Ask Engadget: What's the best Tablet PC?
With the subnote revolution in full swing, one may wonder why anyone in their right mind would even consider opting for a Tablet PC. There's no denying that tablets cater to a narrowing niche, but the ability to doodle, write and detail your next home project (or similar) right on the screen still has its place in universities and certain on-the-go professions. "I know I'll get tons of people suggesting that I just buy an Eee PC or similar, but I'm looking for some solid advice on a new Tablet PC. I'm primarily interested in taking notes in a few courses that I'm in, and I'm not planning on using this as my primary machine. I'm looking to spend the least amount of cash as possible, and I'm not looking for anything really powerful. I'm also down with any convertible suggestions -- anything I can sketch schematics out on will do."
Come on out of the woodwork, Tablet PC users. We know you're out there. Give this fellow a bit of advice, and make sure you don't lead him astray, alright? If you think you've got a question worthy of posting, shoot it on over to ask at engadget dawt com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Jayden @ Jun 5th 2008 9:20PM
Axiotron: Modbook.
Evan @ Jun 5th 2008 10:27PM
I agree. Axiotron ModBook FTW.
info @ Jun 5th 2008 11:04PM
Does the ModBook operate in portrait mode? A table that can't do portrait is pretty useless to me. Might as well be a laptop at that point.
bugmenot @ Jun 5th 2008 10:50PM
eee pc with modded touch screen.... sorry for hijacking but it's the cheapest way and works well
Jeremiah Zachary Hoffman @ Jun 5th 2008 10:59PM
i've had two tablets. a gateway c-140x is my current one. centrinoduo/santa rosa chipset (cpu = t7300 2.0 ghz x 2), intel wifi, ati hd2300 (directx 9.0=mediocore), 200gb 7200rpm HD and 4gb of ram. it runs a little warm but does amazingly well with everyting i've thrown at it. it's a 14" widescreen convertible, so the size might be too big for some, but it's perfect for me. i will likely be upgradeing the CPU to a penryn in a few months to help cool it down and run it faster.
my old tablet is/was an acer c301xci-g. centrino chipset (pentium m @ 1.4ghz), old intel wifi, intel 845 Igfx, 80gb 7200rpm HD and 2gb of ram. also a 14" tablet though this time fullscreen. ran great with xp except for xp's tablet functions were/are resource hogs, crashed regularly due to that and video card driver conflicts.
both now run Vista Ultimate, the only troubles i've had are one that i caused. my advice is if you want a tablet go with something that runs vista. Vista's tablet functions outshine XP by so much that there is almost no comparison. The only downside to that is that Vista Tablet functions run considerably better on better hardware. I'd recommend a minimum of 2gb ddr2, 1.8ghz core 2 duo (penryn if possible), and at least a mid-range discreet gfx card. luckily you can find all that in a year old tablet desing for about 900 ~ 1,200 with an acceptable warranty.
good luck,
hoffmanbike
Jeremiah Zachary Hoffman @ Jun 5th 2008 11:00PM
i apologize for my typos.......
Vinay @ Jun 5th 2008 11:54PM
I second the Gateway E-295c a.k.a C-140 convertible. The best one available currently with its own dedicated graphics and active matrix touchscreen. Toshiba downgraded their M-400 line, so Gateway is the only one wih dedicated graphics hardware on the market today. And Unlike the reputation of their other lines, this Gateway is particularly well-built.
maveric101 @ Jun 6th 2008 12:51AM
check out these tablets by Gigabyte:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/03/hands-on-with-gigabyte-m912-and-m724-convertible-mini-tablets/
they're cheap, portable, and tablets. you said it wouldn't be your main machine, so to me these seem perfect.
netdroid9 @ Jun 6th 2008 1:12AM
The Lenovo X61 is pretty good from what I've heard, failing that I use an Acer TravelMate C213 and it's met any task I've thrown at it. Whatever you do, don't get a Modbook, it's a waste of money. OS X is good, but it's not a good Tablet PC OS and won't be until Apple jumps on the Tablet PC bandwagon, which might not even happen. Get a computer running Vista (much better tablet support and you'll be able to run the 64-bit version, but you need one of the higher versions. Shell out the extra for Ultimate, you'll regret it later if you don't) with Onenote 2007. Onenote 2003 was absolutely indispensable, especially for schoolwork, and Onenote 2007 is even better thanks to built-in ink/image/audio search and integrated clipping tools. Plus, if you have a Windows Mobile PDA it comes with Onenote Mobile, which is good for taking notes on the run.
Also, use Firefox with Firegestures, Grab and Drag and GeckoTip as your browser, gestures work brilliantly with a pen and Grab and Drag is awesome.
