Tablet for computer engineering student

[logan101]

Hello everyone. I am going to be taking my first year of computer engineering at the University of Waterloo in the fall, and would like to get a tablet. My budget is around $1000. I am looking for a computer which I can use for note taking, schematic drawing, and mathematical equations. It is very important to me to have a computer which has a long battery life, so that I do not have to recharge between classes, and which is convertible so that I can use it for basic computing as well.

I have been looking at the HP Touchsmart TX2z, and like its active digitizer and multi-touch screen (would be nice for using the software keyboard in Windows 7), but have heard some bad things about its battery life.

What do you guys/girls think?

Thanks for the help,
Logan

[Davaris]

I have heard HP have problems with the Tx series of computers and some people here have said not to buy them. Do a search on these forums and you'll see what I mean.

[BK_NC]

I have also been researching for my first Tablet PC purchase. I have also been thinking about the HP TX2z as a replacement for my Toshiba (non-convertible) laptop that is 2yrs old in order to pass down the Toshiba to my son.

The TX2z is the only tablet I can find in stores so I could demo one. Found it at Best Buy so I was able to play around with it some and I liked the capacitive touch features a lot. Would come in handy while reading ebooks or websurfing without having to use then pen when in tablet mode. I might go with this since it is within my budget. However battery life is a problem with this and most other slate and convertibles. 2 to 3 hrs is about the max. But with all the features include, being brand new, and the right price it would be hard to pass up.

The best battery life I've found from researching are the Fujitsu Lifebook T2010 and T2020. They get from 7 to 11 hrs depending on battery size and usage. The Lenovo X61T and X200T are in 2nd place as far as battery life go from my understanding.

I'm also considering one of those 4 if I can find them on ebay for cheap on ebay or the like because the X200t and T2020 are to expensive for my budget.

If battery life is your key factor then you are probably best looking at the Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 (new) or T2010 (used/referbished) or one of the Lenovo x61t (used/refurbished) or x200t (new) Thinkpads. Otherwise with the HP, you'll need enough spare batteries to last you for all your classes in a day if you can't plug up during class.

Fujitsu has an ebay store where they sell refurbished laptops.

Lenovo has an refurbished online store where they have a lot of x61t and x200t convertibles (outlet.lenovo.com)