Tablet PC Progress, Choices and Comparisons

GATES SPEAKS OUT ON TABLET PCS, HANDWRITING AND ONENOTE 

© Karl Barksdale, January 14, 2006

At the International Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past week, Bill Gates outlined Microsoft's new Windows Vista strategy.  Windows Vista looks amazing!  So does the speech recognition. (Read our review of Windows Vista SR by clicking this link.)

Vista may hit the market as soon as fall 2006.  Gates took time to address tablet PCs, handwriting, and OneNote directly.  Here are a few excerpts from the speech:

"One of the special things we've been doing with Windows is creating a tablet version. Now, this fits in with the fact that the growth in PCs was not only fantastic but portable machines are making up a higher and higher percentage.”

“We've got dozens of partners building great Tablet PCs, they're getting better and better. In fact, there are some new technologies that are going to make that price premium for this tablet capability very, very small.”

“Now, we're investing a lot in this in Windows Vista. The investment is our research group, new ideas of how we adjust automatically to your handwriting style, and so as you use it, it will just get better and better.”

"We're taking this idea of notetaking, annotating, reading to a whole new level and we'll have a lot of partnerships around Windows Vista..."

"With OneNote we have a new version of that that will drive this forward and let us do a lot better there. So driving that to the mainstream is something we're very committed to.” Download from http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2006/01-04CES.asp on January 10, 2006.

Microsoft is serious about tablet PCs, and so are many business educators.  Everywhere I travel nowadays teachers are carrying tablet PCs.  One teacher put it best: "You'd have to cut off my arm to get my tablet away from me."  That's the way I feel.  I simply can't live without the functionality of a tablet PC!  I feel sorry for everyday laptop users: they just don't look like they're having as much fun as tablet PC users.

Industry buzz has it that Microsoft has been working with computer manufacturers to bring the price of their tablet PCs down to within few hundred dollars of a comparable laptop.  The strategy seems to be working.  Some models are now many hundreds of dollars less costly than they were just a year ago. 

And, both Toshiba and Gateway recently broke the psychological $1000 price barrier with quality tablet PCs this month.  This represents a major milestone.  Schools can now afford to buy tablet PCs instead of desktops for their students.

Microsoft is also working with software manufacturers.  At last word there are nearly 300 new applications written strictly for tablet PCs.  For some examples visit:
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tabletpc/experiencepack/overview.mspx. 

Additionally, there are other features in Microsoft Office and OneNote that only tablet PC users have access to.  It appears certain that most future laptops will become tablet PCs. 

(Note: We have a Nifty Training Solutions manual for tablet PC 2005. Take a look at the table of contents by clicking this link.)

PICKING A TABLET PC

First the disclaimer: everything you read in this article is a combination of personal experience, teacher comments, word-of-mouth and industry reviews.  Contact your normal sources for product reviews before buying.  But hopefully, our little list will get you looking in the right directions.

TOSHIBA: The top tablet for the last two years, the Portégé is still in high demand.  With a 12.1 inch screen, it only weighs about 3 pounds.  This is the one I purchased for my daughter for college.  Frankly, it's classy.  It has historically been pricey, but since last year it has dropped down by about $500.

Toshiba has two other tablet PC models: the Satellite and the Tecra.  The lowest cost are the Satellite R10/R15 models.  This is the one I bought for myself.  I paid $1300 for the base model last December and I noticed it was $999 after the New Year.  (Oops, I should have waited.)  I did pay an extra $150 for 1 GB of RAM.  I bought it because it was less expensive than the Portégé, has a built in DVD burner, and sports a larger and quite brilliant 14.1 inch screen.  It's a little heavier than the Portégé, but it was a nice replacement for my super reliable Acer 300. 

The other, more expensive model is called the Toshiba Tecra M4.  I don't know much about it, but I did have one technician say he found it a bit heavy for a tablet.

GATEWAY:  The new Gateway is so cool that even Bill Gates plugged it at CES:

“Gateway is helping us lead the way with this new [CX200]. It's a great machine at very much a mainstream portable price.”  Downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2006/01-04CES.asp on January 10, 2006.

Indeed it is.  It is the first widescreen tablet PC ever made.  It also runs the new DDR2 RAM -- to my knowledge the first tablet PC to do so.  It is gorgeous.  I came within inches of buying one before the holidays and switched back to Toshiba ONLY because we have a highly competent Toshiba repair center right in town.  I spotted it for under $1000 at the Gateway web site. Search the Notebook section for this convertible tablet.

LENOVO: IBM sold their ThinkPad laptop division to a Chinese company called Lenovo.  Recently, they came out with a widely acclaimed tablet PC ThinkPad called the X41.  All the reviews are superb, although I personally haven't seen one. Again, hit the Notebook section of the web site and look for the ThinkPad X Series Tablet.

FUJITSU: Reviews in the top PC magazines are also very strong for the Fujitsu tablet PC.  I have used it and love it, and probably would have bought one had it not been a few hundred dollars more at the time than the Toshiba and Gateway tablets I described earlier. Choose the United States, Computers, followed by Tablet PCs and look for the LifeBook® T4000 Tablet PC.

ACER: Acer made the very first convertibles.  I have owned two Acers and was very pleased with both of them.  My most recent was the Acer 300 which was one of the most durable computers I have ever owned.  I have talked to several instructors who have the Acer 300 who also enjoy this tablet PC quite a bit.  And the price is extremely competitive. Also, the new Acer 200 looks very interesting. The Acer site takes a little for navigation. First you must go to the Americas/United States section, then look for Notebooks. You will see their three tablet PCs in the notebook section.

HP: The early HP tablet PCs were not very good.  However, they improved their digitizing and pen technologies.  Since then, I've heard nothing but good about them.  Those that have them love them. Choose the Notebooks & Tablet PC link on the site and you're good to go.

MOTION: All of the tablet PCs described above are convertibles, meaning they convert from a laptop into a tablet PC as needed.  Convertibles are, by far, the most popular models.  However, the original tablet PCs were designed to be slates.  Slates do not have keyboards.  They are very useful in certain areas, particularly in the medical profession.  Motion has dominated this market.  I was able to see some of our outstanding Texas teachers use their Motion keyboard-less slates expertly.  I was impressed beyond words.  (I also learned that if you don't have a keyboard to depend on, you learn more quickly the full potential of a tablet PC.)  And the biometric fingerprint recognition login system was really cool.  After that experience, I can definitely recommend that you take a look at Motion slates. 

APPLE: Now that Apple has switched to Intel CPUs, rumor has it that they are working on a tablet PC of their own.  A tablet with an Apple OS?  Who would've thought that would happen?  Normally we hear complaints that Microsoft borrows ideas from Apple.  I guess turnabout is fair play.

MEMORY SPECIFICATIONS FOR TABLET PCS

With Windows Vista and a new Office 12 hitting us probably in the fall of 2006, it's important that you have the capacity to add extra RAM to your tablet PC.  Consider 1 GB of RAM to be a minimum for these new products when running speech recognition under Vista and Office 12.  I have learned already that 512 MB of RAM isn't sufficient.  In fact, 2 GB may be better if the processor is under 2 MHz.  Also, DDR2 RAM is now becoming available.  Tablets using DDR2 should probably be given added consideration.