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Best Tablet

W

W.Feather

[H]ard DCOTM x4 & [H]DCOTY x1
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Nov 10, 2009
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ok...i know i had a thread like this a while back, but now its more relevent....ive been doing research on tablets more(as i go to collage nxt year, and will be wanting one....)....basically I just want to know what the best tablet out there is for a roughly 2k budget(lower preferably a bit lower as a full budget for it isnt decided).....

it will be used for:

-Notes
-Everyday stuff
-Not a desktop replacement, but somewhat....so i dont need to leave desktop on all the time....
-CAD software(Auto Cad or Solid Works...or whatever my school needs me to get)


i plan on buying it with 2 gb of ram(1 Dimm) and purchasing another 2GB from the Egg since it ends up cheaper....

a 160 GB HDD is more than enough for me, i dont even use close to that on my current laptop.....

need wireless N, and preferably an HDMI output......


so far im looking at: Lenovo X201, Fujitsu LifeBook T900, Dell XT2.......of them im liking the look of the Lenovo the best price wise....


i dont need a quad, though i imagine it would be nice to have later down the road so it would never be of a concern.....

Also, which tablets have docking stations?(i would assume the Lenovo and Dell...since they are buisness geared...).....


and I need it to be a BUISNESS machine, since i dont want it breaking down like my consumer oriented dell(i guess i just used/moved it around too much....).....


and i purposefully left the HP TouchSmart out.....thats a side thing im looking at(not a huge fan of HP).....


any suggestions please let me know

-WFeather
 
The new Fujitsu machines are pretty popular these days. You should check out TabletPCReview.com as I find it the the best Tablet PC site out there, lots of helpful TPC nuts like me over there.

I know you don't care much about HP but this tm2 is just a hell of a device and I'm simply hooked. There's a LOT of discussion on the tm2 at TabletPCReview.com, it's the coolest convertible TPC on the market right now and overall the user experience is great. The biggest compliant I see is about the screen. Personally I think it's pretty good, definitely the best screen of the 6 TPCs I've bought over the years but it could be better.

At any rate this new generation of devices with Windows 7 are overall looking good. Good luck with whatever you choose and if you have specific questions I'll do what I can to answer or point you in the right direction.
 
from what i have seen tabletpcreview.com has last years models, not much of the newer ones that came since win 7(i checked there a month or 2 a go)....ill take another look.....

is the Lenovo worth a look? from all ive seen they are good, and it runs me slightly cheaper for the same machine from Fujitsu
 
The tabletpcreview.com reviews aren't very good but the forums there are VERY good. Its a dedicated crowed and they are great at getting to the bottom of a problem.

The Lenovo is a pretty solid machine as well. The Fujitsu T4410 was my second choice after the tm2. The XT2 I would leave alone because of the N-Trig digitizer. Not that its bad, I have one in my tx2, it just that the Wacom is better and better supported.
 
Peteman100 said:
You might have some trouble with CAD using only integrated graphics
Click to expand...

not very much(not sure how much either, going into a Engineering major), however i know solid works runs easy on the POS integrated crap at my High School now
 
now that the market has had some new stuff, anyone know of a better alternative to either:

Lenovo X201 Tablet
HP EliteBook 2740p

??

these are the two i am seriously considering(since i will be making the purchase in a couple weeks)....


question on the Lenovo, does it have a "slice" batter option? i couldn't see it on the Lenovo site anywhere, this would be a huge plus(especially since the HP has one that even lets you use the docking station while you are charging the slice batter)



edit: BTW i am looking at the i7 620m for both options, if that makes a difference.....and no i am not interested in anything other than a business class tablet(so no "tx" from HP, or whatever else there is out there.....also have ruled out the Toshiba Protege)
 
Out of those two I'd probably go with the 2740p. Both are solid machines but the slice battery option for the 2740p is pretty neat.
 
the slice is the reason i am leaning towards the HP, without it they are the same price, for the same parts.....of the two i dont think there is much difference(if i can get the slice for the lenovo that is probably what ill do, out of personal preference), and since I cannot find any info actually showing a slice battery for the x201, i think its the HP
 
Didn't know what a slice was so i googled a bit.

latitxtdesignimg4.jpg


Oooh... nice!
 
yes, it effectivly pushes the life of the HP to over 9 hours on balanced usage(in reviews ive looked at), compared to the ~4 hours it gets without a slice battery
 
heatlesssun said:
Out of those two I'd probably go with the 2740p. Both are solid machines but the slice battery option for the 2740p is pretty neat.
Click to expand...

