Table PC Itch
June 4th, 2005I am feeling the urge to buy another Tablet PC. After selling my NEC Versa Litepad and my Sony U, I no longer have a Tablet PC of any kind. A few things are making me want one again.
 |
 |
|
| NEC Versa LitePad | Sony Vaio U |
First, I will soon have a number of papers to grade from the class I just taught in China. Most of the students are in the part-time MBA program. They will submit their papers electronically, and it would be nice to grade them using a Tablet PC. I could then electronically return their papers with comments.
Also, I have recently been invited to be the reporter for a conference organized by the Harvard Law School. It would be nice to take notes there with a Tablet PC.
But there are also reasons not to get a new Tablet PC. For one, I already own too many computers. Currently I have two conventional clamshell-design notebooks: a Toshiba Satellite M45-S351 and a Sony Vaio T250. They make a nice pair, each providing a different mix of design trade-offs.
The Toshiba works well as my main home computer–a desktop replacement, really. It has a luxurious, big screen, a 100 GB hard drive and a gig of RAM. However, because of its big screen, the Toshiba M45 has limited battery life and is rather heavy and unwieldy. The Sony T, conversely, is a nearly ideal for traveling. The T has a Pentium M chip running at 1.2 Ghz, with a 60 GB hard drive and 512 MB of RAM, but it is light and compact with long battery life. (In Shanghai last week I acquired a second battery for it, so I can now operate it almost continuously for even a 14-hour trans-Pacific flight.) It even has a built-in CD/DVD player and burner.
Besides now having adequate–perhaps I should admit excessive–computing equipment, there were reasons I sold the Tablet PCs I previously owned and some of these still weigh against the notion of buying a new Tablet. For instance, I concluded after my previous experiments that a Tablet PC does not really boost my writing productivity. Writing anything of length with a Tablet PC requires more mental bandwidth than writing with a conventional PC. Consequently, I do not get into a “flow” when using one. The handwriting recognition in Tablet PCs is now quite impressive, but I am still more productive with a keyboard because typing remains a more transparent act. When I type I concentrate more on what I am writing, without being distracted by the input tool itself. The error rate with handwriting recognition is small–in the single digits I’d say. But even that small error rate, combined with the opportunity for instant correction through the Text Input Panel (TIP), shifts a meaningful quotient of my attention from what I am writing to the act of writing it. A main rationale for trying a Tablet PC was that I imagined using one would help me write more, so when that idea didn’t pan out I moved back to conventional clamshell computers.
Besides the general lack of tool transparency in the platform, each Tablet PC I owned had its own specific problems. The NEC was under-powered. It used a Pentium III chip and only had 256 MB of RAM. Also, it tended to “hibernate” and then not immediately wake up. Rebooting it was inconvenient; the ability to jot a quick note is after all one reason to use a Tablet PC.
The Sony U is exquisite in many ways, but mine developed some problems. Blotches developed on the screen where I wrote (not scratches, but “sub-cutaneous” blotches—after many rounds of negotiation, Sony finally fixed this for me under the warranty). The U’s hard drive only held 20 GB, which wasn’t enough for my photo collection. Another annoyance was keeping up with the U’s external keyboard and optical drive. Toting all that around meant that the U’s size was not really its size. It also had some performance problems. When I was working on a slide show in Hong Kong it began crashing (due apparently to a bug in the Tablet OS, I have since learned). All that broke my enchantment with the U. Once I realized that it would not be suitable as my main computer, I had to admit it was too expensive to keep just for those rare occasions when I do want an ultra-portable computer that can accept pen input. With the Sony extended battery, Sony external optical drive (which is required to boot the computer from a disk) and the MSDN subscription that I purchased to get install disks for the Tablet version of Windows, the Sony U costs more than $3,500! This when a very decent conventional notebook (with better specs than the Sony U’s) can be had for $1,000.
Even ignoring costs, I don’t think the U is the right machine now that I am again feeling the itch to have a Tablet PC. Its 5-inch screen would be too small for taking notes at the Harvard conference or grading 20-plus papers. The U is ideal for surfing while propped up in bed or for brief visits to a cafe But I’ll have to win the lottery before I can afford a device tailored just to such moments.
Still, I imagine that while the NEC and Sony U weren’t the right devices, perhaps something else on the market now will be better.
If I do get a new Tablet PC, I will keep one of my clamshell notebooks so that I have a good “normal” computer for writing and sell the other one to subsidize purchase of a new Tablet PC. Should I go for another slate-style device (with a better detachable keyboard than the NEC or Sony U offered), or should I go for a “convertible” device which can function as a traditional notebook? Slates tend to be nice and light but require external keyboards and perhaps external optical drives–things I don’t like keeping up with. Convertibles have everything in one case but are often heavier and therefore less elegant when their screens are converted for use as Tablets. Whichever form factor I choose, I want a Tablet with a comfortable keyboard.
Another requirements is that I must have a nice screen. Some people are relatively indifferent to screen quality, but for me it is a key issue when I buy a computer. My current Toshiba M45 and Sony T both display rich, vibrant colors. I don’t want a PC without a gorgeous display.
Battery life is another issue. A Tablet won’t do me much good if it dies in the middle of a meeting.
It would be nice to test drive some different computers to see what feels best. Unless you put your own hands on a keyboard and try it and unless you see a screen for yourself, it is hard to know whether you’ll really be satisfied with it. But it is hard to get a hands-on experience with a range of Tablet PCs. Yesterday I went to CompUSA and Circuit City, but neither had on offer any Tablet PC I’d want. Both had an inexpensive Averatech convertible Tablet PC for sale. Its screen looked washed-out. CompUSA also had a Toshiba Satellite, but again the screen looked dull compared to my current Toshiba’s screen.
I will research the Tablet PCs currently on the market and see if anything looks like it would meet my requirements and could serve as a replacement for my current Toshiba notebook. Some of the tempting options are:
UPDATE:
Monday Lenovo/IBM announced a very tempting product:
X41 ThinkPad Tablet PC.