I am a college student looking for a tablet Pc,

[dobre]

I am a college student looking for a tablet Pc, but I don't know a lot about them. What I am looking for is one with really great note-taking features. Here are some questions:
I noticed when trying one out, there was a 2 or 3 second delay or more until the ink actually appeared on the screen. This bothered me a bit and made me feel like I had to write slower, which could be a problem in classes. Which tablets are the best for not having this kind of delay? Also, which allow you to write with finer lines - or can you enlarge the view so what you do write can fit in the lines? I need to be able to annotate PowerPoint slides with a lot of notes. Battery life - of course I love the idea of the Electrovaya's long life - are they worth it? Is the quality of them compared to others pretty good, especially for the needs above? I am not looking for a powerhouse for games, just something to take and save notes and work on the internet. I would appreciate any help you guys with more experience can offer and if you have any for sale let me know about those also.

Thank you so much!!

[Trev]

1. Any tablet you use will not have the delay you are talking about. I am guessing you were using a display model that was not taken care of. I've had the low end of the scale - M1200 (866mhz pentium 3M - 1st generation) and I have the latest M1400VA (Pentium M 1.1 ghz - 3rd generation) and on neither model is there a 3 second delay when writing. Occasionally it will happen if you are doing some intensive - like encoding video, but it is not the status quo.

2. Yes you can select a finer line. Office offers 3 levels of pens ballpoint, felt tip, and highlighter. You can also zoom in on the power point slides and write smaller.
Other programs have more custimization in their pens. For example, in OneNote, I write with a .15mm pen. The typical pen you buy in a store like a Pilot Precise or Uniball Vision is .5 - Very fine or .7mm - fine.

3. Electrovaya makes a good machine and I can recommend it. You can achieve electrovaya-esque battery life simply by getting a 2nd battery for any other machine. Most tablets can do hot swapping of batteries. This allows you to put the machine into standby, change batteries, and resume your work. The whole process takes less than 10 seconds. I have a spare battery for my M1400 and I no longer worry about battery life. Even in my fullest day of classes, seven and a half hours, I don't need to plug in.

Hope that helps.

[skrp]

the lag is not a problem. it appears because of software glitches. therefore, it can be on any tablet.
yes, you can zoom in if the application supports it. all M$ office apps and journal have it. as a matter of fact, that's the way i do my diagrams.
i get about 2 days of work w/ my Acer C302XCi (approx. 5-6 hours of lectures), but some lectures the computer is in stand-by for most of the time and others not. however, some people don't like the 6 pound weight of this machine.
since you dont need a "powerhouse" here are the specs of what you should look for:

1.3GHz-1.5GHz processor
512Mb RAM is a must for any tablet
30-40Gb HDD
no wireless or 802.11b
no bluetooth

the rest (connectors and screen size) are personal preference. if you need bluetooth, then be ready to pay a few extra hundred since it's usually installed on higher models.

[WNewquay]

dobre,

Just a few quick notes:

There are some very good machines with the Pentium M processor running 1.0-1.1 mhz processors. (Motion, HP, others ...)
There are a couple in the For Sale section right now.


As a college student you will probably want to be running 802.11 b or g wireless. Many campuses (more daily) are wireless enabled.

[KenMagel]

First decision: do you want a slate (no included keyboard, lighter weight) or a convertible(3 - 6 lbs., can be used as a regular laptop). Slates can have docks which can include keyboards and larger monitors. So can Convertibles.
Second decision: screen. This is the major distinguishing feature among tablet models with the same form factor. Do you want higher resolution,larger size, or indoor-outdoor.
Third decision: what software. There are many note-taking applications with somewhat different capabilities. Do not just look at a feature list, however. Try a couple or three out. Many have free trials.
Fourth decision: battery life. Most tablets can get two to four hours on a single battery charge with normal use. Some can get more than that.

[KenMagel]

There is lots of good information for a new or about tobe new tablet user on this web site. Take a look at the sticky topics at the top of this section. There are lots of other web sites also. Good luck.

[robdam]

quote:Originally posted by KenMagel

First decision: do you want a slate (no included keyboard, lighter weight) or a convertible(3 - 6 lbs., can be used as a regular laptop). Slates can have docks which can include keyboards and larger monitors. So can Convertibles.
Second decision: screen. This is the major distinguishing feature among tablet models with the same form factor. Do you want higher resolution,larger size, or indoor-outdoor.
Third decision: what software. There are many note-taking applications with somewhat different capabilities. Do not just look at a feature list, however. Try a couple or three out. Many have free trials.
Fourth decision: battery life. Most tablets can get two to four hours on a single battery charge with normal use. Some can get more than that.

1 slate
2 convertible
3 HP TC1100 which gives you both with a removable KB

[Trev]

Many slates do offer a removable keyboard option. The electrovaya, motion and compaq all have a keyboard that turns that turns the slate into a laptop. I think Compaq has the best implemented version, but the keyboards on the other two are no slouches either.

[DaveTN]

dobre,

I echo what everyone else above has mentioned. Another consideration about the handwriting is which service pack the tablet that you tried out was running. Since installing microsofts SP1, which upgrades the Tablet PC OS to version 2005, there has been a big improvement in the handwriting.
I take notes a lot and switch between Journal (which is part of the Tablet PC operating system and comes preinstalled), One note which is more like a notebook that you can organize (which can range in price from free to $99.00+) or Gobinder which is a big improvement on Onenote and is geared towards students.

From a tablet standpoint, I have used the Fujitsu ST5010 which is a slate and uses a permanently detached keyboard that transmits via IR. Its nice if you want to use it as a slate but has a flaky wire stand that you must use if you want to use the keyboard...wich is also an extra expense. I have used the M200 on a limited basis but it is a convertible...like a laptop with a rotating screen. Nice but (some may disagree with the following statement) cumbersome. My favorite is my Compaq TC1000 (Now replaced by the faster TC1100) which can be used as a slate, laptop, convertible or the keyboard can be detached or reattached on the fly without having to reboot. I use my TC1000 every day and love it. It weighs about 3 lbs and puts out very good battery life.
In the end, I think tablets would sell better if people had the opportunity to go to a store and check out more than one model side by side.

Good Luck,

David

[dobre]

Thanks so much for your help!! Your suggestions will help me a lot in sorting out all the informtion available. I think I will likely go with a slate first - like the hp1100 or the electrovaya. I do at one point want to save for a panasonic 18 - just for the sheer ruggedness of it and the likelihood that whatever I have will get a lot of use, though I will care for it as best as I can. Again, thank you!! I will keep checking in to this from time to time to see what other suggestions people post, so keep them coming! Maybe one day I will be a regular here .....:D