Does anyone have a tablet PC?

[Fuzzylogic]

I've been looking at them for some time and wondered if anyone here had one and if so what you use it for.

[KLH]

For as expensive as they are, you are probably better off just buying a laptop. Unless you had to have it for some special reason.

[Fuzzylogic]

I just think they would be really useful.

Taking notes in meetings, carrying around. Especially when doing tech support, smaller than a laptop, but with wireless.

Also they would be great at home, so you can finally lay on the couch but use a computer :)


However, I really do wish the price would come down to something around $400.

[KLH]

Like I said, a laptop is better, at least for the price.

You can still sit on a couch and use a laptop, or lay on a bed, which is what I am doing now, hehe. The problem with tablet PCs is there is no keyboard, so you will have to hand write all your notes? I can type faster most of the time then what I can write..

[Myke]

i'd rather get a laptop, for my portible needs I use my microsoft smartphone

[HRGraham]

Yea i've heard the tablet pcs really aren't taking off. For the amount they cost you could have a decent laptop and be able to do much more.

-Graham

[Fuzzylogic]

Yeah, true.

I just REALLY like the idea of Tablet PCs. Taking notes, remote access to stuff.

They would be great to use on campus when I'm on tech support calls, easy access to the network, database, etc...

So much fun to use around the house.

[sxtxixtxcxh]

if i were to get a tablet pc, it'd be like this: http://products.gateway.com/products/GConfig/proddetails.asp?system_id=m275xl&seg=hm

a tablet/notebook hybrid. :)

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by sxtxixtxcxh
if i were to get a tablet pc, it'd be like this: http://products.gateway.com/products/GConfig/proddetails.asp?system_id=m275xl&seg=hm

a tablet/notebook hybrid. :)

I STRONGLY suggest you SERIOUSLY reconsider.

Gateways are total crap on a good day.

Their laptops are awful and well it just stands to reason that their tablet PCs are worse.

Actually I was just one of their tablet PCs the other day.

I got so fed up with it I just gave up. The screen rotates whenever if feels like it, the pen does not stay synced up with the monitor.

There are NO useful controls along the outside of the device, such as scroll wheels to view pages with, etc.

It's resolution is only 1024*768 when it really needs to be at least 1152 x 864 .


Anyway, take my word on it, you don't want that tablet PC.


Try and find one that has controls on the outside frame to perform the more simple functions.

[sxtxixtxcxh]

lol..
i should have emboldened and italicized the if...

and i wouldn't go gateway anyway. i just meant the concept of a tablet/notebook hybrid would be what i would go for (let me emphasize) IF i were to look for a tablet.

[vanselus]

I have a gateway laptop and it's worked great, absolutely stellar.

I also purchased 4 Dell laptops for work and they all stink. Had one that the motherboard came unseated over and over. Of course, i'm not saying all Dells are bad. I've had horrible experience with their tech support as well.

I'm under the opinion that every time you purchase a computer from a "name brand" you're rolling the dice.

[Fuzzylogic]

Well you have had a very unique experience then.

As I mentioned in another thread I have done tech support for around 2,000 gateway laptops and the things that company did were somewhat less than ethical. Add to that their 2nd highest failure rate in the industry and well....

[vanselus]

So what were thing things that the company did that were less that ethical?

What brand of laptop was in the shop the least?

[digitalchex]

I have the HP TC1000. It's the 1st generation of HP's tablet pcs.

I admit, though, I was trading "power" (cpu chip, cpu speed, max ram, screen size, etc.) for form factor and convenience.

It's got a low power Transmeta Crusoe chip.
RAM maxes out at 768MB.
It's got a 10.4" screen.

However, it runs Windows XP TabletPC version. So most applications install just fine.
The battery runs for a good amount of time (2-4hrs, depending on what apps, screen brightness, periphs attached, etc.).
Weighs ~3.5lbs w/ keyboard.
Because all of the guts of the computer are in the screen, the keyboard is detachable and optional.
Screen is tempered glass.
It's got 2 usb ports, modem and ethernet ports, monitor port, built-in wifi (802.11b), pcmcia slot, and compact flash slot...

It has worked pretty well for me as a mobile professional who is not a power user. I run MS Office XP w/o any problem.

HP's 2nd gen tablet pcs have pentium chips that I hear are zippier... But you can probably buy a new or used 1st gen for cheaper...

