Ipad, Windows Tablet, or Android..so many choices, help.

[Vader]

My situation will hopefully be chaging for the better with a new job in the first quarter of 2011. The two positions that I have the opportunity to take both require travel, etc, and instead of lunking around a laptop..etc, I would like something small, portable..etc.

I will be using the device primarily for:
1. Email-Exchange & Private
2. Microsoft Office Suite including Visio, etc.
3. Communication via IM such has LinkedIn..Skype..etc.
4. VPN connectivity and RDP using Cisco VPN and ACE down the road as well as MS RDP or some similiar remote application.
5. Blog writing, Facebook, basically the major apps for Social Networking.

The key is that it's small, light, and needs to be able to do basic multitasking. I'm certainly not looking for a powerhouse, but it needs to be a fluid device, seemlessly moving from application to application,etc.

I believe my choices are very limited and maybe the HP Slate may be the only option, but i'm looking for input from others that use their tablets, IPAD's..etc for similiar use.

Thanks!

 

[phide]

Neither the iPad or any Android tablets will suit your needs (because you need to use Office and Visio). You either need to get a Windows TPC/slate or an ultra-portable notebook of some sort.

 

[dr.stevil]

Just about every device that you listed will work fine for what you're looking to do with it (as long as you don't NEED office... there are alternatives avalible). The slate is probably the most versitle though, since it can run native windows software, although probably not as compact/easy to travel with as an ipad or android tablet.

I would go to your local B&M electronics store and try 'em out to see which one you'd prefer using daily.

 

[Vader]

Are there other Android or Iphone OS apps that can open/edit visio files? I think that's going to be the stickler. Really, though, I could always remote into my main machine and work that way..but that could be a headache. I'm trying to avoid having to buy a Windows bloaty device that's expensive..the slate is simply too much money. I really do like Android as I have an HTC Incredible and it's been the best single use device that i've had to date and i'm very comfortable with it.

 

[phide]

There isn't an iPad app that can open Visio files directly, no.

 

[dss2010]

I believe there is an office type app for android called "Quick Office"

 

[heatlesssun]

I've had my HP Slate for 3 weeks now and it's a hell of a device. You're simply not going to beat its productivity capabiliy with an iPad or Android device.

For those that say it's expesenvie show me a device with all of this much less than $800 and then you will have a point: 64 GB SSD, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, dual cameras, USB port, SD slot and to top it all off a dual mode digitizer with a TRUE digital pen, not a capacitive stylus.

There's not one. The top end iPad is $829 with a 64 GB and 3G, which the Slate lacks but it has a USB port so I'm using 4G without a teather. When you compare feature for feature the Slate is actually a breakthrough in price. There's never been a pure slate on the market with an active pen in this size for anything close to $800.

The real beauty of this device is the active pen. It's a little quirky compared to Wacom digitizers but I've inked tens of thousands of on the thing and it's just a joy, it's like digitial paper than you can serach or convert to text. OneNote on this thng is just special.

This isn't an iPad killer or an Android clone, it's not even a Windows device that most people know, if you've never used digital ink in Windows you really have no idea what it is. One may not like digital ink and that's fine but it's productivity power is simply beyond that of pure touch screens. Android will be getting into the act of digitial pens next year as well with N-trig digitizers though though it won't have the amazing handwirting recognition of Windows on OneNote. Evernote is fine for what it is but OneNote is simply in it's on leage. Even the iPad note taking community admits that.

The Slate for now is a device in a function and price category by itself. It my be niche but for those who know how to and can use it's pretty remarkable.

 

[Vader]

I don't know..i'm on the fence...I still think it's a lot of money. How is it in Multitasking and how the performance? Is it snappy?

 

[heatlesssun]

I'm inking this post with real time ink to text conversion, have four other browser windows open including AOL Radio which is a Flash streaming audio application, two copies of Word 2010 and OneNote running and it is perfectly smooth and switching between apps is just like you've becomed used to in Windows.

