Tablet PC's

Sky · **on:** September 19, 2010, 01:02:15 PM

Heya!

So, does anyone have any experiences with tablet pc's?
I'm considering to buy one, as my current notebook is... well, not strong (ANY computer out there is much more powerful than my notebook

)
In addition, tablet pc's come with a pen digitizer and I was wondering if they are any good for creating artwork? :unsure:
(It would be a nice alternative to a Cinitq tablet and I can work anytime, anywhere without carrying all the cables

)

Or would buying a normal notebook be better?

Mumbling · **Reply #1 on:** September 19, 2010, 02:10:58 PM

Several teacher's in my school use one, they find it really useful for writing. I myself haven't tried one though, so I can't tell... Though it looks pretty good! Perhaps there's a store in which you can try them out?

Petrie. · **Reply #2 on:** September 19, 2010, 03:04:46 PM

A tablet PC will never replace a desktop or full featured notebook. Remember that, so if you do splurge and get one of those, you're going to have to do without something. Is it worth the cost? Probably not, IMO.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #3 on:** September 19, 2010, 04:22:45 PM

Quote from: Petrie,Sep 19 2010 on 01:04 PM

A tablet PC will never replace a desktop or full featured notebook. Remember that, so if you do splurge and get one of those, you're going to have to do without something. Is it worth the cost? Probably not, IMO.

^This. You're going to be spending a premium on the thing just because it has that feature. It's much better to just go get a watcom tablet in my opinion. Go to www.toshibadirect.com and get their cheapest 18.4" laptop. You'll be so frickin' happy you won't know what to do with yourself. Toshiba makes really high quality laptops and the large screen real estate will really make your experience 100 times nicer than any tablet could.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #4 on:** September 19, 2010, 04:54:04 PM

My sister wants to get a laptop soon. She said she does not want a Toshiba. She never really explained to me why though. I guess she heard they make poor laptops or something. She wants to go with an HP instead.

Anyway, I don't have that much experience with tablets. I did own one once but I don't like it too much. I found it difficult to use.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #5 on:** September 19, 2010, 10:14:51 PM

^HP's do typically look cooler than Toshiba's, but go read up on the HP dv6000. I guarantee you that will turn you off from HP laptops forever. What HP did with that laptop series was dead WRONG. They have the absolute worst customer support and if you get a laptop with a defect, you're just screwed. HP will never take care of you. Here's a quick summary of the problems with the dv6000 series. Do note that this is NOT an isolated incident and they have had many similar problems in the past few years:

The dv6000 series was a very popular laptop series as HP had just released their new hottest design (every HP laptop nowadays is designed after this series of laptops because they just looked so awesome). Unfortunately, many customers were having TERRIBLE issues with the motherboards on these units. Sometimes as early as 3 months, users would experience problems with the ports and wireless connection on their laptops. Then the weird problems started with the laptops not being able to turn on sometimes. HP released a recall on the machines but didn't publicize it very well. Most customers that had purchased this PC had no idea that there was a recall. In addition to the poor announcement of the recall, HP's solution to the problem was to replace the defective part with ANOTHER defective part until the warranty was up. Then you were just shit out of luck. The motherboard on these models costs hundreds of dollars to replace and even if you do replace them, the new motherboard will have the same defect. These laptops are non-repairable and to this day there are many customers affected by HP's selfish decision. HP made cheap crap motherboards and made their customers pay for it. The worst thing is, most of them don't even know they were screwed. To this day I still see people coming into my shop with the dv6000 series laptops. In fact, one woman came in with a dv6000 less than a week ago. I have to tell them that there's nothing I can do for them but sell them a new laptop, as replacing the motherboard won't solve their problems.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #6 on:** September 19, 2010, 11:12:37 PM

Well in the end it's my sister who makes the decision. She does want me to come along and help her choose a laptop, but she made it clear she wants an HP because she heard they were great. She won't be getting a laptop for a while though so she has plenty of time to read up on laptops and choose what one she wants. The only catch is she won't have a lot of money so it will have to be one of the cheaper laptops.

Sky · **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2010, 04:11:05 PM

Hmm... then I guess I should just buy a normal notebook then?
I always thought it would be neat to work on one of those. And my stores don't really offer a tablet PC for trying out (only iPads).

Thanks for the link, lbtlover. I shall check it out.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #8 on:** September 21, 2010, 10:59:17 AM

I would recommend a desktop if you don't already have one. Laptops are much more expensive than desktops and if something goes wrong with them, you're screwed. They can't really be upgraded much either. I could NEVER replace my desktop with a laptop, even though my laptop has a nice big screen and everything. In fact, I'm really mad if I'm forced to use my laptop for any serious work like I'm having to do right now thanks to the shitty licensing terms of this program I'm using.

Sky · **Reply #9 on:** September 21, 2010, 01:40:31 PM

Oh, I have a desktop pc already, so no worries.

I just need a better notebook to work with at school. Mine can't even handle Adobe CS3 without getting insanly hot and shutting itself off.