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by vanselus
So what were thing things that the company did that were less that ethical?

What brand of laptop was in the shop the least?

Taken from another post of mine on the board:

"As for people saying Dell sucks I'd still like to see some reasoning behind that.

Now I earlier said Gateway was awful, and I didn't offer much explanation for that.

I've done tech support for over 2,000 Gateway laptops, and I'm pleased to say (sarcasm) that they have the 2nd highest failure rate in the industry.

They also seem to have the slowest hardware replacement rates as well. It should NOT take a month to ship a replacement part.

But they make up for it in their lack of ethics or morals.

The deal we had going with them was that if a laptop was "totaled" through misuse then our user would pay $500 out of pocket to replace it and our insurance would cover the rest.

Well apparently Gateway liked this idea, so much in fact they started deciding laptops were totaled that were not.

Luckily I was finally able to catch them in the act. After several students having stories that fiercely contradicted the things gateway claimed were wrong with the laptop (though the user often denies damaging the machines, you can usually tell the ones that are telling the truth form the sheepish liars) we started wondering what the heck was going on.

Finally a friend of mine had to send his laptop in because the battery latch had broken (another feature, if you use your laptop for say over 2 months the battery latch breaks and those Solo batteries slide right out).

Well the call came back that he had spilled pop or beer or some sticky liquid in it and friend the entire thing. It was going to be $800 to replace or $500 out of his pocket.

Well this obviously didn't fly, I had inspected his laptop myself before sending it in and it was in pristine condition. I called them back and spoke with one of their techs, asking what was going on. He went on about how when they got it it was this and that and destroyed and everything.

I was getting pissed, I asked to speak to their manager, and finally got transferred up to where I needed to be.

I explained what was going on and how it was outrageous, he told me that he went and grabbed the laptop from their support area and would look at it himself. I told him I'd wait. So 10 minute pass and he gets back on the line saying he had the thing on his desk, looked it over just now and it is very obviously suffering from this and that and other random crap. I ask him what the serial # is, he very smugly "reads" it to me and it is the one that matches the laptop for my friend that we sent in.


Well I then inform him that he needs to start sending us those replacement parts with the same courier as the company that they use to send us back those laptops, because they have mighty fast service. As they managed to rush deliver that thing from his desk 3 states away to my work bench in under 10 minutes!

I inform him I'm looking at the laptop as we speak on the phone (which I was, as when we got it back it had the "bill" attached to it and I of course wanted to know why work was done on it that wasn't needed).

Well he suddenly doesn't sound so smug anymore, he stammers for a bit and tries to back peddle. I explain to him that I want this bill removed from the system and that I don't ever want to have to speak to him in this capacity again and hang up the phone.


After working on literally thousands of their laptops and talking to my friends who still work there (I got fed up, quit and started working for a place that has all Dells, it is so wonderful) I can safely tell you that gateways in general are total crap."

---

As for Laptops I've had the best luck with Dell.

[vanselus]

That's definitely less than ethical. Although I'm sure that's not company policy, and i'm going going to get my panties in a bunch about the company because one manager is a waste of carbon. (although if i were you i'd be furious too).

Do you have a link to the stats that say they have the industry's 2nd highest failure rate? And who has the highest?

[Fuzzylogic]

No, that is not enough to damn an entire company.

What I'm saying is that I've been dealing with Gateway since about '97 and that is the sort of crap I find from them all the time.

Sure they work well every now and again, but at least half the gateways I come across are total crap.

Then to top it off their customer service blows as well.

Now I haven't touched the company for the last year, so I SUPPOSE it is possible they have turned themselves around.


However, I find this highly unlikely. Additionally as I mentioned earlier I have several friends who still work where I did the laptop support, and they say Gateway still tries to pull the same shit on them.

[vanselus]

So where does the "2nd highest failure rate in the industry" come from? What organization keeps tabs on that data and where can we see it?

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by vanselus
So where does the "2nd highest failure rate in the industry" come from? What organization keeps tabs on that data and where can we see it?

PC Mag for example tracks such things if I recall.

[vanselus]

I found these charts, but they're from a competitor building pc's so who knows how valid they are...


http://www.compurdy.com/doarates.gif

http://www.compurdy.com/failurerates.gif

http://www.compurdy.com/daystoresolve.gif

[Fuzzylogic]

Don't those charts all rank Dell up there towards the top as being the best or close to the best on those categories?

