Tablet PC

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W.Feather

[H]ard DCOTM x4 & [H]DCOTY x1
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Nov 10, 2009
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I'm looking at getting a tablet PC within the next few months for when I go off to collage, and dont want to spend a horrible amount of money on one, but can go up to about $1500 or $2000 probably at a max.....any idea for a good one, doesnt have to do any gaming, but will be a daily user for classes and such.......would prefer light weight but as long as it isnt heavier than my current 1521 ill be happy........


Ive heard fujitsu makes some good ones, and so does dell I think........i would prefer not to touch an HP(because my friends have had horrible experience with their laptops from them)
 
i have a x61t and it was great until it died recently after only 1.5 years. The build quality is supposedly better with the newer units. Out of all the tablets i looked at, the lenovo x200t is probably still the best out of them all.

Like the user said below, ONENOTE is essential tool for class. Make sure you record your lectures with it...

-M
 
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Smart man! I'm a BIG Tablet PC advocate and think that it is such a tragically underutilized and misunderstood technology especially for information and knowledge handlers like students.

I'm on my 5th Windows tablet since they were introduced in 2002. My main tablet currently is the HP Touchsmart tx2. I know you said you weren't interested in HPs and that's fine. I've had mine for a year however and it is overall a solid machine. The biggest issue I've had with it is heat. It has a HD 3200 GPU and that puppy along with the Turion CPU running at full power kicks out a lot of heat. When using it in tablet mode I run it in power saver mode and turn off Aero and it runs pretty cool then.

If you are looking for light and cool go for one with a low power Core 2 CPU like the aforementioned X200. Great machine from others I've talked to. Fujitsu also has a similar unit, the 2010 I believe.

If you can check out the tx2. Most people at the tabletpcreview.com forums like their tx2s and it is a popular unit for its power and price. You can get one new from Best Buy for $850 with decent specs. No bluetooth with those units which is odd but HP sells them with custom configurations with bluetooth as an option.

One last note, don't forget OneNote (pun intended)! It you're not familiar with it this is an AMAZINGLY useful app that few people still seem to know about. It is perhaps the coolest app in the Office suite and a MUST HAVE for anyone that takes notes.

No matter what machine you go with GET OneNote!

Good Luck!:)
 
i have a site license for office '07, so one note is there :p that is what pushed me to wanting a tablet....just loses so much on a normal PC/laptop


the reason im put off on HP's is because my friend went through 3 harddrives in the course of a year.....i would love the dell one but its just SOOOOO much money



would it be beneficial to pay a little extra for a SSD drive for less heat/power????
 
If you have a $1500 to $2000 budget the Dell XT2 shouldn't be a problem costwise unless you really are trying to shoot a little lower. You could put together a tx2 pretty loaded with a 128 GB SSD for $1300. I just put a middle of the road Patriot Warp v2 128 GB SSD in my tx2 three weeks ago and boy what a difference! Things are just so much smoother. After OneNote its my top recommendation for a tablet. And it did help a bit with heat and battery life though not as much as I had hoped.
 
I love my Thinkpad x200t, got it for ~1200 from lenovo's outlet

1.8ghz
3gb ram
320gb hdd
Wacom pen digitizer

I use it for taking notes in classes + graphics for some of my classes
 
well, that 1500-2000 is an absolute max (as me and my parents dont want to pay a whole lot for a computer), would prefer something lower, but if up higher is absolutly worth it, and will give longer life the price is worth it......would like it to last 4 years lol

ill look more at the x200t and tx2 when i get home later today.
 
Is it safe to assume you know about the Asus T91MT, but aren't considering it because it's a not full-size full-power tablet? Because if you can live with its limitations, it has a lot of benefits too. A much lower price is one of them, but also the fact it's the smallest and lightest (~950 grams) netbook out there with 4-5 hours of battery life.
 
didnt know Asus had a tablet :) ill look at that, i love my 2 Asus mobo's ive had, and have seen good reviews on them.....tbh im open to anything, and as much as it kills me to say it even the mac one if they ever bring it to market :p (ofc i would just throw xp or linux on it anyhow).........im looking for performance for small games, like CNC and such just to fart around on(ive got my gaming PC for my FPS's), and for internet/productivity or whatever its called :)


edit: forgot to add- would prefer it if there wasnt alot of bloat ware added by the manufacture...like all those games / software, i know my dell laptop had a bunch when i got it 3 years ago, i prefer just having a fresh install(which i might do lol)....and a recovery disk(or option to buy one) is a MUST
 
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are you looking for a slate type tablet (w/o attached keyboard) or a tablet w/ attached keyboard?

i've had a motion computing slate for three years and use it daily at my office and i've never had a problem w/ it. my only complaint has been the 4200 rpm HDD - it lags.

sahara is a good brand of slate and highly configurable, including faster HDD. but w/ the fast HDD you lose battery life. i get about 3.5 hours of life out of mine.

if you want a tablet w/ attached keyboard, then look at the lenovo and hp.

my motion has been great and i'll buy another slate in the near future.

i'll echo what the others have said about one note. it's a great program. also take a look at inseine. it's a smaller footprint note taking program. the interface is phenomenal.
 
i think the Tx2 will be getting a remodel in the next 6 months....

my vote is for the Dell or the Lenovo
 
W.Feather said:
well, that 1500-2000 is an absolute max (as me and my parents dont want to pay a whole lot for a computer), would prefer something lower, but if up higher is absolutly worth it, and will give longer life the price is worth it......would like it to last 4 years lol

ill look more at the x200t and tx2 when i get home later today.
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You can always check the outlets for both vendors as well. Sometimes you can get a really good deal from them.
 