Sometimes there might be some hitching like when the AV scanner runs for a few seconds here and there but the overall performance is just solid.

 

[InorganicMatter]

I don't know..i'm on the fence...I still think it's a lot of money. How is it in Multitasking and how the performance? Is it snappy?

It's awful. Don't buy a Slate. I'm an engineer at HP, we all joke about how bad the Slate is and everyone in my group uses iPads.

 

[heatlesssun]

It's awful. Don't buy a Slate. I'm an engineer at HP, we all joke about how bad the Slate is and everyone in my group uses iPads.

So explain what's awful about it? How long have you used one? Are you saying that an iPad is better at running things like Office? Flash? Note taking? Yeah, right.

 

[InorganicMatter]

So explain what's awful about it? How long have you used one? Are you saying that an iPad is better at running things like Office? Flash? Note taking? Yeah, right.

We use things called ultraportables for running Office and Flash. The Slate offers no day-to-day features over its competitors except inking, which is used by such a small percentage of our customer base that it's essentially nothing more than a box for marketing to check. It's performance and battery life is so lacking that those essentially wash out any pros...some of our laptops get better battery life than the slate.

There's a damn good reason we bought Palm, and it ain't phones.

 

[Joe Average]

There's a damn good reason we bought Palm, and it ain't phones.

Careful, or you're going to have to start putting a disclaimer in your posts like Ranma Sao does...

 

[Vader]

Sounds like I should wait..see what CES has to offer..I really don't need one until end of February, beginning March.

 

[heatlesssun]

We use things called ultraportables for running Office and Flash.

First of all show me an ultraportable that weighs 1.5 lbs that costs the same as or less the Slate.

The Slate offers no day-to-day features over its competitors except inking, which is used by such a small percentage of our customer base that it's essentially nothing more than a box for marketing to check.

As I've already indicated the true beauty of the 500 is it's active digitizer and the wonderful inking abilities in Windows. But if inking is such a small niche thing that no one cares about then why are there Android devices coming out with the SAME digitizer technology of the Slate? Millions of people everyday use pens and nothing replaces for art or note taking or signatures for that matter. Pens have been around centuries and other interfaces STILL haven't replaced what they can do, things that as I've said are done by millions of people across the world each and every day.

It's performance and battery life is so lacking that those essentially wash out any pros...some of our laptops get better battery life than the slate.

There's a damn good reason we bought Palm, and it ain't phones.

This is just not honest in regards to performance.

I'm inking this post with real time ink to text conversion, have four other browser windows open including AOL Radio which is a Flash streaming audio application, two copies of Word 2010 and OneNote running and it is perfectly smooth and switching between apps is just like you've becomed used to in Windows.

Sometimes there might be some hitching like when the AV scanner runs for a few seconds here and there but the overall performance is just solid.

On top of this this device can stream 1080P video SMOOTHLY. How is this bad performance? Show me a Android device that can do this all of this smoothly. I know the iPad can't.

You do have a point about battery life in my video looping test I got between 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours play 1080P and 720P video over WiFi and locally with Bluetooth on and off. However in convential desktop use I'm getting a consistent 5 hours so there's a tradeoff. Limited battery life for much more powerful functionality on the content creation side.

 

[phide]

Not every thread must turn into an Android/iPad vs. Slate thread just because these products are mentioned.

Sounds like I should wait..see what CES has to offer..I really don't need one until end of February, beginning March.

That's a very good idea.

 

[heatlesssun]

Sounds like I should wait..see what CES has to offer..I really don't need one until end of February, beginning March.

I agree. You wouldn't be able to get a Slate until then anyway. However the Slate is the perfect fit for what you've described,

As JA did bring up a disclaimer, I has paid to do a professional review of the 500 and gave it a favorable review. But I did make the point that inking is the devices greatest strength, in combination with OneNote its ability as a note taking device is without equal at it's price. Anyone who wants to argue with that is simply being dishonest.

