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Got a customer who wants to upgrade to a tablet pc. He has only owned thinkpads but I don't have any experience with a tablet pc and neither does he. Any recomendations? Are they worth the trouble? I'm not sure he is going like the idea of learning to use handwriting recognition software or if it works well.
You don't have to use handwriting recognition... but training the software to recognise your scrawl is sometimes a long process.
What sort of tablet pc? Some are notebooks with a reversible screen, others are handheld pdas...
Quite a bit of choice out there... for what reason does the customer want a tablet?
He is an accountant and thinks he will use it at seminars and on client calls. He wants a laptop with at least a 12" screen and a cd/dvd drive. I know he is partial to thinkpads but the only model I found doesn't have a cd drive so I was going to try to steer him to a fuji or a toshiba.
This might be off topic but i own a Tablet PC. I make flash cartoons, Graphic designs, writing papers, etc. But NooNoo is correct it does take the PC a while to learn your writing/drawing style. But once it gets the hang of it it's a dream to work with.
But if this guy wants sutmhing just to use as a notepad or something i wouldnt suggest it.
[QUOTE=NooNoo]
here is one list of manufacturers of tablet pcs[QUOTE]
Sheesh they didnt include New Egg or Tiger Direct
I prefer newegg over tiger but both are good.
We support both Laptops and Tablets with In House applications. Our Field Auditors use laptops and our Safety Inspectors use tablets. We got military grade tablets for the Safety folks thinking about the "unfriendly" environment they would be operating in, including docking stations with full size KB, etc. for home use.
All in all, the laptop as been the preferred option, even by our Safety folks, who have found they do not carry their tablets with them in the field. Too hard to use, particularly because of the glare on the screen and their unwieldliness. As your client is an accountant, I think he would be happier with a laptop of somekind, even though a tablet has a higher gee whiz factor.
Stick with a standard laptop. Tablet PC implementation is poor both in hardware and software. Why spend 2 or 3 times the money to get worse performance? Anyone who thinks that handwritting recognition is faster than typing with a decent keyboard just hasn't tried living with the alternatives.
The November 8 issue of PC Magazine had a pretty decent review of some of the top tablets, you may want to check it out. If that's what the guy wants, its probably what he should get. I think they do have a pretty high gee whiz factor, but I'm still a little leery about the durability of the swivel hinge.