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QUESTION POSED ON: 14 April 2003
I'm a manager at a large financial services company, in meetings much of
the day, and I'm sick of hauling my laptop around, waiting for it to boot
up, worrying about battery life, etc. I'm interested to know your thoughts
about the advisability of trading it in for a tablet pc. How well do
tablets work in real world situations? What should I be considering in
terms of features and functions? Thanks.
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The decision to move from a laptop to a Tablet PC should be made because of
the expanded usage model that the tablet form factor allows, not because
you are looking for a faster system with longer battery life. In fact, the
performance of most Tablet PCs is actually on par, if not slightly inferior
to many laptop models on the market, which has been one of the main
barriers to the Tablet's acceptance and adoption. Intel's Centrino and
Pentium M processors will help negate many of the short-term performance
issues, but since tablets and laptops use the same 6-cell lithium ion
battery technology, there is not much to gain by making the switch. As
portable technologies evolve to allow thinner, lighter, more powerful, and
longer running portable PC designs (eg. more energy efficient processors,
lithium polymer batteries, fuel cells, OLED displays, etc.) tablets and
laptops alike will equally take advantage of new technologies.
What you do gain with a Tablet PC is the convertible design, which allows
you choose between the keyboard or pen input depending on which is most
appropriate for the particular circumstance or application. If you take
handwritten notes in meeting because the of annoying sound of tapping keys,
a tablet will allows you to handwrite your notes -- directly into your
computer with digital ink.
Tablet PCs are gaining acceptance in vertical industries, such as logistics
and healthcare, because of the well defined benefits of pen-input with
forms-based processing applications. But the usage model for horizontal
users beyond digital note taking and annotations of Microsoft Office
applications are still unclear, which makes the several hundred dollar
prices difference between Tablet PCs and notebooks very apparent.
If the added expense over a laptop is not an issue, look for tablet models
powered by Intel's Centrino or Pentium M processors, which deliver better
performance than Transmetta's current, power saving, processor line
(realize that its the screen more than the processor that eats the majority
of the battery life). Also look for models that include docking stations or
port replicators as options, particularly if you plan to use it as your
primary work system. Another feature to look at is the digitizer
technology. Models that use Finepoint's technology use pens powered by AAA
batteries. While this method saves battery life, since its not drawing
power directly from the tablet itself, it lacks pressure capabilities that
provide a variety of inking textures when using graphic applications. Many
of the other features to evaluate are not that different from those you
would consider when buying a laptop eg. screen size, capacity, expansion
options, etc.
Looking forward, we will see new Table PC designs in the second half of
2003, along with refinements to current models such as larger displays,
additional drive spindles and common port replicating solutions. Microsoft
will continue to enhance the Tablet PC OS, and it's not out of the realm of
possibility that its handwriting recognition technology could become 100%
accurate over the next five years.
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