I can honestly see no way to take real decent class notes on a 12.1" widescreen tablet. I've owned a Fujitsu t4210 12.1" tablet (nice machine) and a Lenovo x60t tablet (also nice, loved the IPS based AFFS displays...) and found them way too cramped for my... "creative" engineering notes in class.

I returned both to issues with pen tracking on the screen edges and the too-small size.

12.1" 4:3 was already smaller then a sheet of notebook paper but once you factor it in that it is both awkward to write on the screen edges and that the wacom digitizer has difficulties tracking the pen at the edge of the screen, the usable area is WAY too cramped. Like between a 3.5" note card and a sheet of notebook paper.- :p

12.1" widescreen would be unbearable ...
 
okashira said:
12.1" widescreen would be unbearable ...
Click to expand...

To each his own but I find a 12.1" screen on my last 2 TPCs to be about perfect for note taking though I take a lot of text and drawing notes versus mathematical notation. It's a bit smaller than an 8.5" x 11" but not a lot. The new tm2 has a bigger screen I believe that's almost the same size a letter paper.
 
well, my note taking is only notes.....i cant draw worth a dam so i wont be drawing :)..also ill be using one note so it will end up 1/2 and 1/2 typed and written......so i dont see screen size as much of an issue(fingers crossed), especially since any productivity work(other than writing) will be done on an external monitor

i was looking at the fujistu's, are they good? it seems(when I last looked) that the better "bang for buck" was the lenovo or the HP

....i was looking at what HP calls the "docking station" for the 2740p, does it have an external monitor input? i cant tell from any pictures, or spec sheet(or is it just the Expansion base)?
 
I like the X201 the best. If you're set on the TM2, at least wait for the i7/i5 refresh Engadget said is coming.
 
i think i said i do not want the TM2.....infact I think I stated I only was interested in Buisness level tablets :)....sorry just had to say that :p , anyhow, its still between the 2740p, and the X201......LSt, does the X201 have a slice battery? i cant find info on it, but I know there are plenty of them out there......just not sure for what laptop(i really like the add on stuff for the X201, ie a true docking station, rather than an expansion base.....)
 
have decided on the HP.....

reasoning:

1) Slice Battery
2) Finally found a spec sheet for the "expansion bay" which says it has 4 USB and two separate video outs
3) Specs are the same as the lenovo(roughly) for same price
4) Can get an 80GB SSD(want more bat life :p ... can only get a 160GB else where...too much money for that stuff)
5) Found out a friend works for HP, and I can get employee pricing :) that kinda sealed the deal
 
Congrats, you have a nice device on the way! I need your friend, I'll probably be ordering the new tm2 with an i5 or i7 CPU I hope in the next month and I've only had this tm2 for four months. The 2470 is a nice machine and slice batteries are cool, just no dedicated GPU which kills it for me.
 
lol, hopefully I can get the order in within a week or so, I just want it by end of July LOL....im not seeing the dedicated as a deal breaker, sure its nice, but meh I'd rather business grade, and slightly better build quality over dedicated GFX on a tablet :p (all me though)
 
W.Feather said:
lol, hopefully I can get the order in within a week or so, I just want it by end of July LOL....im not seeing the dedicated as a deal breaker, sure its nice, but meh I'd rather business grade, and slightly better build quality over dedicated GFX on a tablet :p (all me though)
Click to expand...

I can completely understand your reasons for getting the 2740, its just that I've long wanted a tablet with a decent dedicated GPU simply because I wanted a machine that had a little real gaming capability and the tm2 is the first tablet to actually offer a decent deidicated GPU in all these years at ANY price so I had to try it out. But after the deidicated GPU I would love something like a slice battery!
 
bloody hell, the dam 2740p isnt available from what I can tell through the Employee Purchase Program(though the TM2t is.....only Pentium on that though)....guess ill have to use only a coupon code though(dam, w/o any money off its ~3k with shipping/tax.....i guess I have expensive taste LOL....or just want the slice + docking station)
 
meh, i guess so......i think that i7 option just pulled me in :p hell, probably dont need an i7, but since its the last mobile thing(other than phone) i plan on buying for the next 4 years, i figured i better get the best I can, and an i7 should be able to do simple rendering(got my Hexa beast for any heavy duty CAD work), meh, the 80GB SSD shot it up $100(figure a large USB drive isnt out of the question)......
 