However is inking isn't something of interest or you don't have the need to run full Windows applications natively then there are devices that are a better fit.

See I know how to be honest and tell the truth than to spout of uneducated pedantic garbage.

 

[Joe Average]

The basic gist is this: pen-enabled computing isn't an absolute necessary thing, it's a niche like it or not. It always has been, and considering how fast truly touch-enabled computing is catching on - with pen-enabled computing having existed for close to 15 years now - is simply proof-positive that not everyone cares about, needs, requires, or even wants to use a pen or stylus that's attached or not attached to the device in question.

*phew*

You want full-blown productivity? Get a Windows powered tablet device, any of them.

You want portability and apps that allow access to media content on the go but aren't dragged down by the "everything and the kitchen sink too" syndrome? Get an iPad or Android-powered tablet, most any of them.

Class dismissed.

 

[heatlesssun]

Not every thread must turn into an Android/iPad vs. Slate thread just because these products are mentioned.

While in principle I agree this particular thread was asking for a comparison of these different platforms. I've said it a million times, NONE of the platforms is killer at everything, they all have there various strengths and weaknesses.

The iPad is a WONDERFUL entertainment slate with a beautiful and fluid UI. Android's open source nature make devices running it EXTREMELY customizable. And Windows devices like the Slate, those with dual mode digitizers are simply tough to beat when it comes to productivity tasks.

On the flip side Window slates will have the poorest battery life and worst touch UI experience. The iPad and Android just don't at this time have the applications and power to traditional productivity work that Windows can. However this market is evolving and in time these weaknesses will diminish and the platforms will converge in capabilities as is ALWAYS the case.

This is not a zero sum game, there's a place and time for ALL of these platforms and none is going to kill of the others, not in our lifetimes would be safe to say.


That's a very good idea.[/QUOTE]

Yes, waiting is always your best friend when it comes to tech if it's an option.

 

[heatlesssun]

The basic gist is this: pen-enabled computing isn't an absolute necessary thing, it's a niche like it or not. It always has been, and considering how fast truly touch-enabled computing is catching on - with pen-enabled computing having existed for close to 15 years now - is simply proof-positive that not everyone cares about, needs, requires, or even wants to use a pen or stylus that's attached or not attached to the device in question.

I've NEVER said pens were necessary. I've said that for tasks involving content creation, particularly note taking and art, NO touch only device compares. And I think it was you that started the thread about N-trig digitizers going into Android devices. If no one cares about them then why is this happening?

I'm not saying that pens are going to rule the world but I AM saying that few people have a clue just how poweful and useful they are. Most people when they think of pens think of simple sticks. They have no idea that computers can recongnize handwriting better than people now. As these Android devices with dual digitizers come on line and there's marketing of these devices you might very well be suprised at how digital pens catch on. And maybe it will be Android that leads the way and not Windows but anyone who thinks that pens are just little niche things that don't have a LOT of use that millions would love is just not being realistic. People simply don't KNOW this tech exists and how good it is because NO ONE has every marketed it.

A device like the Courier, done right and at the same price point as the iPad with its pen could easily rival the iPad in sales numbers.

 

[_brew]

I've seen heatlesssun bring this up a few times over the past year or so, I'd place my bet on his real world experience about the practicality of digital ink. If your primary concern is content creation then I would try and use the pen in a shop somewhere and see how much you like it.

If your primary concern is content consumption then my recommendation is solidly in the iPad camp. Between the size, the apps, and the battery life there really isn't any peer so far. If you're going to wait for CES, you might as well wait for the iPad refresh in April.

 

[Joe Average]

I've NEVER said pens were necessary.

I know, and I never said you did; my comment was a broad generalization hence being the "basic gist."

We both get it, hence we're both (and some others around here as well) are in the extreme minority overall, but that's part of being a first-adopter for these kinds of tech. The hard part is getting the majority to not only pay attention at all but doing it in such a way where you can present the tangible actual real-world benefits of the given technology.