Josh @ Jun 6th 2008 2:22PM
I'll third the Gateway E-295/C-140X recommendation about tablets generally, but it's not something you'd want to carry around a ton. I use it for office project management work for software design, and the ability to snap screens off web apps with OneNote, draw modifications right on the image, and send this to my developers is invaluable to me. Even without discrete graphics, it does everything I need it to do, including Photoshop, etc. Taking it around my office or on trips isn't fine, but if you loaded it into a backpack and tried to carry it around with a bunch of books, it'd be pretty heavy.
Gateway also makes a 12 inch model, the C-120, and it you want to go the cheap route, Gateway has been selling refurbished models via e-Bay. I don't think the 12 incher has a Wacom screen like the 14 inch model (my screen is a joy to write with), but it does let you use either a pen or a finger, and allegedly work really well. It's a more manageable 4.5-5 lbs, and included an optical drive at that size. It uses the Core 2 Duo ULV, so it's no powerhouse, but it doesn't sound like you need that.
Whatever you get, check out OneNote for notetaking, it has wonderful tablet integration.
Azayzel @ Jun 6th 2008 11:23PM
Suggesting a Mac is simply foolish when recommending a laptop, especially when it's not really an *official* Apple product and simply a creative usage of a regular MacBook.
I've owned a few Tablet PC's since they first surfaced and demo'd quite a few as well. The latest offerings aren't all that impressive as they haven't really shrank too much in size and manufacturers can't seem to get the form-factor right. That being said, I'd recommend one of the slate editions and forgo the attached keyboard of convertable Tablets for a bluetooth model. I've used a Compaq 1100 for quite a while, which served it's purpose quite well, and have found it tought to really find a quicker replacement that matched what I already had. I demo'd the new HP versions for a few weeks at a time, but they when to heavier/clunkier models that actually went backwards in terms of form-factor development.
What I've actually settled on right now is a HTC Shift, it's a lot smaller and portable than the 10" slates and seems to meet myy needs in terms of portability. My chief complaint with it is lack of ability to switch to portrait mode (What the hell was HTC thinking!!!), but other than that and the overzealoous pricing, it's an awesome little system complete with biometrics, novel approach to integrating a sliding keyboard, and runs pretty well. It's a solid device, yet small enough to carry where ever you need (it's about the size of a couple DVD cases stacked). Check YouTube for a video of someone demoing the unit and hit up eBay for a less wallet-burning price.
Azayzel @ Jun 7th 2008 12:35AM
I meant TabletPC in my above comment, not "laptop," as Apple laptops are pretty good for what they give you, but not in the realm of Tablet PC funtions.
Regarding the Gateway Tablets... I also demo'ed a couple of their models for about a month. It had a nice large screen and solid build but was way too large for a TabletPC, heavy to boot. We actually requisitioned one for a few members, but they were pretty much shelved after the first month due to weight & size.
Fujitsu has been in the market since the beginning, but they also tend to be on the heavy side and tend to stick with the clam-shell form-factor.
An Eee laptop is not a TabletPC, and while I'm seeing here that you *may* be able to replace the screen with a touch-screen, Asus really blew it with the tiny screen and all that wasted real estate which the display should be filling. Lots of wasted space and the screen is a lot smaller than the pictures make it out to be, go to a local shop and demo one before even thinking about buying one. You'd be better off with a Kohjinsha TabletPC, it's around the same size but is an actual TabletPC and the screens a tad larger (still just as cheap too!).
Stay away from the super-small screend you find on some UMPC's, such as the OQO, Fujitsu Loox, Gigabyte UMPC or anything that's 5" or less, you'll hate the size of the screen and the thumb-board keyboard... a recipe for frustration and such a pain! I own an OQO, but I'm soon to be a previous owner mainly due to the problems mentioned above and it's just too small for my needs. Recommending an iPod Touch or iPhone is just silly as well, too small for anything PC-useful but definitely fun for portable media in your pocket. There's a lot of software out there for them, but nothing that would replace your laptop/TabletPC.
Sorry for the typo.
GentalJ @ Jun 5th 2008 9:21PM
tMac
Flashpoint @ Jun 5th 2008 9:21PM
My Tablet, the LENOVO X60 gets 7hr 30 min of Battery life - which can be extended to 8 Hours.
I personally wanna buy an HewlettPackard TX model because of the integrated WEBCAM and its faster transition between landscape and portrait.
MrFairladyz @ Jun 5th 2008 10:00PM
Agreed, HP TX2000z tablets can do it all if you get just the right amount of hardware. the tablet software hp bundles with it is pretty cool. It does the normal tablet stuff, but you can still play some hard core videogames for whenever youre done writing on the screen (just dont overheat it).
