Latest Windows ad and the Tablet PC

H

heatlesssun

Extremely [H]
Joined
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So this is a screen shot from one of those new Windows ads which I saw during the Villanova - Carolina game with a person going computer shoping at a Frye's. So this guy is looking at the tx2z and seems to consider it but ends up getting some other HP model. Not only that, they don't even mention the fact that the tx2z is a convertable tablet. Not cool! I own a tx2z so when I saw it being displayed it caught my eye. It was shown several times in the ad.

Really though, Microsoft could have shown off a tablet to millions of people with this ad. I'm amazed by how many people still ooh and aah at my tablets.

What were you thinking Microsoft and ad company?!?!?!? Maybe HP wanted to push the machine that the guy bought but still Microsoft, you could have shown tablets to millions of folks this evening.

Microsoft, do one of these ads around a tablet! Also, you should do one around a gaming PC. Great opprtunity to poke fun at Mac's since they don't do tablets or games!

tx2z%20As%20Seen%20ON%20TV.jpg
 
Yah, was looking at those HP tablets recently... if only they had Intel hardware in 'em, I swear. Sorry, but I'm jaded, and Turions are weak fucking processors compared to Core 2 Duos, they just are. That's the only thing that would (and does) stop me from even considering 'em, I just won't go the AMD route again because the supporting chipsets are shit - and I'm well aware of how much you love that tablet, heatless, I am. :) I just won't go any route but Intel anymore... "That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it..."

But tablets simply won't have any decent market penetration anytime soon because people just don't get it. They really don't.

Hell, a few months ago when the TouchSmart home PCs were first appearing there was a thread in the News section where I preached 'em up constantly and I still do, but all I get for it is flack from idiots that just can't see where things are going and threw back comments at me over and over about "oh god, the fingerprints" and "OMFG you can't game with a touch PC!!!" and other such truly ignorant things. They're pigeonholing the entire concept of touch-based computing into not being able to play games and fingerprints...

Pretty sad when it happens, but hey, people are really fucking stupid, what can I say.

I got a Nokia N800 Internet tablet last week to go along with the old Toshiba tablet machine I still mess around with. I have to say I've been spending a lot of time with the N800, far more than I thought I would. The 800x480 screen kicks ass, I just now did a clean flash of the most current official firmware on it (OS2008) and I'm about to set up one of the two 8GB SD cards I have in it for a dual boot with the latest community developed distro called Mer.

While it's not as large or feature laden as a real tablet PC would be, it is a true tablet computer, with a Linux distro, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a kickass browser (Tear, community created, with full Flash and Javascript support), a nice media player (Canola), and many other cool things (plays 700MB AVI rips without needing to convert to some other format like mp4, etc). No it's not quite as powerful as a "real PC" but then again it's not a real PC...

And therein lies the heart of it all when you get right down to it: people that can't stand or can't appreciate tablet-based computing are simply stuck in Park and they can't get out of that way of thinking. Try to show 'em what's possible and all you get for it is flack and negativity - 0H N0E5!!! I can't game on it!!! My god, the fingerprints!!!

Bleh... I'll let 'em sit there on the sidelines in Park while I get shit done and learn new cool things... so be it. ;) Windows 7 could be the OS that pushes tablet and touch functionality out there in a loud enough way that people simply take notice finally... I hope so because I already know what the future holds... computing, in the palm of your hand, or at the bare minimum under the fingertips :D
 
I understand your reticence over the AMD platform however the combination of the CPU and GPU on the tx2z is the most powerful for any multi-touch tablet on the market, and that only includes the Dell XT/XT2's currently. If there were an Intel option as powerful I would have gone for it but there isn't at the moment.

I thought about getting a N800 myself but I already have two tablets and a netbook and the tx2z goes everywhere with me anyway and if I need a quick and dirty browser I have three on my Windows Mobile phone with a data plan and that's even more mobile than an N800 so I passed and got a Blu Ray burner instead last week.

You are right, a lot of people don't get tablets, especially convertibles. It's just so cool being able to read books and surf in the bed with one hand! But see that's what people miss about tablets, they extend the useful environment and user interface of a traditional laptop, especially with a convertible. The pen and touch don't REPLACE the keyboard, they augment it. However with the success of the iPhone and Windows 7 touch interface and the netbook form factor and cost, I think we might finally be seeing some great market for tablet technology.

But even if not, there a a lot of tablet folks out there and after 7 years they are still around and I think that HP in particular actually created a hit with its tx tablet series They may not sell a ton but I bet they have better margins than most of they other mobile machines too.

