerting to me to not see what I am doing on the tablet, but rather on the screen, but I could see it being real neat if I could see the screen ink under my stylus. In this case, the tablet doesn't recognize my touch, just the stylus (or mouse), so I don't have the issue.
Kind of reminds me of my many friends who touch type. They tend to hate laptops with touch pads under the space bar. Their thumbs hit it, slewing the cursor all over the screen.
|
| |
|
|
|
06-29-2002, 03:53 PM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,468
|
|
Quote:
|
I found myself swooning the most over this design from Toshiba:
|
That would be he Fujitsu Stylistic you have there Jason 
|
| |
|
|
|
06-29-2002, 06:46 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Sven
Doesn't your hand rest, or periodically touch the tablet? If you are using a touch screen and Word, won't the curser jump to where the heel of your hand hits the screen? Have they worked this out? Or do they expect us to write with nothing but the stylus tip touching the screen?
|
They use Wacom technology and special pens - it's not a true "touch screen". It's a "pressure sensitive screen" that you can rest your hand on.
|
| |
|
|
|
06-29-2002, 08:12 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 14
|
|
Tablet PC
I don't know why people wouldn't pay $1500 for a tablet pc. With Ipaqs going for as much as $750 now, that doesn't seem like a lot. I LOVED my Vadem Clio at $1000 and these devices are much more powerfull. I'm just afraid that they will end up costing more like $2500.
|
| |
|
|
|
06-29-2002, 11:52 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 255
|
|
Tablet PC Screen Technology
Actually, the Tablet PCs use an electromagnetic technology that requires a special stylus. The screen is not pressure sensitive and will not respond to a PDA stylus, your finger, or your hand resting on it.
|
| |
|
|
|
06-30-2002, 12:08 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,329
|
|
I want that Compaq.....I mean HP tablet PC. That thing makes me want to drool every time I see it.....
Is it just me or does this thing look like an iPaq
|
| |
|
|
|
06-30-2002, 12:32 AM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 784
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jonathan1
I want that Compaq.....I mean HP tablet PC. That thing makes me want to drool every time I see it.....
Is it just me or does this thing look like an iPaq |
Yeah it looks like one huge iPAQ...one huge piece of crap iPAQ. I wonder if it will inherit the same QC issues as the iPAQ...
|
| |
|
|
|
06-30-2002, 02:55 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 7
|
|
more info on tablet pcs: www.tabletpctalk.com Run by Chris Coulter and Chris De Herrera, both well-known members of the PPC community
I know I sure would love a tablet PC. That 3-lb Acer notebook that's in every demo sure looks nice, and it's supposed to weigh only about 3lbs, roughly the same as my current IBM Thinkpad X20. D'you think the new Journal app will be skinnable?
|
| |
|
|
|
06-30-2002, 07:45 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 623
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Duncan
Quote:
|
I found myself swooning the most over this design from Toshiba:
|
That would be he Fujitsu Stylistic you have there Jason |
He is right Jason that is the Fujitsu model (you called it Toshiba). But none the less, I agree it is one of the cooler designs. In my opinion it is one of the two designs that will be the most popular. The other one would be the "convertible" models, like the Acer prototype in the picture below. I think the convertibles will be popular because they are a Tablet PC, but also have a keyboard if you don't want to write everything out. Very cool stuff!
__________________
~SpencerOwner-Editor of TabletPCBuzz.comMicrosoft MVP - Tablet PC
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
