I’m looking at getting a tablet PC. I need something for trips and meetings. Does anyone out there have one? What do you think of it?
Tablet PC’s are usually pretty awkward for general use and are normally used for special purpose industry specific vertical apps designed to run on them. Handwriting recognition is not nearly as efficient as a keyboard input in terms of accuracy or speed and tablets are usually quite expensive relative to the hardware horsepower you get for the dollar. If you must have handwriting recog. they are the way to go, but for general purpose use there are better choices for the dollar.
Toshiba makes one you might want to look into.
The Portégé is a cross between a tablet and a laptop.
astro, you must not have used a TabletPC, because you have missed the point. You are thinking of the PenPC, a previous Microsoft attempt at the same concept.
I’ve used a compaq convertible TabletPC, and it was pretty slick. The key innovation of the TabletPC vs. the older PenPC is that handwriting recognition is not central to its operation. MS has developed a new datatype that they call, clevery enough “ink.” Ink allows the computer to save your handwriting in its original form. Ink enabled applications can handle your handwriting natively. That is, you can jot a note and email it directly without doing any recognition on it. If you send it to another TabletPC, your coworker can edit your hnadwritten note/diagram directly. If you send it to someone else, they get an image of your note (all of this happens seamlessly behind the scenes.) If you want, you can of course have the computer attempt to OCR your handwriting, but for the TabletPC it is entirely optional.
The biggest drawback I see to the current crop of TabletPCs is that the current reference architecture is single spindle. That is, they only have 1 disk drive (a hard disk) and no internal CD-ROM. This limits their usefulness as laptop replacements because you have to attach the CD-ROM seperately. Two sipindle TabletPCs are in the pipeline, though and should be out sometime this year.
At this point, think of a TabletPC as an alternative to an ultra-portable laptop. They both have smaller screens and no CD-ROM. Later this year we should see TabletPCs that rival more conventional laptops. Definately get a convertible model. They cost more, but it’s definately worth having the keyboard for more conventional work.