Show people a tablet PC with a pen attached and write something on the screen and the given response is "I can do that with a $.49 legal pad and a $.10 pencil, no thanks..." because they just don't get it.

They can't see what that can lead to, they only see what's right in front of them, unfortunately.

 

[heatlesssun]

ITAWTP. I understand that not everyone likes pens but at the same time I'm FAR from the only person that I know that sees the power and usefulness of pens and digital ink and it's hard to argue that slates aren't the perfect form factor for digital ink. I have yet to see anything on Android or the iPad using pure touch that rivals the content creation power of using a pen in Office or Photoshop or PDF markup or note taking just to name the big tasks I can think of.

And with the arrival of active digitizers coming to Android inking is probably going to get a lot more attention now and I will be curious to see how that goes. My fear is that people will see it on Android and determine that it's not all that great because Android's support for ink probably won't be that great as the stuff in Windows is just so complex and mature and built into the OS.

At the very least checkout stuff on YouTube, there's a ton of inking demos for Windows and I have an inking demo of the Slate out there under Heatlesssun. Even it you don't like it it should be pretty obvious to see that it can have it's uses and can't be replaced totally via only a touch interface.

 

[heatlesssun]

Show people a tablet PC with a pen attached and write something on the screen and the given response is "I can do that with a $.49 legal pad and a $.10 pencil, no thanks..." because they just don't get it.

If that's the response that one gets then the demo was bad. Here's what I do and it gets a WOW everytime.

I pull up Word or got to Facebook depending on the crowd, then the Tablet Input Panel, write in barely legible text and person sees that go striaght into Word or a Facebook update as almost perfect text. It get's a WOW everytime and no one thinks about the 60 cent solution you mentioned since it can't do this.

Actually it gets a WOW even more now when I mention that this is beyond the iPad or any Android device currently. I don't even have to bother with cloud replication or emailing notes though one person asked me a few months ago if a OneNote document could be emailed.

The biggest issue is the cost but when cost isn't a factor this stuff sells itself. I've shown the Slate to a bunch of people that walked up to me thinking it was an iPad. A couple of people have told me that they were thinking about an iPad but that they needed to run Windows applications and there were a couple of people that wanted to buy them for Christmas presents but unfortunately that wasn't possible.

 

[Serpico]

A device like the Courier, done right and at the same price point as the iPad with its pen could easily rival the iPad in sales numbers.

The iPad is on track to sell about 10 million in its first year. It sold 3 million units in the first quarter and 4.2 in the second quarter. It should easily clear 30 million units sold by late 2011/early 2012. It has sold faster than the iPhone, XBox, Wii, whatever major consumer electronics device you can think of. Catching up with the iPad in terms of hardware quality, battery life, and (important!) massive iOS application selection is a mountain that everyone else is up against. Forget "rivaling" sales numbers, they should be thrilled if they can get just a fraction of it.

And it certainly ain't happening on a device with a desktop operating system on it.

Pens are a niche, accept that and move on.

 

[heatlesssun]

Pens are a niche, accept that and move on.

Well they're coming to Android, we'll see. I could say the Mac is niche as well but that is completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with its usefulness to those that appreciate it. And we all know that niche precedes mainstream. Slates have been niche before this year (actually they still are at least for this year compared to total computer sales) and have been around for almost two decades. The niche argument simply doesn't prove or mean anything.

The main issues with active pens are their cost and their marketing. Few people truly know how powerful they are, at least in Windows. Person after person discounts handwriting recognition because they think it won't work because their handwriting is too bad. I'm inking this post in barely legible scrawl on an Atom CPU and the speed and accuracy is remarkable. Faster then most people can type with one hand with an OSK.

The new N-trig digitizers are pretty cheap, I think the whole setup only adds about $50 to the device, that's substantially lower than Wacom technology.

Niche perhaps, useful beyond pure touch, most definitely.

PS, do a web search for iPad pens, yeah really niche. Hit after hit after hit on that search. If you type "iPad p" in a Google search box "iPad pen" is the fourth highest search after price, printing and PDF.

