What Kind of Tablet PC to Buy? 546
nic barajas asks: "I'm going to be attending college this fall, so I have been looking into a computer to use on campus. My preference has been to looking at the Tablet PC, although they are still in their proverbial infancy. I have been looking at a multitude of vendors, including Sager, Acer, and Toshiba. I'm looking for something that has a sizeable screen (at least 12"), decent storage (40GB+), and a long battery life. What are some of the better models on the market with these characteristics?"
God... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, you can carry it anywhere, but it still performs like crap no matter where you take it.
Troll Question (Score:3, Insightful)
I predict (Score:3, Insightful)
I got a solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
The bonus is that when transcribing your notes into a computer for safe keeping a filing, you are effectively reprocessing the lectures you go to. One of the best study methods i know of.
an alternative (Score:2, Insightful)
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's something to be said about a laptop for doing work while on campus, but I don't think that a tablet is worth the extra expense.
wow, ask slashdot.... (Score:1, Insightful)
go ahead, mod me down...but c'mon...news? that matters?
oh I forgot, gotta go to news.google.com for that.
Why a tablet (Score:5, Insightful)
Check with your prospective school. See what their requirements are and what sort of discounts/deals they offer to students who buy through the university. That should factor into your evaluation.
Get a 'real' Laptop (Score:5, Insightful)
They are like giagantic PDA's in that respect. If you want a good PC for college, get a VERY powerful system that will last you a good three or four years before showing it's age.
Take a look at one of the high-end gaming Laptops from Dell, Alienware or other high-end laptop manufacturer.
I considered tablet PC's for some of our sales staff, after taking a look at a few models, I found them quite lacking in terms on long-term performance, long-term durability as well as usability. Some of them DON'T have keyboards at all.
If you need serious portable computing power, a Tablet PC is nothing but a really fancy toy.
tablet pc vs laptop (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I got a solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the bonus is notepads and penciles don't cost FOUR THOUSAND FREAKING DOLLARS.
Get a large screen laptop... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Troll Question (Score:4, Insightful)
I suppose if you are going to take notes in lectures, something that is quick to write with and enables you to draw sketches as and when necessary can be more than easily found in a tablet.
Then, in the really boring lectures just whip open Spider Solitaire and away you go!
Is it obvious I was a bum at Uni? ;-)
Only if. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally I would be happiest with a standard laptop with a touch sensitive screen so I could draw as well as type.
Re:Get a convertable (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't think tablets have much of a future, but laptops that convert into tablets have a wonderful future ahead of them.
Re:Troll Question (Score:5, Insightful)
i) Read thousands of e-books on my couch, while making notes on it
ii) Browse in a comfortable position, while watching TV
iii) Take Notes in a meeting / classroom.
iv) Pass it around easily to show something
v) Design/Architect solutions while not having to worry about transfering it to PC(the monkey coders at
vi) Reduce endless clutter of sticky pads
and surely each person will have a niche use
To the gentleman undergraduate candidate (Score:2, Insightful)
". .
My friend, if you use this overused roughage in college writing courses you will be be in for quite a beating.
" I have been looking at a multitude of vendors, including [three computers]."
My pre-freshman friend. Use this adjective clause in class next fall, and you will be labeled an M, for you take a guess.
Re:Me too (Score:5, Insightful)
Summary: for anything other than truly unique situations, it's not worth it.
D
From my experience with them (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Unless you are quite a slow typist and quit a fast writer, you can probably type as fast or faster than you can write. Also probably far more accurately than the computer will recognise your penmanship.
2) You can get laptops plenty portable. Dell offers lots of nice, light, but respectably powerful laptops.
3) Laptops tend to cost less, for what you get. So either save the money or invest it to get more computer.
4) All the tablets I've used have quirks and problems that laptops don't. You don't want to be dicking around with something that will cause trouble when taking notes, you just want it to work.
5) You'll find that for papers, typing is much, much better. It is a much superior interfact for composing, organising, and editing large amounts of text. A large part of what you will be doing is writing papers, so keep this in mind.
6) Depending on your major, you may want to load specialised software to work at home. For example our engineers load a student version of Pspice on their systems so they needn't work in the labs. You are more likely to have compatibility problems on a tablet than a full blown PC.
So, unless there's a real compelling reason, get a lightweight notebook. You'll be far happier in the long run. DOn't let the wow factor of tablets draw you in. They are neat, but not ready for the prime time yet.
I go to the University of Wisc Madison... (Score:3, Insightful)
If your heart is really set on a tablet pc, I would advise you to grab an older generation tablet pc from ebay (like this) [ebay.com]. Or, see if you can salvage one from local companies or relatives.
If you're going to Madison, Wisconsin, contact me so you can get a students' view of things.
Re:Troll Question (Score:5, Insightful)
12" iBook (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I got a solution... (Score:0, Insightful)
Laptop, pen&paper + a good camera (Score:5, Insightful)
The above should work fine for most classes. With some exceptions, if you think you need a computer to 'type your notes faster than hand-writting them', you might be trying to take too many notes.
If you're taking a class like my Microprocessor Applications course where lots of code is presented that is useful in the labs, a good digital camera comes very handy. Instead of trying to handcopy the code, take a picture of the projection (obviously, with the flash off). I'm able to manage at least 1/100 shutter speed, 1/160+ IIRC so it's not too prone to camera shake. For each picture you take, indicate you've done so in your spiral notebook.
