Advice about a tablet PC

[Cadsuane]

Do any of you guys make use of a convertible tablet PC for notetaking and general inking? I've been looking at getting some sort of tablet for awhile, briefly considered an ipad before concluding that it was a stupid toy not very well optimized for inking and more suited for media viewing.

I like the Windows 7 and Office 2010 inking features, and after looking around I'm really liking the HP tm2 for sheer value. Fujitsu lifebooks are also cool but slightly more expensive, and Lenovos are fantastic but insanely pricey. Anyone have some advice about convertible tablets, slates, and so on?

[Emirii]

I love tablet PCs, I currently own a Touchsmart Tx2 US from HP. I recommend the Touchsmarts a lot because I've owned two of them so far and I never had a problem with them once. Although I have no experience with the Lenvo or Fujitsu I do know they are a tad pricey, and for that price I think they should come with Wacom technology but they don't. Also, I would avoid the Dell brand when it comes to tablet PC's as much as you can, I've heard they were very non reliable and their touch screen dulling out after a year or so...

However, the HP Touchsmarts are easy and great to write notes on for school, the pen is pressure sensitive and some tablet versions even come with two point touch (you can use it like an ipod etc). It comes with Onenote, a microsoft office type thing that simulates a notebook which is really awesome. They are really easy to convert from laptop mode and slate mode. Mine even has a good enough GPU to play some decent games and photoshop as well so that's a plus. Also HP has a great warranty available.

I bought mine for around $850 online

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/sc/33953381-2-200-0.gif

[Isiolia]

Fujitsu have Wacom tech - honestly, I haven't seen an actual tablet with a pressure sensitive pen that doesn't. Every one I've seen has the little Wacom tech sticker on it.

Main thing I'd say about them is that they don't tend to be particularly sturdy machines.

In general, I think if you're not needing one right now, it'd be better to wait. Part of the response the industry is seeing to the iPad are more Win7 slates. ASUS has the EP121, HP has a netbook-strength one, Dell has one coming, etc. Basically, it's an area of the market that seems to have a lot of work being put into it, but few results quite yet.

The HP I've used was a decent machine - and there really aren't many other options out there with the price/performance of it. That said, I'd personally be hesitant to purchase an HP in general. While not on -those-, I've seen too many build/reliability issues with them in other models.

[Senji]

$400, hitting in a month or two.

http://usa.asus.com/news.aspx?N_ID=NrkcfmDMc162TlqA

[Cadsuane]

$400, hitting in a month or two.

http://usa.asus.com/news.aspx?N_ID=NrkcfmDMc162TlqA

No active digitizer, so it's NFG. Lenovo had a similar gadget I believe. Touch interface and media tablets in general are actually pretty worthless to me; I need a device for some fairly serious work.

Fujitsu have Wacom tech - honestly, I haven't seen an actual tablet with a pressure sensitive pen that doesn't. Every one I've seen has the little Wacom tech sticker on it.

Main thing I'd say about them is that they don't tend to be particularly sturdy machines.

In general, I think if you're not needing one right now, it'd be better to wait. Part of the response the industry is seeing to the iPad are more Win7 slates. ASUS has the EP121, HP has a netbook-strength one, Dell has one coming, etc. Basically, it's an area of the market that seems to have a lot of work being put into it, but few results quite yet.

The HP I've used was a decent machine - and there really aren't many other options out there with the price/performance of it. That said, I'd personally be hesitant to purchase an HP in general. While not on -those-, I've seen too many build/reliability issues with them in other models.

I can hold off on this till September and maybe even awhile after that if imminent releases are good enough to justify it. What is imminent though? Dell/Toshiba/Lenovo/HP/Fujitsu have all been building these things for awhile for the business demographic, plus Windows 7 is already here and that plus the new office suite seems to be a big reason why these tablets are so great. If the 2011 generation of convertible tablets consists of mostly iterative improvements to existing feature sets and specs, I'll buy a refurb HP tm2t right now very happily.

Unless... what do you think about the business oriented convertibles, like the lenovo x-series? What do you get for the higher price?

[Cadsuane]

Did some more research; I took your warnings about HP flimsiness seriously and looked into tm2t common user issues and so forth. General verdict is the screen is awful and generally you get what you pay for. I might go for the lenovo x201 or even wait for the x220 coming out this summer. Unless I get other ideas anyway.

[Isiolia]

What is imminent though? Dell/Toshiba/Lenovo/HP/Fujitsu have all been building these things for awhile for the business demographic, plus Windows 7 is already here and that plus the new office suite seems to be a big reason why these tablets are so great.

Predominately, I'd say slates and cheaper models. While plenty make tablets, fewer have been making slates (I had a demo unit from Fujitsu one a few years ago, that's about all I'd messed with). You're also seeing more units with dual digitizers, or even optional touchscreens for non-tablets (Dell has them for some lines).

Personally, I just look at things like the ASUS EP121 and think of the netbook market a couple years ago. It's an area of the market that everyone and their mother is looking to get a piece of - but few have a product out yet. Granted, a larger focus is on iPad-alikes, not pen/Windows-oriented machines...but the initial netbook focus was on basic Linux. I think once the companies get over the initial development hump, we'll see a glut of products.

General verdict is the screen is awful and generally you get what you pay for.

Depends too on what people are expecting. I've seen very few tablets where the screen was on par with normal laptops. The "outdoor" panels are even worse.