The Asus T91MT probably wouldn't be a good candidate for a primary laptop because of its size and performance but may not be a bad machine for note taking and surfing on the go. I'm thinking about getting one of these but Asus is supposed to be releasing a 10" model some time in the near future so I think I'll wait a bit.

As for the tx2 getting an update in the next six months this might be true because the model is a year old now but the price is tough to beat for the performance and features.
 
well and they just redid most of their thin and lights.....

i would expext to see a AMD neo and or a intel ULV CPU in the TX2 sometime soon
 
cacinok said:
i'll echo what the others have said about one note. it's a great program. also take a look at inseine. it's a smaller footprint note taking program. the interface is phenomenal.
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You made a typo, it's InkSeine. Just in case anyone else wants to look this up (it was kinda hard to find on Google... well, not really).
 
i want one with a keyboard, since i do take notes fast with it, the tablet function is more for being able to add drawings and such , or sketches to notes(in my High School classes where I use my laptop I have found it nice if i could do that :p)


ill take a look at the lenovo, and reprice out the Dell(which is ideally what I want, just depends on if my parents can go that high over what I can put in)
 
yeah onenote is great....

ink scene is okay....

bumptop is a good tablet PC software
 
just went and priced out a Dell one to see.....for the RAM it says 1.0 GB integrated....does that mean i still have 2 ram slots ?(i know i can find 2-4 GB of DDR3 notebook ram for less than $190-$460).....also is the Hdd on it the same as a regular SSD ?(i can find a few of them at 160 GB cheaper than what dell wants for the 128 GB.....), that way i can save money on it, as the build like it is is at ~$2400(above what i want to spend, this was just out of curiosity)

o ya, sorry for the long quote, i just took a cut/paste of the "print" for the setup of what I chose different from stock

Dell Latitude XT2




Date 11/22/2009 8:29:53 PM Central Standard Time

Catalog Number 5 Retail 555


Catalog Number / Description Product Code Qty SKU Id



Latitude XT:
Latitude XT2 AMG 1 [224-3594] 1


Processors:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SU9600 with VT (1.60GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB), LED LCD MTD6D 1 [317-1425] 2


Operating Systems:
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64-bit, no media W7P6NE 1 [330-6322][421-1645] 11


Memory:
1.0GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 DIMM 1G1D6 1 [311-9880] 3


Primary Storage:
64GB Dell Mobility Solid State Drive 64SSDM 1 [341-8948] 8


Primary External Optical Drive Options:
E-Module w/ 24X CD-RW/DVD with Cyberlink PowerDVD™ DBCMBO 1 [313-7734][313-7735][421-0536] 16


Primary Battery:
6 Cell Primary Battery 6C 1 [312-0852] 27


AC Adapter:
45 Watt AC Adpater 45AC 1 [310-9589][330-3435] 15


Wireless LAN (802.11):
Intel® WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Mini Card IWIF53V 1 [430-3362] 19


Bluetooth:
Dell Wireless® 365 Bluetooth Module BT360XP 1 [430-3364] 13


System Documentation:
Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers RDVD 1 [330-2843] 25


Graphics:
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD GMA 1 [320-7678] 6


Internal Keyboard:
Internal English Keyboard ENG 1 [330-2802] 4


Energy Star:
Energy Star 5.0 Enabled / EPEAT GOLD ESTAR 1 [467-6457] 40


Systems Management:
No Intel® vPro™ Secure Advanced Hardware Enabled Systems Management CSMD 1 [330-0884] 21


Processor Branding:
Intel Centrino 2 Core Duo Processor IC2NB 1 [330-1152] 749


OS Branding:
Windows 7 Sticker WIN7I 1 [330-6734] 750


Hardware Support Services:
3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD Onsite Service U3OS 1 [992-1972][992-5610][993-4217][993-4218] 29
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so, is it possible to just buy a new SSD and put it in a tablet ??? i have seen the prices of the regular SSD's on newegg and they are much cheaper than the ones the tablet manufacturers offer.
 
W.Feather said:
so, is it possible to just buy a new SSD and put it in a tablet ??? i have seen the prices of the regular SSD's on newegg and they are much cheaper than the ones the tablet manufacturers offer.
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Depends. Some tablets have a 1.8 inch hard drive in them instead of a 2.5 inch. Not sure if that is the case with that dell one. If it is then you can still replace the drive, it will just be harder to find a replacement.
 
is 1.8 starting to replace the 2.5 as a standard in notebooks ??? and would 1.8 only be in more special cases ? would the toshiba's/lenova's/fujitsu's be 2.5 inch or 1.8 inch ?
 
No. 1.8" is not becoming the standard. It's just used when 2.5" is too big.
 
k, so as long as screen is about 13 inch or more, there should be room for the 2.5 inch drive....probably I will have to contact the manufacture to see what one is in the tablet(if it doesnt say that is)
 
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