I recently sold my previous laptop and have been looking to get a convertible tablet PC as a replacement to make note taking in my college classes easier.
Through the research I’ve done, many sites usually mention the single hinge as a typical issue because of the obvious stress put on it. My question is, has the durability of said hinges improved significantly since the first generation convertible tablet PCs? I’d think by now they would have since there have been several generations developed now.
Are the hinges still a big buying disadvantage/problem or are they just one of those loud-minority things?
I can’t speak to the hinge durability question other than anecdotally, but I have owned or administered several tablet PCs - most tablet, but a few convertibles. Given the stiff price (and/or performance) hit you take when buying such a device, be sure that it’s for you. If you have the opportunity, try to use one, especially the tablet writing function, in the manner you intend to use it most frequently or in the most important appplication(s) in which you feel this type of device would improve your productivity.
There is certainly a learning curve if you are not accustomed to handwriting recognition, and it can be tough to evaluate how the machine might work for you once you get used to it. But beyond that, IME, there is a cognitive hurdle for some users and in some situations in which a Tablet PC does not really live up to its initial expectations. I have developed very simple things for them, and in many cases, despite adequate training and development time, the tablet input did not add much to the project or was basically equivalent to a standard laptop form factor PC.
Since you mentioned class notes in the OP, I’ll add that if you are in a math or any hard science field you will quickly become frustrated if you try to take advantage of the handwriting recognition function. The more numerical symbols, unusual words, etc. used, the less useful the handwriting function becomes. Do not expect any “learning” to help with this. Learning takes place strictly with the user on the WinXP Tablet Edition Systems. If this does not apply to your situation, and you are literally taking “notes”, the handwriting works very well with a little practice.
I recognize that there are MANY applications that lend themselves very well to tablet style input, but in some situations, there is something to be said for a regular laptop or plain ol’ pad of paper. Oh, and take online reviews with a grain of salt, many people go online and wax poetic about their new gadget just to quiet that little voice in the back of their head telling them that they got hosed.
Thanks for the input. I’ll certainly dread my trip to Best Buy to play with some of the tablets (if they have any). I didn’t anticipate handwriting recognition to be a major issue because I assumed taking notes in Onenote and just saving them in my original handwriting (not converting to text) would be sufficient, and even beneficial because I do deal with a lot of math and science stuff (engineering major).
I’m an engineering major and taking notes on a tablet works fine. As far as the hinge goes, it’s obviously a weak point in the design of a tablet. That’s not going to change. What will change is the strength of the design. Basically it’s a cost issue. There’s no huge technical challenge there, it’s all a matter of how much money a company will spend on the hinge. The best way to go about it would be to select a model you like, and search the internet to see how reliable the hinge is. Anecdotally, the hinge on my HP TC1100 seems rock solid, but it’s a bit different from a conventional convertible.
I’ve owned a Toshiba R15 (convertable, center hinge) for somewhere of a year now. It’s my main laptop and I’ve used it almost every day, 50% of the time I flip it for tablet use.
The hinge is the same as the day I bought it.
Every now and then I read Tablet PC Buzz forums and see what’s up in the tabletpc world. If there is a common design flaw on a laptop, these guys will talk about it. I used this site when I decided on the R15.
I have both a Toshiba and an IBMX41. I much prefer the Toshiba because it has a better screen resolution, and I get a lot more screen real estate. Never had a problem with the hinge on either machine. I’ve cracked the toshiba screen and kept using it cracked for 6 months.
I second previous advice about making sure first that you really will use a Tablet instead of thinking you will. I pretty much only use it to take notes during customer meetings. I then type a very short summary and any action items at the top of the page, and leave the handwriting unedited below.
OneNote is probably the most useful program after Excel I’ve ever used. If you’re a pen and paper kinda person, it should really be good for you. The Office2007 version is substantially better too. BTW, did you know you can search on your handwriting in ONeNote and it works pretty dang well? You can write notes, then type in your search and I had like 95% success rate of finding the word. There’s also a mobile version. It’s good but unfortunately is only a synch folder rather than the entire OneNote file on the PDA.
90% of all my work stuff goes into OneNote (I still have some massive spreadsheets, powerpoints, pdf, etc filed away). Important email just zap it straight over, a ppt slide or excel sheet gets copied over as a picture file (you can embedd the actual file too), all notes, key docs I port over, websites saved, etc. Man, it’s great. Know the best part, after 3.5 years of doing this, the entire file size is less than 100 mb and I back it up on a giveaway USB drive. When my old laptop was stolen with no back up, OneNote saved me.
Text to type isn’t there. It just takes way too long to confirm the conversion is right or to correct it.