new i440D

[joshuac]

just got my tablet in yesterday, and i figured i would help anyone out in answering questions about it for those on the fence about getting one, or those that are just curious.

so i've only actually played with it for one night so far, so i can't really say a whole lot yet, but first impressions - i love it.

i had a toshiba m4 previously that had way too many problems over the past couple years. it was one of the ones with the nvidia 6600 card, and i guess those are long gone by now. it rocked when it worked, but it just ended up feeling like it was falling apart (joystick mouse stopped working, volume control hardly worked, fan started to go nuts eventually, and then i ran into the red screen problems (search youtube for that one), and finally it ended up with red screen + flying ascii characters and not turning on anymore.

so... that said, i wanted something a little more portable, smaller perhaps, and most importantly a kickass screen. the m4 screen just sucks, plain and simple. so i demo'd an LS800, which was awesome. my mind was nearly set on a motion LE1700 or LS800. unfortunately the LS800 lacked the power that i wanted for when i use the machine docked (maya work mostly). the 1700 has that attachable keyboard/stand/protector that looks pretty darn sweet... thats the main thing that was attracting me to the 1700 (that and the normal sized, thick pen). however, the sahara caught my eye because it came packed with more power for a better price, bigger HD standard, and it has the touch screen. ...and i needed a replacement ASAP so waiting for the 1700WR wasn't really an option.

so where we are with the i440D - mine has 2gb ram, the outdoor display, and i think everything else was standard.

my old toshiba pens work (i got an extra pen for the toshiba which had the duo switch buttons), but unfortunately i can't get the right click to work like i had on my toshiba. on the m4 you can just click the side button on the pen and its a right click. on the motion and sahara, you need to hold the button, then press on the screen for right click to happen... somewhat annoying, and i haven't figured out how to configure it the other way.

i'm really surprised with the touch screen... at first i didnt think it was all that great, so it took some time getting the right feel for how your finger needs to contact the screen. but i'm already used to it, and i think its pretty sweet so far. using the inscribe keyboard to touch type is awesome.

only other complaint so far (besides the right click, which was on motion tablets too), is the insanely loud beep when switching from active digitizer to touch. i wish it was configurable to turn that beep off (if it is, i haven't found it).

anyway, there ya go... i'm super happy with my experience with tabletKiosk as well. i would have purchased through alltp, but the shipping date was longer than what i needed unfortunately.

-josh

[bmhome1]

The TIP Control Panel (with the door open and light switch training animations) should provide the fine tuning to render right-click screen contact press or hold timing portions essentially bypassed. It took time finding right response to match tablet cradling habits. Inadvertent right clicks from hovers always issue portable use.

My Motion 1300 slate has an ideal setup now for a balanced, effortless stylus interaction after tuning all options, each subtly affect the others.

XSetup-Pro also offers options to edit right-click panel entries displayed, very useful on tight screen tablets. Works in Vista also.



The 440 is very top of my wishlist. I can't read enough user reports, details greatly valued.

[joshuac]

hmm i still cant find a way to get the right click working like the toshiba. just options for holding or hold and tap. none for just clicking the side button while keeping the pen hovering. im thinking it was an updated wacom driver... and im not sure what is supported on this one yet.

[TabletKiosk Gail]

Hello,
Glad you're so happy with the Sahara. We love to hear from happy customers!

Here is the quick and easy way to control the volume of the input switch button on the i440D.

Go to Control Panel
Click on "Hardware and Sound"
Click on "Sound"
Click on "Speakers Realtek High Definition Audio (it's the third in the list)
Go to "Levels" and you'll see the slider where you can adjust the sound of the PC beep.

Best regards,
Gail Levy
Director of Marketing, TabletKiosk