Help Please!

[helmerdude]

Hey all, just signed up to the site to get some input from you experts out there. Right now I'm a senior in high school and next fall I'm going to school at Michigan State. I need to buy a laptop and have been looking into tablet pcs, for no specific reason.

I don't really know specific featues, enough RAM to do basic videos, movies, music, etc and enough memory to store it all. Battery life and not too loud are also positives. Durability is important because I probably won't buy a new computer for another 5 years. I've gotta pay for it myself so I'm looking for something maybe in the $600-$1000 range

At best buy I really like the HP tx2-1025dx but i've seen a few sketchy reviews about its noisy fan and low battery life. I'm also not sure if it's getting outdated. I REALLY like the look of that pc though.

Please post some suggestions on the HP tx2-1025dx or other tablet pc's or even regular laptops...

Thanks in advance!

[Steve S]

helmer: Even before you brought it up, I was going to suggest one or another of the HP models. Their current line-up includes a few at very reasonable prices and, as you suggest, the tx2z may be one of them, depending upon exactly what you want and whether you can take advantage of a coupon or other deal at the time that you order.

Regarding battery life, HP offers 9-cell battery packs that stick out a little bit, but that are nicely designed to act as (typically) hand grips or as a "prop" to give the keyboard a nice tilt when sitting on a desk. (Of course, each battery is specific to a given model and some may or may not have a specific feature.)

Even with 9-cell batteries, many of us 1) Charge when opportune during the day,... 2) Carry extra battery packs or external batteries, and... 3) Shift to Standby / Hybernate as often as possible... to get through an average day.

So if you decide that you really want a tablet, you'll be able to find ways to get along.

Other than HP, I assume that you've at least looked at Dell; Dell offers many models at good prices, and you can buy a referbished XT or XT2 at excellent prices (and 20% discount coupons are not uncommon at Twitter).

Finally, I'm sure that you'll enjoy East Lansing. Those of us who attended school in Ann Arbor always look foward to visiting, winning, and dating your coeds... Go Blue...!

[fillergirl]

As long as you don't plan on DRAWING on those, that should be fine.
but why anyone would want a tablet PC for anything else is beyond me.

I type at 3 times the speed I write ,even shorthand...
So for note-taking it's quieter but also heavier than a piece of paper, hah.

[Steve S]

<<...I type at 3 times the speed I write...>>

...filler: Try typing a mathematical equation or chemical formula sometime. Or a graph.

You are certainly correct that if one is simply writing a term paper, a keyboard is likely to be a very effective tool; but the whole point of tablets is to give you additional ways to record information beyond the keyboard and mouse.

Besides the Ink data type, tablets (well, technically Windows) have a nicely developed speech recognition capability. I've used it to produce decent-sized Word documents very quickly... likely rivaling the speed of a keyboard...

[nathanbarlow]

I agree with steve's points, but would like to query on speech recognition - as I was under the impression that it was pretty limited.....

[chibitrunks9]

I have used it numerous times. Just like handwriting recognition, you can train the speech input to make it more accurate. I like it for long narratives....

[nathanbarlow]

That is interesting to know, as the last time I tried speech recognition was back in the days of Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking like version 6. We're talking like 2002/2003. It was touted as easy and accurate - was a pain in the arse, and we actually quit after about 6 months of trying to train and use it. Total waste of money lol.

So Vista has a decent speech recognition engine now? (Im still on XP, so havent used it)

PS sorry for the thread hijack, Helmer

[Steve S]

nathan: My experience is similar to chibi's. I have used Windows Speech Recognition engine and found it to be pretty good. (For the record, I took the time to run the training exercises early on, so I was able to take full advantage of that recognition improvement...)

Also like chibi, I find speech recognition most valuable when I need to get large blocks of composition "down on paper" quickly. Maybe it's just the way my mind works, but I can compose entire writing assignments in my head; the problem is that if I don't get it recorded right away, I start to forget bits and pieces of it! Speech recognition works great for this (and in my case, it's much faster than typing...)!

As you allude, the major competition is Dragon Naturally Speaking; its proponents would have you believe that nothing short of 98% accuracy is worth your trouble. There's no question that NS is a terrific app, but it's also pretty expensive, it's a resource hog and it benefits from training, too. For no additional money and not much additional RAM footprint, Windows SR works well enough for me; it's easy to scan the draft text and correct the few typo's and other errors that I routinely see.

