Tablet PCs (Swivel Screen)

techguy

I hope I have the right term here..
I am talking about the laptops that have a swivel screen (touch sreen) on them.
What are your opinions on them guys and where is the best place to buy them and whats the average price these days? Are they all around 2k ???

I am thinking about getting one of these as my next upgrade..combined with Microsoft OneNote they'd be ideal for college..anyone have any experience with OneNote??

Tom Dunne

techguy wrote:

I hope I have the right term here..
I am talking about the laptops that have a swivel screen (touch sreen) on them.
What are your opinions on them guys and where is the best place to buy them and whats the average price these days? Are they all around 2k ???

They are crazy money. I think both Microsoft and device manufacturers shot themselves in the foot by over pricing them. They are now in a very niche market that nobody is prepared to pay for.

Expansys used to do them, but it looks like they don't any more. Laptopsdirect.ie have some, but look at the specs - madness. You are paying a premium for laptops in general. You are paying a premium upon a premium for tablet PCs.

I played around with one about thee years ago. What struck me was that while using it like a clipboard, it was just too heavy. I suppose things would have progressed slightly since then.

Have you looked at a PDA for college? I use my Windows Mobile PDA with handwriting recognition all the time. The only caveat is that the stylus that comes with them are usually rubbish - I have a Cross pen with a plastic tip that makes it much easier. I can belt out an SMS text message faster than anyone with a normal keypad.

swingking

I saw one in the Laptop Shop in Stephen's Green for 1400

It had core duo, 1gb ram, wireless, bluetooth

Not bad considering the specs

Tom Dunne

That's not bad, actually. Any idea what the make/model is? Just want to compare to an online shop for the hell of it.

swingking

As far as I know it was a HP dv model

sorry I just checked the hp website

link

techguy

Thats strange I just said i'd check this thread and there are a few replies..I am subscribed to it but never got notifications by e-mail...

tom dunne wrote:

Have you looked at a PDA for college? I use my Windows Mobile PDA with handwriting recognition all the time. The only caveat is that the stylus that comes with them are usually rubbish - I have a Cross pen with a plastic tip that makes it much easier. I can belt out an SMS text message faster than anyone with a normal keypad.

I have only kinda looked at them..what can you do with them? What do you use for handwriting recognition on them?? What kind of PDA do you have?
How much do they cost for a average spec'd one?
Any links for me to read up on?


Thanks.

Tom Dunne

techguy wrote:

I have only kinda looked at them..what can you do with them?

There are like mini computers. Games, mp3s, videos, some have wifi so you can surf the net and send e-mail, contacts, calendaring and various other applications. Some are combined with phones, so you can send text messages and make calls. Some also have GPS units built in so you won't get lost.

What do you use for handwriting recognition on them??

Anywhere you would use keyboard input, for example, sending text messages, writing notes.

What kind of PDA do you have?

Mine's a PDA/phone combination. See here for details. It even has an FM radio.

How much do they cost for a average spec'd one?
Any links for me to read up on?

Mine was just under €700, but it's worth every cent. You can get them for in and around the €200-€300 mark. Have a look at the likes of Expansy.ie for details.

Villain

I used the this one: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=329576204C9E42289967E79E0E7C9A2D for about a month and while it was fun and worked well I had no use for the extra tablet functions, although the handwriting recognition was excellent really worked well.