well, to let anyone interested know what I've decided:

The HP 2740p, mainly because of the Slice battery.....that pretty much sold me, since the machine is the same price overall(give or take 50 bucks) to any competitor(damit dell, just come out with an i7 based tablet already)

...

specs:

OS: Win 7 Pro 64 Bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-620M
Display: 12.1 LED-back lit UWVA WXGA anti-glare touch panel(how can I resist not using my fingers on a dam tablet?!?)
Memory: 4 GB 133 MHz DDR3 (2D)
HDD: 80 GB SSD
Bat: Normal 6-cell (44 WHr)
2nd Bat: 6 Cell 46 WHr Travel Battery


....not too shabby since the most ill be paying is $2200 before tax(heres for hoping my uncle gets better pricing :p, my other family that works for HP can get a discount....something to do with this being business grade.....so university employee's can get a discount.....)

hopefully ill order in the next few days(gotta talk parents into spotting me the extra cash, don't have quite enough), so i can have it and "break in" the battery before my 20 hours of flying at the end of July
 
Get a Photodon Crystal Clear screen protector (highly recommended by most if not all tabletpcreview users who've purchased one). Should keep your screen scratch free.
 
Dev1ant said:
Get a Photodon Crystal Clear screen protector (highly recommended by most if not all tabletpcreview users who've purchased one). Should keep your screen scratch free.
Click to expand...

W.Feather said:
well, to let anyone interested know what I've decided:

The HP 2740p, mainly because of the Slice battery.....that pretty much sold me, since the machine is the same price overall(give or take 50 bucks) to any competitor(damit dell, just come out with an i7 based tablet already)

...

specs:

OS: Win 7 Pro 64 Bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-620M
Display: 12.1 LED-back lit UWVA WXGA anti-glare touch panel(how can I resist not using my fingers on a dam tablet?!?)
Memory: 4 GB 133 MHz DDR3 (2D)
HDD: 80 GB SSD
Bat: Normal 6-cell (44 WHr)
2nd Bat: 6 Cell 46 WHr Travel Battery


....not too shabby since the most ill be paying is $2200 before tax(heres for hoping my uncle gets better pricing :p, my other family that works for HP can get a discount....something to do with this being business grade.....so university employee's can get a discount.....)

hopefully ill order in the next few days(gotta talk parents into spotting me the extra cash, don't have quite enough), so i can have it and "break in" the battery before my 20 hours of flying at the end of July
Click to expand...

Congrats! Nice machine and the slice battery is very nice indeed. If this machine had a dedicated GPU option I'd have bought one.
 
that would be a plus, but would also chew up more battery :p my goal is power house when I need it, and gentle beast(bat wise) at all other times......should hear back from HP today or tomorrow on pricing....and then order late this week....I heave the 24th so i need to have the batteries well tested by then :p
 
W.Feather said:
that would be a plus, but would also chew up more battery :p my goal is power house when I need it, and gentle beast(bat wise) at all other times......should hear back from HP today or tomorrow on pricing....and then order late this week....I heave the 24th so i need to have the batteries well tested by then :p
Click to expand...

True about the battery but the tm2 has switchable graphics so you can run the IGP when on battery so its the best of both worlds. Good luck on getting the 2740P I'm looking forward to hearing what you think. BTW is this your first Tablet PC or no? Thanks!:)
 
yup, my 1st tablet, 2nd notebook.....Last one was a Dell Inspiron 1521, its had a good 3 years, time to upgrade....

closest thing ive had was a Dell Axim X5 :)

ill be updating after I buy, then whenever it gets here....waiting on an e-mail from HP for a quote
 
Another quick update.

I ended up having to call HP support, very nice btw, and the 2740p is on 4-5 week backorder :(

I still plan on ordering it by the end of this week, just wont have it to play with soon enough :(

Anyhow, got a quote of $2120.10 (for everything, look in sig for the specs) ..... giving me a savings of $744.90. Guy was nice, hopefully i can get the order in for all the parts I want(dam i want that slice battery with it, and the expansion, but probably will have to wait a few months for those).......
 
Sorry to hear about the delay. I've been hearing a LOT of production delays on HP tablets, both the 2740 and tm2. They aren't selling like iPads but my guess is that HP can't make enough of these things because they are selling briskly.