When you're done for the day, download any photo-notes to the laptop, and review your hand-written notes with them. If for some reason you wanted to archive your handwritten notes to the laptop, you could transcribe them or take pictures of them.
If you can swing it, get a second battery with your laptop for longer mobility. Other things to look for are 'legacy ports' (parallel, serial). Many new notebooks don't come with serial port, (although you could buy a PCMCIA/serial adapter) and I've seen some lacking the parallel port. You should consider these if your area of study involves using development boards.
Look like we're in the next phase of Ask Slashdot (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll get the next one started: Slashdot - how do I design and install a network for an international comglomerate, integrate with legacy applications and ensure adequate security across the whole mix?
What about battery life? (Score:3, Insightful)
Curious, do your classrooms have electric outlets all over? If not, how do you handle battery life? Do you carry spares, or does your schedule just work so you can recharge at the right points?
Battery life is my biggest complaint about nearly every notebook I've owned; the lead-acid battery in the Toshiba from which I type has actually been surprisingly hardy, better than any of the Li-Ions I've had in other laptops. (Who knows why?)
My 2nd biggest complaint also applies especially to tablets, which is screen brightness, but I suppose in a classroom it shouldn't be too bad
timothy
Re:I got a solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
I went to law school and found the notebook was too bulky to sit on the desks properly but useful for self-study later in my room, especially given its compact size. I then went to maths/physics lectures and found I couldn't use Texmacs properly because I only had a yukky celeron processor that couldn't handle the stress. And in the odd programming project, forget about it! I borrowed my boyfriend's processor. Rather than getting around with work on CD-RWs, I found I lent them to friends to store movies portably in CD wallets.
Now consider the hassle you're going to go through trying to find drivers and software for your funny little screen. And how the software you do want will be less flexible than just grabbing another pen or turning the page.
Get a nice computer, absolutely, but travel light on campus with a little spiral-bound notebook for notes from each subject, all stored with note paper etc. in one of those folders with a zipper. At home you can have a clever filing system and I found that it helped to have a different coloured document envelope for notes for each current assignment.
Don't even get a laptop before checking that your library has data points and so on. I assumed mine would and they still don't. Other aussie universities have campus-wide wireless or nice unix labs and we get the dregs and pretty scenery. I usually manage to grab a desk near a power point (they need to plug in the vacuum cleaner somewhere I guess) and work there which helps because I live way off campus. Usually I'm only in the library preparing notes anyway and use paper. A tablet would be utterly useless to me.
I do enjoy my palm pilot, but I don't use it as a study tool, rather as a very clever and flexible organizer.
CS majors generally don't need powerful boxes (Score:3, Insightful)
Compiling code isn't a real-time, interactive task, and generally doesn't take all that long. We have pretty good systems to cache built components of software.
Furthermore, I've found that a lot of CS students know how to poke their system to run pretty efficiently, so they don't need a really jacked system.
If I had to recommend a college system...hmm.
First, laptops are popular right now, as in they're selling really strongly. Laptops can be nice, but neither are they necessary -- they tend to be more fragile, more easily lost or stolen, not very upgradable, and less comfortable to use for extended periods of time. I don't know a lot of people that do serious note-taking with laptops, though I have seen people playing games in classes with laptops. Oh, and they don't tend to be as nice for game-playing, and college dorms are a fun place to play multiplayer games. They don't seem to be a particularly necessary item. On the other hand, they do easily let you move to a lounge or library to work with someone else, they let you take advantage of more and more common wireless compus networks, and they're much easier to take home with you during the holidays.
I think that most people are going to want to upgrade their computer. They're probably going to want to upgrade at least hard drive and memory, some time in college. Since you're likely to do some upgrading, buying the fanciest system you can afford right at the start seems like a bit of a waste.
I'd recommend a quiet keyboard. Some roommates can be irritated by constant clicking. The same goes for a good pair of headphones with a long cord. College dorms are a place where you want to play speakers, but you're surrounded on all sides by people and likely have a roommate. You don't have to worry about rules about playing music too late, and it's much easier to afford really good quality headphones than really good quiality speakers.
I'm dubious about the story submitter's intention to get a tablet PC. If they're sure that that's what they want, well and good, but if they just really like the idea, I dunno if they'll be that happy with them. Tablets are expensive, less powerful than similarly-priced computers, aren't upgradeable, and really haven't caught on because folks don't seem to like them that much. The only real reason I can think of for getting a tablet is if you really want to use drawing input as a primary form of input. Frankly, for almost everything, drawing is a lousy form of input. It's slower than just about anything else. If you're taking art classes, a stand-alone drawing tablet (Wacom or similar) is inexpensive and mature.
Re:Troll Question (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:God... (Score:2, Insightful)
That said, don't run out and buy one of these things witout spending a lot of time with it. They are just plain not very useful... really... seriously... don't buy cuz you think they are cool.... coolness wears out in a hurry.
Re:God... (Score:2, Insightful)
> hours. MUCH longer than my wife's heavier and bulkier laptop.
Yeesh, what is your wife's laptop? My Thinkpad R40 lasts for a good five hours, and the T40 is supposed to last even longer than that.
Transnote (Score:1, Insightful)
A notebook with a (Score:3, Insightful)