Educate me about and recommend Tablet PCs to me

[Pyrex]

For me the main issue would probably be battery life. I am looking for a 12" screen or so.

Are you sure battery life is going to be that large of an issue? I find that with my (work-issued) laptop battery life beyond 2hrs is generally* wasted as if I'm computing for more than an hour there is more than likely an outlet within 10' making battery life irrelevant.

*Except for, say, watching movies on a plane or some such.

When I was looking at buying a tablet for personal use, size turned out to be my primary consideration as once you eliminate newer games from the equation they all had plenty of storage & power for what I wanted to do so I ended up looking real closely at the Motion Computing LS800 (note, I don't know anyone who owns one, but a friend of mine used one of their larger ones for a couple years and he seemed happy with it)

Now that I broke down and upgraded my phone to a PPC/smartphone I find it does most of what I wanted a tablet for anyway...

 

[Steel_Wind]

Go Gateway I think for a tablet. Feature/price wise, a great deal.

In terms of applications - just notes taking and - above all - Adobe Acrobat are the apps of choice.

Tablets are an AWESOME .pdf reader. Reading off of a 15" screen in portrait mode is something you have to really try to appreciate.

 

[Nifft]

Tablets are an AWESOME .pdf reader. Reading off of a 15" screen in portrait mode is something you have to really try to appreciate.

Word to that -- but my PC does the same thing (monitor can rotate, and video card can rotate image).

-- N

 

[JDragon]

For those out there already using tablets, or have friends using them, what programs are you using and how?

As I mentioned above I hope to be picking one up in the next month or less andwantto start looking at how I'll be able to get the most of it at the table.

Thanks

JD

 

[doktorziplok]

It's pretty easy to find thin clear plastic screen protectors. I've got them both for my pocketpc-phone and my DSLite, which should prevent most of the screen damage.

can you post a link? i haven't seen anything for laptop sized screens, and plastering multiple sheets on a display seems...uh...tacky.

 

[Pyrex]

can you post a link? i haven't seen anything for laptop sized screens, and plastering multiple sheets on a display seems...uh...tacky.

Try here. Or here. Or here.

Your google-fu is weak young padawan.