[Viper007Bond]

Well Dell is the best place to get a PC if you're gonna buy one pre-built. :)

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by Viper007Bond
Well Dell is the best place to get a PC if you're gonna buy one pre-built. :)

Well now see that's what I have been saying, but people felt the need to inform me I was sorely mistaken...

[vanselus]

Strange - I've had horrible luck with Dell lately, but maybe it's just a fluke. i guess I'll trust the stats and give 'em another shot!

[Viper007Bond]

Originally posted by Fuzzylogic
Well now see that's what I have been saying, but people felt the need to inform me I was sorely mistaken...
Then they are wrong. ;)

[johnb]

What brand of laptop was in the shop the least?

I've supported Dells before without too many problems. I'm also partial to Toshiba.

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by johnb
I've supported Dells before without too many problems. I'm also partial to Toshiba.

I've worked with a very few Toshibas but they always had interesting designs and seemed to incorporate common sense placement of buttons, always a plus :)

[vanselus]

I've supported a couple toshibas here, and they seem well built and seem pretty reasonably priced! No problems with them so far... same with the IBM laptop - except for the reasonable price aspect.

[johnb]

seem pretty reasonably priced

Absolutely, there are some great deals out there.

[gaustin]

I hate Dells...That's all we have at work. The only tech support we have for hardware are us programmers and only two or three of us do any hobby hardware work.

The Dell cases we have are horrible. One time it took me, literally, 15 minutes to remove all of the panels from a case. Some of the Dells have those wonderful IBM Deskstar disks which just crap out whenever they feel like it.

And one question about generic computers is why the hell they use cases and mobos that are so compact that they have little to no expansion room. There was this eMachine my brother bought that had the bottom pci slot blocked by the case, and when there are only 2 pci slots on a mobo that's trouble.

I guess you might want to take a look at the new Zaurus CL series. They aren't too horribly expensive, run a Java based OS and QT front end. They could be appropriate to take notes long hand if that's the way you like to do it. But I really have to agree with the 'I can type faster than I can write' idea. Because I can type faster than I can speak most of the time.

[Tammy]

Originally posted by gaustin
And one question about generic computers is why the hell they use cases and mobos that are so compact that they have little to no expansion room. There was this eMachine my brother bought that had the bottom pci slot blocked by the case, and when there are only 2 pci slots on a mobo that's trouble.


I totally agree with that. I can't understand boxes that have no room for expansion, it almost defeats the purpose of having a desktop versus a laptop.

Btw, I agree with those that figure that tablet pc's are kind of pointless. They cost too much and you get too little.

[vanselus]

Makes perfect sense to me.

1. 99% of computer users will never upgrade

2. computer companies don't WANT you to upgrade - they'd rather sell you a new one (like Apple does)

3. they figure, people that know they want to upgrade are savvy enough that they're going to build their own anyway

4. even non-expandable desktops are 1/2 the cost of their laptop counterparts

5. tablet pc's are a novelty for everyone but people that have some need to scribble instead of type - or to use a computer while standing

[Viper007Bond]

I love my Dell case except that I can't change out the mother board. Besides that, it's great. All screwless too!

Pics:

http://www.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Viper007Bond/images/closed.jpg

http://www.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Viper007Bond/images/opened.jpg

http://www.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Viper007Bond/images/insides.jpg

[KLH]

If costs weren't an issue, I would go with IBM. Otherwise I would go with Toshiba over Dell.

My friend and I both got a laptop around the same time. Mine is a Toshiba, and his is a Dell.. I've seen him have many problems, like random restarts, flickering screen, Slowness..

Also one time, we were at the library, and he closed his lid with music playing, and he went to open it up, and it started playing music and he couldn't turn it down without getting it out and using the volume buttons which were at the top of they keyboard. On my toshiba, they are on the side of the laptop, easily reachable without even opeing the lid.. That was just one situation when I made fun of his stupid dell..

[Tammy]

Originally posted by Viper007Bond
I love my Dell case except that I can't change out the mother board. Besides that, it's great. All screwless too!

My old hewlett-packard is like that. No way to swap out the motherboard. Wish I could, otherwise it's a great machine and still runs great after almost 4 years.