Good luck and I can't wait to hear what you think. I'm always interested in hearing what new TPC owners think. They overall tend to like them, some hate them and then some become crack addicts like I did!
 
lol, I hope I dont become an addict, though for notes next year, i figure its the best option, since i hate binders.....i can just use one note now
 
OneNote, the reason I became a Tablet PC addict!:p When Tablet PCs came out in 2002 everyone was talking about the killer app for it, that app is OneNote. I've been using it since day one an a TPC and its just remarkable, its the ONE app I can't live without.

I honestly don't know how anyone could be a serious student and not have a TPC with OneNote or something like it. I know there's other tools like Evernote but it has no ink support and that's one thing that OneNote does EXTREMELY well, really like nothing else that I know of. Over the years I've found that a lot of people feel the same way. Once you start using it and know HOW to use it's a game changer. It's impossible to overstate how just how useful it can be.
 
I use Onenote on my TM2 daily... Love it. I just replaced my TX2 with the TM2, and have been pretty pleased with it. The battery life has been excellent, performance strong, and the switchable graphics is great. I've read some complaints about the glossy screen, but I haven't had a problem with it, I quite like it. Between it and the Wacom (vs the NTrig) digitizer, it feels very good to ink with.

I'm in the middle of an 8 month training program and I am using the TM2 heavily. I got it with 8GB and the Switchable graphics. I have multiple VM's running on it to test server and workstations for the training. It's handling it all well. As a laptop, I find it really nice to work with. As a tablet, it's quite good too.
 
Thanks for making feel not so out there griffinhart! I still have my tx2 and the tm2 is a MAJOR upgrade. Mine's pretty packed too, 8GB RAM and 3G.

I just love this device because it does so much, it's as functional as a computer of any size gets. The thing about the tm2 as well is that its the only Tablet PC in ANY price range currently that has a dedicated GPU as I have mentioned before and that's the thing that sets the tm2 apart, with the fastest CPU option and the dedicated GPU its a decent ultra-portable class gaming laptop. Add 3G and a Steam account, well, you get the picture.

The 2740 is definately geared towards business the thing that sets it apart is the slice battery. I think the Lenovo has an option for that but I can't recall. If the 2740 has a dedicated GPU I would have definately picked one up.
 
from what I could tell, there is no option for a slice on the X201(from Lenovo), thats one of the biggest reasons i choose the 2740p

ive got a hexa core for gaming, I can use my soon to be tablet for simple stuff(HL and the likes, maybe CoH on low)....

Ive used one note a few times with my Dell 1521, honestly, OneNote is the reason I want a tablet, or atleast what shot me towards wanting one, so i can fully utilize it
 
I feel you, I really don't game on my tm2 especially now that I've got Surround! I just like the idea that I can.

My bad about the Lenovo, I know somebody else had or has that option for their tablets just can't remember who.

One thing to keep in mind about OneNote and one of it's cooler features is shared notebooks if you're not familiar with it. If you put a notebook folder on a shared folder then all the computers using that shared notebook location will automatically sync up, it's just too cool.

For instance if you open a shared notebook folder on your TCP then you can take notes even will the tablet is outside of your home network and then when you get back to your home network all the new stuff on the tablet and the other machines gets automatically synced up with each other, it's wonderful and works flawlessly. And of course you can now create web based notebooks in the 2010 version with Office Live that can even be accessed through a browser. Wicked stuff.
 
heatlesssun said:
Thanks for making feel not so out there griffinhart! I still have my tx2 and the tm2 is a MAJOR upgrade. Mine's pretty packed too, 8GB RAM and 3G.

I just love this device because it does so much, it's as functional as a computer of any size gets. The thing about the tm2 as well is that its the only Tablet PC in ANY price range currently that has a dedicated GPU as I have mentioned before and that's the thing that sets the tm2 apart, with the fastest CPU option and the dedicated GPU its a decent ultra-portable class gaming laptop. Add 3G and a Steam account, well, you get the picture.

The 2740 is definately geared towards business the thing that sets it apart is the slice battery. I think the Lenovo has an option for that but I can't recall. If the 2740 has a dedicated GPU I would have definately picked one up.
Click to expand...

That's what I liked about the Gateway tablets back in 2006 because they were the only ones on the market that had a dedicated GPU. They weren't the fastest chipsets but they were lightyears ahead of Intel's integrated offering. Unfortunately their build quality was absolutely the worst as I outlined in another thread I made not to long ago.

Arggh. What's taking HP so long for the refresh. I want a Core i3 powered tm2t now .:(
 
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