Anyone using a tablet PC at the table

[Plane Sailing]

I know that many of us use laptops at the gaming table.

Does anyone here have experience with using a tablet PC at the table? (I'm not including PDAs here).

If so, which make and model and how did it go?

Cheers

 

[Mercule]

Yup. I've got a Gateway convertable tablet. I chose it mainly because it has a glass screen instead of acrylic, which is what Toshiba used. 18 months ago, those were the only two contenders worth mentioning.

I find that I really don't use the tablet mode that often. It's neat and works well, but I type faster than I write. I used to at least jot notes down on it during games, which worked pretty well. Once I switched to PCGen to track stats and initiative, that went away, too. Java does not play well with the handwriting recognition engine.

As a player, where you aren't anywhere near as likely to be randomly adding/removing things from the line-up, it might work a lot better. With HeroForge, it definitely would. Actually, I'm going to go with it working quite nicely for a player. I only did so for one session, but it was nice.

I have been known to sit in front of the TV and scribble game notes, but TV time is pretty sparse in my house and it's usually a couples thing.

Civ 3 works like it was built for a tablet, BTW. Beautiful interface. Civ 4, not quite as much.

Anyway, if I had it to do over, I'd probably spend the extra cash on a more powerful system rather than the flip-top. I could see the use, but my lifestyle really doesn't call for it.

 

[Steel_Wind]

All the members of my gaming circle use laptops at the gaming table - and one of them uses a Gateway convertible.

As I have noted in this forum in a few posts - we are all envious as hell of this tablet. He uses it to keep notes during combat and it is the best pdf reader you ever did see. For PnP gaming - nothing beats it. HIGHLY recommended.

I was so impressed I have been looking into getting one as soon as my current laptop is ready for replacement. In terms of alternative products, the cost of the models offered by the competition are so far above the Gateway convertibles that there really ARE no competitors to Gateway in this market. In terms of feature set, the Gateway meets or exceeds that of anybody else in the market.

Check out their website and browse around. Laptops are highly individualized gadgetry and the features that are important to me might not be important to you. I would advise the upgrade to the ATI 1400 video chipset at a minimum. That is one upgrade you are very unlikely to regret.

Extended warranty for three years is probably worth getting no matter what model you buy - but your budget might not be my budget.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

My current laptop is coming near to the end of its life, and I've got to decide whether to replace it with

a) new whizzy laptop

or

b) whizzy desktop + relatively cheap tablet for when I'm away from the desktop.

I'm still wondering which way is best to go, but I'll certainly look into the Gateway.

Screen resolution has always been one of my top requirements in a PC, so I'll see how those compare.

FWIW I use Excel for character sheets when a player, and Excel + word for managing adventures as a DM.

Cheers

 

[Jdvn1]

By the way Plane Sailing, on your website, you might want to check the link to vote for the EN World topsites list.

 

[Plane Sailing]

By the way Plane Sailing, on your website, you might want to check the link to vote for the EN World topsites list.

Hmmm, shows how long it is since I last made an update to my website! I'll see about removing that...

 

[JDragon]

I too have been hoping to pick up a tablet PC when it comes time to replace my current laptop.

For those that use one, or have seen one used for gaming, how does it do with Excel & Word?

At this point those would be the two main things I would use on it when at the table as a player or DM.

Thanks.

 

[Mercule]

For those that use one, or have seen one used for gaming, how does it do with Excel & Word?

Word is excellent. Works pretty much exactly how you'd expect it to. Excel works well, but the cellular nature of the program means you really aren't writing as much as you think you are.

Oddly enough, some of the Office integration that's added with handwriting recognition (mainly for markup) turn Excel into an excellent platform for quick-sketch maps.

You should probably look into MS OneNote, too. I ended up not liking it, but it's still worth a look for yourself. I've heard quite a few people say they did find it useful.

Just a note on handwriting recognition: Cursive works better than printing (counter-intuitive, I know). I print all the time, and only ever did cursive in 3rd grade. I had to retrain myself some, but it's worth it for the predictive recognition. And, of course, you may have to add a few words to your tablet dictionary (which is different from the Word dictionary).

As a further note, some symbols (like found in Excel formulas or email addresses) or odd capitalization patterns (ToM, BoVD, etc.) can really throw it for a loop.

 

[JDragon]

Mercule, thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind when I get around to gettting one.