 

[Serpico]

heatless - Stop changing your argument. I wasn't talking about usability, that is a separate subject, I was addressing this:

A device like the Courier, done right and at the same price point as the iPad with its pen could easily rival the iPad in sales numbers.

First you say it can be a blockbuster product, then you say that it doesn't matter. Make up your mind.

 

[heatlesssun]

heatless - Stop changing your argument. I wasn't talking about usability, that is a separate subject, I was addressing this:



First you say it can be a blockbuster product, then you say that it doesn't matter. Make up your mind.

I'm not changing anything. The premmise of my argument behind the Coruier being a possible blockbuster is that pens are useful and can have wide appeal as they already have a LOT of usefulness, it's just not well understood. You were the one that called pens niche and obvisouly if pens are niche then how could Coruier do well in terms of numbers?

I was simply saying that niche now doesn't really mean anything about popularity in the the future. The iPad is obvisouly as great example. Slates had been niche, Apple executed well with the iPad and now they aren't, not like a year ago. Why couldn't a product be well executed that supports a pen as well? Hell it might even be Apple that does it. By the time the iPad 10 comes around people might actually be able to write on them, it's call a pad afterall. After a while pens will just become part of the deal as it's such a natural fit for the form factor and Apple and all vendors will have to add them drive more and more sales. You have to keep adding stuff to keep the product from become stale. I seriosuly doubt that most slates in ten years will just be touch only devices, probably less than five. The iPad will eventually have them, just a matter of time.

 

[_brew]

I doubt the iPad will have pens. Jobs' vision is to transform all input to natural human touch. If you listen to what he says when he lays out his idea of the perfect input device, it's the human finger. To him, adding a pen would be moving backwards.

 

[heatlesssun]

I understand Jobs' dislike of pens, I had a Newton. But if in time all of the devices have handwriting recognition and top line digital ink, and there are apps that do that on the iPad write now, pun intended, Apple will be forced to keep up with the Jones'. It would be a fairly major deficiency on the productivity and creativity side. The Mona Lisa isn't a finger painting.

Pens (pens, paint brushs, quills) have been around since the begning of time and I simply don't see how touch alone can replace them. If they could you wouldn't see all the effort on the iPad to replicate this stuff.

 

[iceredwing]

I don't see how anyone really views the iPad or an Android tablet as a "productivity" device. All i can ever accomplish with it was strictly entertainment related. The only thing productive I ever did with it was respond to business e-mails.

I simply couldn't tolerate the iPad because I rely heavily on flash based video content to pass time.

Each tablet has its specific qualities, and the constant need to compare them is ridiculous since they have specific strengths and weaknesses. Neither of the 3 is a 'be all' replacement to a normal laptop's function (I.E. suit your needs for entertainment, productivity, and software library accessibility).

So just use your common sense and you will be fine.

 

[niranjan162]

I don't see how anyone really views the iPad or an Android tablet as a "productivity" device. All i can ever accomplish with it was strictly entertainment related. The only thing productive I ever did with it was respond to business e-mails.

I simply couldn't tolerate the iPad because I rely heavily on flash based video content to pass time.

Each tablet has its specific qualities, and the constant need to compare them is ridiculous since they have specific strengths and weaknesses. Neither of the 3 is a 'be all' replacement to a normal laptop's function (I.E. suit your needs for entertainment, productivity, and software library accessibility).

So just use your common sense and you will be fine.

Agreed. If you want any type of productivity which it seems you do, you should go windows based.

 

[heatlesssun]

I think that this will be the best Windows based tablet coming out of CES next week, the Asus EP121: http://www.asuseeepad.net/

Not sure about all of the specs but it looks to have everything you could want in a Windows tablet, even 8 hour + battery life if the rumors are true. It'll be expensive at $1000 but it's a hybrid, it has a detachable keyboard that turns it into a laptop.

If it is a good as it looks now I'll be getting one as soon as it goes on sale which should be in January.