I simply don't want a standard laptop anymore, I only buy convertible tablets now. A conventional laptop is like a three legged dog to me.
 
heatlesssun said:
It's just so cool being able to read books and surf in the bed with one hand!
Click to expand...

I could go on and on endlessly with joke after joke here, but... :D

Yah, not a lot of us "get" tablets, but some of us do and they just seem to fit right into our needs. But that's yet another joke so I'll shut up now. ;)
 
one of the reasons why i didn't pick up a HP tablet because of the AMD platform. I went with lenovo because of that.
 
I wish - and this is a wish sooo... I wish someone made a tablet (current ones) that had a 13.3" or 14.1" screen, I really do. 12.1" has been around for so long, and while it's almost the actual size of an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, dammit it's just not enough for me. :)

I know a few years ago Toshiba did have a 14.1" screen option in one of their laptops, it was the first time I'd ever seen that before, but the cost difference was massive, too massive to even consider the damned thing.

Dell's tablets look great but I've never seen anyone actually using one. What I do see most often out of all the tablets I've ever encountered is that ThinkPad x61t model. Here in Vegas at 3 difference hospitals they're like... freakin' everywhere I swear. Almost everything is moving to primarily computerized input, including patient signatures on "forms," the intake "paperwork," the med carts, even the blood draw cart is equipped with one, and lord have mercy, wireless everywhere.

Who woulda thunk you'd get radiation poisoning from such a high concentration of microwaves in a hospital... :D
 
I never really cared for tablet PCs until I picked one up from CC last month during the clearance. I got a tx2510 and I <3 it. My only complaint is that it can get pretty warm, due to having a 32W Turion Ultra in a small 12.1" laptop.
 
I would jump to a tablet if it was based on say my T400 rather than on a slightly above netbook level system. I can't see paying the premium for something that I would only use as a digital pad of paper (my work needs a bit more than 1.2GHz and 12" of screen), but if it was able to actually replace my laptop as well as being a tablet I'd be able to justify it. I do agree though that MS needs to push their other benefits besides just price, ie games/software, peripherals, tablets, etc.
 
TouchSmart home PCs? Why can't I buy a multitouch monitor? I have to buy a big sexy screen with no video inputs attached to a shitty computer that I won't want in 4 years. WTF?

On the other hand, put discrete graphics in a tablet pc and I might be interested.
 
Joe Average said:
I wish - and this is a wish sooo... I wish someone made a tablet (current ones) that had a 13.3" or 14.1" screen, I really do. 12.1" has been around for so long, and while it's almost the actual size of an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, dammit it's just not enough for me. :)

I know a few years ago Toshiba did have a 14.1" screen option in one of their laptops, it was the first time I'd ever seen that before, but the cost difference was massive, too massive to even consider the damned thing.

Dell's tablets look great but I've never seen anyone actually using one. What I do see most often out of all the tablets I've ever encountered is that ThinkPad x61t model. Here in Vegas at 3 difference hospitals they're like... freakin' everywhere I swear. Almost everything is moving to primarily computerized input, including patient signatures on "forms," the intake "paperwork," the med carts, even the blood draw cart is equipped with one, and lord have mercy, wireless everywhere.

Who woulda thunk you'd get radiation poisoning from such a high concentration of microwaves in a hospital... :D
Click to expand...

I still have my Toshiba R25 Core Duo from 2006, 14"1 1440x900 resolution screen. Pretty good machine but it's only 32 bit, not a big deal since it maxes out at 4GB.

I used to think the same as you about the 14.1" vs 12.1" screen. After 2006 late 2006, the 14"1 1440x900 screen tablets disappeared and the 12.1" 1280x800 screen ruled the roost. After using my tx2z for 4 months I think I made a bigger deal that it was. The smaller size and lighter weight are worth the trade off for most folks and I thought I'd find writting on the tx2z restrictive after coming from the bigger R25 and it just didn't prove to be a problem for me.

It would be nice to at least see 14.1" 1440x900 tablet models but 12.1" size just fine.

Yeah, in business the Thinkpads seem to rule where there are tablets, I've seen those in the hospital my wife works in a setup similar to what you described.
 
It makes me sad that my Gateway CX210X is going on 2 years old, and now that I'm needing to replace it, I can't go any higher than an ATI 3200 as a video option. I really wish that Toshiba would pull off a move like they did a few years ago with an 8400 in a tablet, and throw something higher end, even if it was something like the G105M or 110M from Nvidia.
 
hoffstetter said:
TouchSmart home PCs? Why can't I buy a multitouch monitor? I have to buy a big sexy screen with no video inputs attached to a shitty computer that I won't want in 4 years. WTF?

