so i did a search for tablet/laptops but didnt see what I was looking for. I'm thinking about getting a X60t (IBM/Lenovo). It's a tablet and thinkpad and the reason I'm going with the thinkpad is because I'm so used to thinkpads because my office only uses them, and I can get an employee discount on them. So my main concern is, does anyone have horror stories about these specific laptops or laptop/tablet combo's that would deter me from getting one?
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To Tablet or not to Tablet
- Thread starter Gongo
- Start date
I have the HP TC4200 Tablet for the past six months and have been very pleased with it. It is loaded up with 1.5 GB of RAM and it performs exceptionally well. I find that I use it as a tablet to read messages and do some browsing and usually flip it to notebook mode when I start to enter information.
The only drawback on mine is that there is no internal CD/DVD. I do have an external USB CD/DVD burner that performs well.
The only drawback on mine is that there is no internal CD/DVD. I do have an external USB CD/DVD burner that performs well.
I have a X41t with a 1.5P-M and a 1gb RAM. My advice, get more than 1gb, most probably 2. You should fair better than me since my hdd is only a 4200rpm one. Get a 7200rpm and you should be find and dandy. Why do you want one anyways? I find that they're just a fad or a novelty. I lost interest in mine after about a semester of using it in my classes.
molson3530
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Ditto for me, I have never seen anyone in class use their tablet PCs as a tablet. But touchpads FTL, TrackPoint FTW! I have never used the touchpad on mp T60p.
LstBrunnenG
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I use mine for taking all my notes.
To those who gave it up as a novelty, why did you give up?
To those who gave it up as a novelty, why did you give up?
It simply took too much effort. I gave tablets a try and they were neat and especially helpful for photoshop but as for general notetaking a tablet couldn't compete with a $2 paper notepad.
The writing space was smaller compared to a notepad
It was many times heavier than a notepad
It was much more delicate than a notepad
It wasn't as sensitive as a pen or pencil
It didn't have near infinite resolution like paper
It required charging, a notebook didn't
It didn't have infinite battery life like paper
It got hot, paper didn't
It made noise, paper didn't
It couldn't be instantly opened to any page
It was much more expensive than a comparable laptop
It was about a generation behind other laptops hardware wise even when new
It was heavier and bulkier than a comparable laptop
It was more delicate than a comparable laptop
It had more glare then a comparable laptop
It required frequently replaced screen protectors to stay sharp, laptops don't
.... I can go on and on .......
These drawbacks made me give it up and go back to a thin and light laptop combined with a paper notepad in class. Basically it was more of a inconvenience than convince. A tablet was cool but not for me.
amen. i gotta show this to meh sister before she buys one for law school... shes stoopid ^^
swatbat
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Depends, when I was playing around with a tablet(used one for like a month) I typed most of my notes but used the pen in onenote to draw little diagrams and whatnot. Worked great in science. As far as the guys list, I'm not going to talk about compairing them to paper as that holds with any notebook(which also have a lot of pluses over paper) but I will comment on the other comparisons. Tablets generally are about the same level as the ultra portables and what not. I think thats where you need to compair them. Yea they will not compair to the widescreen 15 or 17 inch notebooks. They are not designed for that. They are not really more delicate then a normal notebook but with any notebook you should take care of it.
In the end it comes down to how you use it and what your looking for in a notebook. If I hadn't just dropped a good amount of cash into my home server I would prob get one of the gateway tablets. Seem to be one of the best bang for the buck ones. It also has pretty good specs. I have a client that has like 3 or 4 of the early ones that have treated them like crap and they have made it through. They love them.
vsboxerboy
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Don't know about other tablets, but a friend of mine has a gateway tablet and the single center hinge is so much flimsier than a standard laptop with two hinges on the ends. Basically if you tap the laptop the screen wobbles a good amount both front and back, side to side (no, don't start singing).
swatbat
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Out of the 5 or so I've had to support only 1 had this issue and gateway covered it under warranty. The others are now a few years old and still going good. Mind you like any the hinges can wear out.
LstBrunnenG
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You can't flip over a piece of paper and type an essay, or use Matlab.
A small amount of water will damage paper permanently, the same amount of water can be wiped off a tablet.
Tablets don't get crinkled and crumpled in your backpack.
You don't run out of pages in a tablet.
You can't fit all of your textbooks into a space the size of your tablet.
You can't fit all the notebooks for all of your classes into a space the size of your tablet.
You can't switch pen colors with a click without a tablet.
I don't know what tablet you had, but my M200 is still less bulky than a lot of the notebooks out there.
There are reasons not to use a tablet, but there are also reasons to use one.
A small amount of water will damage paper permanently, the same amount of water can be wiped off a tablet.
Tablets don't get crinkled and crumpled in your backpack.
You don't run out of pages in a tablet.
You can't fit all of your textbooks into a space the size of your tablet.
You can't fit all the notebooks for all of your classes into a space the size of your tablet.
You can't switch pen colors with a click without a tablet.
I don't know what tablet you had, but my M200 is still less bulky than a lot of the notebooks out there.
There are reasons not to use a tablet, but there are also reasons to use one.
Trepidati0n
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I believe the largest negative of tablets is the overall effort they require to become proficient at them. It is a total shift in thinking. This is no different than my parents not being able to understand that Google can answer 99% of life's questions in 10 words or less.
I believe Tablets are a superior method when you are doing single threaded single function tasks. They just provide a good "general tool". I still prefer textbooks to tablets because I quite often have 4 or 5 books open at the same time as well as multiple sets of notes. Also...some of those books were written before I was born and only paper versions exist.
If you are going to get a tablet...get it early and start using it...ALOT. Otherwise you are going spending more time figuring out how to do what you want to do instead of doing what you want to do.
I believe Tablets are a superior method when you are doing single threaded single function tasks. They just provide a good "general tool". I still prefer textbooks to tablets because I quite often have 4 or 5 books open at the same time as well as multiple sets of notes. Also...some of those books were written before I was born and only paper versions exist.
If you are going to get a tablet...get it early and start using it...ALOT. Otherwise you are going spending more time figuring out how to do what you want to do instead of doing what you want to do.