 

[SR45]

For me, each and everytime I look at a new Tablet to consider, I still go back to a very good Notebook computer as the best for my needs. Me thinks the Tablets are still not up to speed on everything that one wants to do over a notebook, but may change over time.

What I do not like about the Tablets mostly is the onscreen keyboard. They take up lots of screen real-estate but some will say one can buy a usb keyboard for them, but that will just add more to carry. A notebook has one plus more screen area to look at for just about the same price. Not to mention, notebooks come or can be upgraded to a longer warranty which most tablets cannot (More then 2 years for notebooks. 1 year mostly to tablets but the IPad that can be upgraded to 2 years. I EXOPC has only one year and no way to upgrade to 2 years. Specially for a new product, I like longer warraties)

 

[niranjan162]

For me, each and everytime I look at a new Tablet to consider, I still go back to a very good Notebook computer as the best for my needs. Me thinks the Tablets are still not up to speed on everything that one wants to do over a notebook, but may change over time.

What I do not like about the Tablets mostly is the onscreen keyboard. They take up lots of screen real-estate but some will say one can buy a usb keyboard for them, but that will just add more to carry. A notebook has one plus more screen area to look at for just about the same price. Not to mention, notebooks come or can be upgraded to a longer warranty which most tablets cannot (More then 2 years for notebooks. 1 year mostly to tablets but the IPad that can be upgraded to 2 years. I EXOPC has only one year and no way to upgrade to 2 years. Specially for a new product, I like longer warraties)

get a convertible tablet/laptop best of both

 

[heatlesssun]

get a convertible tablet/laptop best of both

This is why the EP121 looks intresting, basically a convertible except the keyboard detaches, i5 CULV CPU, active digitizer, great battery life suposedly, everything. This thing is looking like a beast, we should know all the details Jan. 4

Along these lines I've really loved my tm2, it's simply been one hell of machine for me, it's done just about everything I've wanted. It's a little bulky because of the cooling design and being a laptop and the screen isn't that great are the only issues with it. The EP121 takes care of the bulk issue with it's detablable section and hopefully Asus puts a nice notch screen in it.

 

[tybert7]

Well they're coming to Android, we'll see. I could say the Mac is niche as well but that is completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with its usefulness to those that appreciate it. And we all know that niche precedes mainstream. Slates have been niche before this year (actually they still are at least for this year compared to total computer sales) and have been around for almost two decades. The niche argument simply doesn't prove or mean anything.

The main issues with active pens are their cost and their marketing. Few people truly know how powerful they are, at least in Windows. Person after person discounts handwriting recognition because they think it won't work because their handwriting is too bad. I'm inking this post in barely legible scrawl on an Atom CPU and the speed and accuracy is remarkable. Faster then most people can type with one hand with an OSK.

The new N-trig digitizers are pretty cheap, I think the whole setup only adds about $50 to the device, that's substantially lower than Wacom technology.

Niche perhaps, useful beyond pure touch, most definitely.

PS, do a web search for iPad pens, yeah really niche. Hit after hit after hit on that search. If you type "iPad p" in a Google search box "iPad pen" is the fourth highest search after price, printing and PDF.

It should not be hard to do a demo if it is that compelling, there is a thing called youtube that could showcase how well one of these tablets perform first hand. Get a decent camera and do it.

There is a perfect niche that would take to such things right away, college kids in the sciences that need to write up labs. I don't know about onenotes capability for symbol recognition, but if that is up to snuff, that would be universally lauded by every human being who has had to painstakingly select mathematical symbols from a daunting list for their reports.

Show that off and you will draw people to it. But I think this appeals more to content creation types. The truth is that most people are consumers who create nothing. And in that space the higher numbers will always be on the flashier device that makes content viewing more seamless.

Apple sells the ipad to the visigoth masses who are quite content and happy to be sated by something less capable at content creation.


What HP needs to do is continue on the palm webOS path, get those tablets up to snuff and out there to give an ipad like experience for the masses.