On the other hand, put discrete graphics in a tablet pc and I might be interested.
Click to expand...

This is a tough trade off for a tablet because there the thermal, power and weight characteristics are a bit more demanding. The tx2xxx and tx2z have the Radeon 3200 IGP which is as powerful as tablets get on the GPU side right now. Actually its not half bad and play a fair number of modern games decently at lower settings.

With Windows 7, you might very well see standalone multi-touch monitors. The Touchsmarts are kind of cool actually but I would never buy one but the integration prior to 7 would have been more work. Now all you need it a driver and the OS handles the multi-touch so its possible but the cost might be an issue.
 
pxc said:
I never really cared for tablet PCs until I picked one up from CC last month during the clearance. I got a tx2510 and I <3 it. My only complaint is that it can get pretty warm, due to having a 32W Turion Ultra in a small 12.1" laptop.
Click to expand...

Yes, HP has gone a great job with this tx2000 line as these are probably the most popular consumer tablets around right now, even though they are AMD based. I wish they had an Intel option like they do with their business tablets but its a cost thing and the AMD Turion platform looks to be pretty solid overall, just a little warm like you said.
 
I had a lot of finance courses so that was the reason why I chose to purchase a tablet. Now that I am done i rarely ever use the tablet pen. I do find myself using the multi-touch when it is quicker to hit pop up forms and such.
 
heatlesssun said:
I still have my Toshiba R25 Core Duo from 2006, 14"1 1440x900 resolution screen. Pretty good machine but it's only 32 bit, not a big deal since it maxes out at 4GB.
Click to expand...

If you ever decide to part with that R25, keep me in mind will ya. ;)
 
I noticed the Tablet in the commercial too! I picked up the Touchsmart TX2 in January. I do wish it had a faster processor, but the 4GB of RAM it has is very nice. I always wanted a tablet PC and I really do love this machine. Could it be better, yes, but I paid $899 for a tablet PC with 4GB, 300GB HD, Vista Ultimate 64, a decent video processor (I can actually run EQ2 on this machine).

I do agree, it runs hot. At least when it's plugged into power. But it's quite reasonable when on it's own power.
 
If it runs hot on AC power, perhaps altering the power settings in Vista so it's more balanced would make a difference - or maybe it could be something as simple as verifying that the power options are allowing the processor to throttle as required. NO laptop should ever get hotter just because it's on AC power unless you've got the power settings adjusted for max performance when on AC. If that's the case, alter them so it throttles down when it's idle instead of max CPU speed 100% of the time, which is a waste of power in two ways...
 
Glad to hear you're loving your tx2z griffinhart! Yes, heat and noise from the fan are the two biggest issues with this device and Joe Average is correct that it really has nothing to do with it being plugged into power, at least not directly. The power plan for battery just runs at lower performance settings and that's why it runs cooler on battery.

I've set up my own custom power plans to manage the heat and that works pretty well, still not quite what I'd like but for the most part it's not an issue. Also it seems to run just a tab cooler under Windows 7, maybe this is in my head as I've been running Windows 7 as the primary OS on my tx2z since the official beta was released and overall it runs very well.

I bought my unit from HP's site and upgraded the CPU to the ZM-86 2.4GHz which seems to run plenty fast (and hot when its cranking) but the performance of the device is very good even games ok at low settings.
 
Yes, I know, when it's plugged in it ramps things up a bit. It goes into a lower power mode when unplugged. that's the distinction. For me, when it's plugged in, It's on a laptop stand on my desk, and it's not an issue, so I don't worry about it. :) when in wireless mode, it's just fine. Quiet, and not overly warm.

I've been running Vista on mine. I've been thinking about trying Win7 on it, but I am waiting until RC-1 is out. Not long after getting the laptop, I picked up a replacement hard drive to play around with Win7. So, I have the original HD tucked away and available to play with and a 7200RPM drive that I use for the working world.
 
This sounds like what I did. I cloned my Vista image onto a 320GB 7200RPM drive and put Windows 7 on the original. Windows 7 works very well on these machines. The only thing that doesn't work is multi-touch (though others have told me that the Vista multi-touch drivers work for them, I personally don't think so) and the figer print reader which I simply have ignored but others have told me that that should work as well.

The tx2z on Windows 7 just seems a bit more solid. It's a little faster and with the enhancements to the tablet features I just hate going back to Vista now.
 
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