BrianM @ Jun 5th 2008 10:09PM
+1 on the tx2000 series, bought one for the wife and and it was on sale for less than $800 including free printer AR, regardless it is fast, the touchscreen/digitizer combo is something most higher end tablets do not even have and it is loaded, just have to remove all of the crapware but before you do copy the software install directories off to a network drive otherwise you cannot get all of the drivers from the download site at HP.
jonthemiller @ Jun 5th 2008 10:18PM
The TX2000 tablets suck. At the school I go to we have to have a tablet PC, those that have that HP are very disappointed both with its build quality and function compared to others. I personally have a Gateway M285 and love it, though it was expensive when I got it the price has come down considerably. The current version (M295) uses a Wacom stylus and the screen is the same size as a legal pad, so reading documents on the screen at full resolution is a breeze.
feffrey @ Jun 5th 2008 10:20PM
I have a TX1000 and I hate it. While the TX2000 does fix some of the problems that the TX1000 has, there are still a lot of problems with them. The horrible battery life, the insane amount of heat, pathetic cpu and vid card make not good at all in my book.
The X61 is amazing. It is totally worth the extra money.
I will never buy a HP laptop or tablet again, IBM/Lenovo for me.
twizardt @ Jun 5th 2008 10:44PM
Ive had my Tx 2000 for two months and LOVE it. I have the hardware loaded to the hilt. Got with 64 and HP sent me the 32 bit free. ( 64 needs a lot of drivers)
Todd E. @ Jun 5th 2008 10:45PM
Ive had my Tx 2000 for two months and LOVE it. I have the hardware loaded to the hilt. Got with 64 and HP sent me the 32 bit free. ( 64 needs a lot of drivers)
Jimmy Jones @ Jun 5th 2008 11:01PM
lenovo x60 FTW!! with the battery stretch feature... and sleek design.. I won't recommend any other tablet besides...that. My friend bought the TX2002US (entertainment) and she returned it and purchased the x60 tablet... in 5 days...
Chuckles McGee @ Jun 6th 2008 8:10PM
I
chrism238 @ Jun 5th 2008 9:21PM
Ahh, surely, it'll be the one that Apple hasn't yet released?
iEye @ Jun 5th 2008 9:52PM
Yea, the one with a NON removable battery that has a 3 month warranty and costs $99 to replace...
lawyer bird @ Jun 5th 2008 10:17PM
iEye, you never cease to amaze
fourthletter @ Jun 6th 2008 4:16AM
Wow iEye has finally come out of the closet ! or is it just 2 way trolling ?
Garst @ Jun 6th 2008 5:04AM
The question is "What IS" not "What might be" the best tablet PC.
Genjinaro @ Jun 5th 2008 9:22PM
Raon Digital Everun...
^Probably one of the best battery life tablets out there.
Sarig @ Jun 6th 2008 8:19AM
It has less than a 5 inch screen. Sure it's touchscreen but, let's think logically here. You're not going to do a whole lot of scetching on that thing.
Reasonable @ Jun 5th 2008 9:26PM
If you ask me, the best tablet is no tablet. The fact is that if you want precision drawings, you want an external pad anyway, and I've never found scribbling notes on a screen to be that useful anyway. I'm a fast typist, and I think that's a good habit for everyone. To be honest, I only see the touch screen as really useful in tiny entertainment and communications devices. One big screen is great for movies and media, but a keyboard is supreme for anything text.
PowerLlama @ Jun 5th 2008 9:32PM
Woah, you're way wrong there buddy. There's a reason graphic designers lust after Cintiqs and not Intuos's.
Strife Caecus @ Jun 5th 2008 11:17PM
So you're telling me you can "type" a picture the professor has scribbled onto the whiteboard fairly quickly? This I have to see...
This would be a strength of the tablet PCs. While the majority of notes taken in class are indeed typed, there are some notes which require some diagrams. Now, I'm not talking the pretty shaded diagrams--just rough ones that explain the topic. For example, in an accounting class, one would need to draw several "T" diagrams in order to help calculate credit/debit.
Without a tablet, one would have to keep a pencil and paper nearby to quickly sketch the diagrams and somehow note it in the typed notes which sketch to refer to later on. Otherwise, the student will just have to forget the diagrams and concentrate solely on the typewritten notes. Sometimes a visual aid goes a long way...
Jon Acheson @ Jun 6th 2008 11:21AM
My experience with a tablet PC was with a Panasonic model that I picked up used for $300. I didn't do much with it for years, apart from trying to use CorelDRAW on it once or twice, with poor results, but then all of a sudden I started drawing on it again, this time using a bitmap editor.