What microsoft needs to do is expand the power and usability of one note and release version for andriod and webOS and even iOS. Sell it for like 50 dollars or something, but they are a software company, let them leverage that software.

And let those who want both the fluid content viewing AND content creation have both in some mythical webOS tablet (please HP deliver).

 

[heatlesssun]

It should not be hard to do a demo if it is that compelling, there is a thing called youtube that could showcase how well one of these tablets perform first hand. Get a decent camera and do it.

I review all my Tablet PCs on YouTube under heatlesssun, have several of the HP Slate and the first one I did was an inking demo. There's a math input panel in Windows 7 that allows for math input, not nearly as good as the text recognition but it's not bad when trained and beats a keyboard.

We should find out about the PalmPad at CES. There's pics of it going around and they look EXACTLY like the HP Slate and some are thinking that HP diverted resources to from the Slate to do the PalmPad thus with the slipping orders of the Slate. I don't know about webOS. The iPad, Android tablets and even the Playpad are either directly based on sucessful phones or related to a sucessful phone OS maker in Blackberry. webOS isn't that and it's going to be a tough road for it I think. There's definately a lot of competition for developers and applications and I just don't know how well HP is going to do at that, it's not something in their core areas of experience. But at least for now with the noevelty of slates they all are selling and people are buying them in all shapes and sizes.

The issue with content creation on mobile OS devices is that these devices simply were not designed to handle big iron applications, they are about low power consumption. Not to say that you can't do content creation, for simple things they aren't bad but they are Office or Photoshop. Of course a lot of people will say why would you want to run those kinds of apps on a slate and at least in the case of Photoshop OneNote is kind of a no brainer, when you have a digital pen. OneNote with a pen on a slate is simply the best form note taking setup there is and I've gotten more than students to buy a convertible Tablet PC, there's TONS of people out there that write on paper simply because they like it better than keyboards, it's just more natural. I love having the freedom to go between keyboard and pen, I'm not forced to into using only a simple input metaphor.

 

[niranjan162]

It should not be hard to do a demo if it is that compelling, there is a thing called youtube that could showcase how well one of these tablets perform first hand. Get a decent camera and do it.

There is a perfect niche that would take to such things right away, college kids in the sciences that need to write up labs. I don't know about onenotes capability for symbol recognition, but if that is up to snuff, that would be universally lauded by every human being who has had to painstakingly select mathematical symbols from a daunting list for their reports.

Show that off and you will draw people to it. But I think this appeals more to content creation types. The truth is that most people are consumers who create nothing. And in that space the higher numbers will always be on the flashier device that makes content viewing more seamless.

Apple sells the ipad to the visigoth masses who are quite content and happy to be sated by something less capable at content creation.


What HP needs to do is continue on the palm webOS path, get those tablets up to snuff and out there to give an ipad like experience for the masses.

What microsoft needs to do is expand the power and usability of one note and release version for andriod and webOS and even iOS. Sell it for like 50 dollars or something, but they are a software company, let them leverage that software.

And let those who want both the fluid content viewing AND content creation have both in some mythical webOS tablet (please HP deliver).

The mass appeal of mac stuff is that its made for people who dont know what their doing. This is done by closing off the platform. So you give up certain things, like flash, but for most people its fine. For most people a computer from 2004 would be good enough.

 

[niranjan162]

This is why the EP121 looks intresting, basically a convertible except the keyboard detaches, i5 CULV CPU, active digitizer, great battery life suposedly, everything. This thing is looking like a beast, we should know all the details Jan. 4

Along these lines I've really loved my tm2, it's simply been one hell of machine for me, it's done just about everything I've wanted. It's a little bulky because of the cooling design and being a laptop and the screen isn't that great are the only issues with it. The EP121 takes care of the bulk issue with it's detablable section and hopefully Asus puts a nice notch screen in it.

I love my tm2 as well. I just wished it weighed less, still its a great machine.