Whenever you decide to upgrade, I suggest that you try Windows SR for a while; if you decide that you're unhappy with it, you can always consider Dragon. If you decide that you are happy with it, then you've got another useful tool for your everyday work at no extra money!

[mac jones]

the tablet is just high tech paper.

If you don't ever use paper you don't need a tablet.

[nathanbarlow]

the tablet is just high tech paper.

If you don't ever use paper you don't need a tablet.

LMAO! gotta love that quote.

I disagree with that - say you're into photoshop and previously used a mouse (shock horror) to do everything . . using a tablet can make it more streamlined and productive. Many posts on that in the artists section.

Also who doesn't use paper?! its been around for 100's of years and to be honest anyone who doesnt use paper is a bit behind the curve there (unless they have already gone to a tablet :D)

EDIT: hijack over - Helmer you say "I need to buy a laptop and have been looking into tablet pcs, for no specific reason." To be honest, you need to have a reason for getting a tablet PC - even if its just to have some cool touchy hardware lol. But as a student, it would really help with your note taking as you can write notes, annotate PDF's of handouts, record the lecture, transcribe the lecture like a normal laptop if you want, etc etc etc. If I was you I would look more into how you intend to use the laptop, then decide if you would be better off with a tablet or a conventional laptop.

You ask if the TX2 is "outdated" and my answer would be no - it is one of the few laptops currently out with multi-touch hardware (multiple fingers at a time) and as such could be considered cutting edge. However, I have heard dissappointing feedback from some people, regarding responsiveness of the screen, heat issues, fan noise, lack of applications for multitouch etc. I would do some serious reasearch on it before pulling the trigger if you want that laptop.

[mac jones]

LMAO! gotta love that quote.

I disagree with that - say you're into photoshop and previously used a mouse (shock horror) to do everything . . using a tablet can make it more streamlined and productive. Many posts on that in the artists section.

Also who doesn't use paper?! its been around for 100's of years and to be honest anyone who doesnt use paper is a bit behind the curve there (unless they have already gone to a tablet :D)

EDIT: hijack over - Helmer you say "I need to buy a laptop and have been looking into tablet pcs, for no specific reason." To be honest, you need to have a reason for getting a tablet PC - even if its just to have some cool touchy hardware lol. But as a student, it would really help with your note taking as you can write notes, annotate PDF's of handouts, record the lecture, transcribe the lecture like a normal laptop if you want, etc etc etc. If I was you I would look more into how you intend to use the laptop, then decide if you would be better off with a tablet or a conventional laptop.

You ask if the TX2 is "outdated" and my answer would be no - it is one of the few laptops currently out with multi-touch hardware (multiple fingers at a time) and as such could be considered cutting edge. However, I have heard dissappointing feedback from some people, regarding responsiveness of the screen, heat issues, fan noise, lack of applications for multitouch etc. I would do some serious reasearch on it before pulling the trigger if you want that laptop.

Yes but with those things you CAN use a mouse or a Wacom USB (which is cheap)

But the Tablet really is useful for paper uses-just phenomenal.

I don't know, it's personal preference mainly. So this viewpoint is just my own (strange one) :lol:

(my GOD these emoticons are insane! :clap2::doh::whoo::frusty::hail::mad2::rant::Cry:: ::clap2:

[nathanbarlow]

Yes but with those things you CAN use a mouse or a Wacom USB (which is cheap)

But the Tablet really is useful for paper uses-just phenomenal.

I don't know, it's personal preference mainly. So this viewpoint is just my own (strange one) :lol:


I see your point, but c'mon - a tablet vs a mouse, or I'll be kind and take the best case scenerio - a tablet vs a Wacom - there's still no comparison in terms of ease and convienience. It's similar to using a joystick for Flight Simulator - not necessary, but way easier and to be honest way more fun too lol. Just as a tablet isnt necessary for Photoshop.

Having said that, yes the tablet will be most useful for paper replacement, but pretty much everyone uses paper, so in theory pretty much everyone could use a tablet to some effect (well they might need a fair bit of cash if they just use it for memos and stuff lol, but that is beside the point)

Anyways you're entitled to your view. :D

Back on topic now?