It was great for that, but I wore the digitizer out within two months.
I bought a Wacom tablet after that, which works much better now that I am used to drawing while looking at the screen. It has held up much better, too.
Blake Bowen @ Jun 5th 2008 9:28PM
The HP 2710p
Gio @ Jun 5th 2008 9:35PM
I would go for Fujitsu T4220. I own one.
Good battery life and good for taking notes.
Sean D @ Jun 5th 2008 9:37PM
I have used a Gateway convertable for several years at work and at home. The hardware definitely has not stood the test of time (pops, snaps and fizzles) but I have to say tablet is a very handy way to PC on the fly. My next tablet would have to be the Motion Computing M5.
Justin Ho @ Jun 5th 2008 9:38PM
Lenovo x61
Great build quality, and they have a sale on right now. Great driver support, and excellent tech support/warranty.
BigD145 @ Jun 5th 2008 11:15PM
Sale? Just go through the contractor site. That's a sale!
Alan Strangis @ Jun 6th 2008 10:57AM
Lenovo X61. Awesome tablet all around.
richard @ Jun 6th 2008 12:19PM
+1 google for lenovo outlet for a deal
jeremy @ Jun 5th 2008 9:39PM
The Fujitsu P2010 is an awesome device. I have had the Lenovo X41, X60, X61, used the Toshiba devices, although not touched the HP ones or the new Dell one. The Futjitsu blows them all away. The Thinkpad has the best keyboard, but only by a small amount over the P2010. Small, light, 9+hrs of batt life w/ agressive power settings in Vista, or 6+ with everything absolutely maxed. Oh, and the screen is utterly brilliant. At 1/2 brightness it is brighter than a maxed Thinkpad X61 Tablet, or Thinkpad X300 or any Macbook Pro except I havent tested it against the new one. I've compared them all side by side.
Drawbacks are a ULV processor and no internal drive. Basically, if it is going to be your primary machine, take a solid look at these drawbacks. If it is going to be, like I use it, your get-up-and-go machine but you have a desktop for the heavy lifting, its a great choice.
baralong @ Jun 6th 2008 1:00AM
Secconded on the T2010 it's not my primary laptop, but it actually can do everything I really need when mobile. Mine came with a docking station that has an optical drive and I've never really needed whilst out and about. Battery life is great, I have both standard and extended batteries. I also upgraded the HDD to 320Gb.
What I don't like is that I seem to need to recalibrate the screen fairly frequently and also the "home" and "end" keys are "fn" keys on "PgUp" and "PgDn"
Which ever tablet you get also get ArtRage for drawing, inkseine for notes, plus a bunch of the XP tablet power toys. paint.net also works well.
Oh and get a screen protector before you let kids draw on it!
Stuart @ Jun 5th 2008 9:39PM
The lenovo x60t. I got it a year ago now, and it still works wonderfully. I take it to school with me everyday, its hardy, its professional, it has remarkable family life, and on top of that, Lenovo tech support is the most wonderful I have ever worked with. There is a fairly common problem with the fingerprint reader though, which may be fixed in the x61t. Either way... Its the coolest.
Stuart @ Jun 5th 2008 9:42PM
By 'family' I meant 'battery'.
John @ Jun 5th 2008 10:37PM
dude it's cool i can see how you got the two words mixed up. like once, me and the battery went on a camping trip, and i forgot to turn off my phone so it totally drained my family. total bummer.
dg @ Jun 5th 2008 9:40PM
I don't know but, I'd suggest waiting until after Steve's keynote to buy one.
P.S. Unless the 3.5" screen is just too small, I'm sure the AppStore will bring something you can sketch scematics on to the iPod touch (which, coincidentally, you can get for free with a new Mac at the moment). Yeah, I'm a fanboy, but hey, that's a legitimate suggestion isn't it? Cheap, small, take notes, and inevitable drawing app by next month. It's just the size of the screen.
Stuart @ Jun 5th 2008 9:46PM
In my experience Apple products seem to cost about 500 dollars more than competing products for no apparent reason. Also, 3.5" is entirely to small to sketch anything of use.
Derek @ Jun 5th 2008 10:23PM
I sure hope you are joking...
weg @ Jun 6th 2008 8:57AM
In that case, he'd probably be better off with an iRex Iliad (book edition). At least the screen has a reasonable size.. (scribbling on an iPhone with your fingers? You must be kidding me).
Anyway, Lenovo x61t all the way. Two friends of mine have that Laptop and it's amazing. I had a Toshiba Tablet once, the build quality is just not comparable to Lenovo...
Anh Tran @ Jun 5th 2008 9:43PM
X61 tablet with OS X installed. Art Rage was the best.