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Showdown of slate Tablet PCs

Posted by sondreb on February 9, 2008
34 comments

If you've read my blog before you'd know that I'm a big fan of tablet PCs and I used to own an HP TC 4200 convertible tablet PC that I loved and spent countless hours "playing" with. Always been a creative person and the tablet PC inspired my to take up my hobby and interest in drawing. Jumping forward a year and I've changed jobs and I no longer have a tablet PC. So for a while I've been interested in buying a new tablet PC for personal use.

But this time, I want a slate! That is a tablet PC without a keyboard - pen only operations. I will probably buy a tiny Bluetooth keyboard and possibly a docking station, but I want to scribble notes and be connected all the time.

So why did I start this post with a photo from Time Square in New York? Well I was on a holiday last week to the beautiful city and my mission was to find myself a tablet PC. While looking around in the stores I found lots of great new gadgets and machines, and I was very close to buying some of them. Devices like ASUS Eee PC, Samsung Q1U-V UMPC, Sony Vaio UX Micro PC, Lenovo, HP and other tablet PCs... but not a single slate tablet PC!

So I arrived back home in Norway, empty handed (wouldn't exactly say empty handed... shopping in New York is amazing, I got a pink Zune 8GB for my wife, lenses and accessories for my Sony HDR-HC5 camcorder, more memory cards, and a whole bunch of other useless fun).

So here is a request to all of you who reads my blog: Please send me your experience, suggestions and advices for which slate Tablet PC I should acquire. I want a machine today, so I'm not interested in future-ware :)

My Requirements

Dual Core CPU
4GB RAM Capability
Bluetooth
Slate Edition (no keyboard)

The Showdown!

The following is a list of potential machines I looking to buy soon, if there are others I should consider, please let me know. As I live in Norway and don't spend an awfully lot of time outside - I'm going for the indoor version of LCD panels. One option that is not mentioned here is the Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic which is nice, but I don't think it's been upgraded in a while.

Sahara Slate PC i440D Tablet PC

My comment: Nice machine, it has both digitizer and touch screen (the most expensive version). I prefer the black version.

Price: $ 2295

Specifications:

Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
Intel® Core™ Duo LV L2500
1GB RAM & 80GB Hard Drive
Built-in Wireless a/b/g Networking
Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR
12.1" TFT XGA Wide Angle View LCD Dual Mode Active Digitizer / Touch Screen Display
Biometric Finger Print Reader
Vista Aero Technology Capable

Link: http://www.tabletkiosk.com/tkstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=16&idproduct=205

Tablet

i400k_in_hand

Motion LE1700 Tablet PC

My comment: Always loved the Motion tablets, they have always been a premium machines. This model is getting a bit old now, but I'm sure it's up for the task.

Price: $ 2,257

Specifications:

Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor Low Voltage L7400 (4MB of L2 cache, 1.5 GHz, 667MHz FSB
1GB RAM & 80GB Hard Drive
Wireless Bluetooth & 802.11 ABG*
Office / Indoor Use 12.1 SXGA+ Wide View Display (1400x1050)

Link: http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_le17.asp

Motion

Electrovaya Scribbler 4000 Tablet PC

My comment: This was unveiled at CES08 (I think) and it looks absolutely stunning on the few photos I've seen. Very nice design and I like that!

Price: $ 2,098

Specifications:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo ULV Processor U7500
1GB RAM & 80GB Hard Drive
Intel® 802.11a/b/g ; Bluetooth® 2.0
12.1-inch diagonal Illumi-Lite, WXGA, UWVA anti-glare with Digitizer (1024x768)
Integrated 1.3 MP camera

Scribbler

Link: http://www.electrovaya.com/scribbler/models/Scribbler4000.aspx

Please leave your comments below or e-mail me at pixelworld at hotmail dot com. I enabled anonymous comments on my blog now, but they are moderated as I don't have any spam-protection.

Addition Comments

After my initial post I started looking more into the details on the 3 machines so here follows some quick facts. Weight is 3.3 lbs for both Motion and Electrovaya while Sahara is 3.57 lbs so they are equal on that.

CPU:

Sahara: Intel® Core™ Duo LV L2500, 1.86Ghz
Motion: Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor L7400 1.5 GHz
Electrovaya: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo ULV Processor U7500 1.06GHz

Battery:

Sahara:

Rechargeable 6-Cell Lithium Ion Smart Battery Pack (3800 mAh @ 11.1 V, 42W/hr)

Motion:

Standard Battery
- Lithium-ion battery with 38.5WHr capacity
- Battery Life: ~3 hours (Core Solo)
Optional Extended Battery
- Lithium-polymer with 40WHr capacity
Combined battery capacity
- Maximum 78.5WHr
- Battery life: ~6 hours (Core Solo)

Electrovaya:

45 Wh upgradeable to a 70 Wh high capacity
Lithium-Ion SuperPolymer® battery

Pro and Cons:

Sahara: Dual Mode (Pen and Touch)
Motion: DVI-D port, SD card reader (important to me)
Electrovaya: 1.3 MP Webcam

I really wished that the Motion had webcam as well, that would make it the ultimate slate tablet PC. Think my choice is the Motion LE1700, to bad they don't ship to Norway yet.

Comments

9/2/2008 8:53:01 AM #

I had a Motion Computing LE1600, I've sold it to get a LE1700... its not old, and it is excellent - best screen of the bunch out there. Get dual core, at least 2GB of RAM, the high resolution view anywhere screen (the best screen available), a convertible keyboard (which makes it like a regular laptop, and the keyboard snaps over the display when you're transporting it) and the external DVD drive (makes reinstalls much more painless). Stevie Forte just ordered one as well. They're the best, the most expensive, and worth it.

Richard Campbell

9/2/2008 8:53:32 AM #

Hi Sondre, One of the reasons why you won't see too many slate PCs in stores is because they are nearly impossible to merchandise. If for some reason, the stylus disappears in-store, shoppers will only see a blank screen sitting on a shelf and most likely a salesperson who doesn't have a clue about how to use the device. I wish you the best of luck with your slate tablet decision. Gail Levy Director of Marketing TabletKiosk

Gail Levy

9/2/2008 8:54:06 AM #

Thanks for the comment Gail Levy! Good comment about the stylus, but wouldn't it be an idea to configure the in-store display devices to never turn off the display and run a continuous video/presentation that illustrates the power and use of a slate tablet PC? All of the UMPCs I saw in stores was turned off or behind enclosures so I couldn't touch and play with it. Gail, perhaps you can give me some comments on the i440D that you are selling? How does the dual screen mode work? I like that you can order the device with no OS. Addition RAM when you order from stores always comes with a premium price, would be nice if you could order a computer without memory. Anyhow, Sahara is not a well known brand as far as I know, but TabletKiosk seems to sell a lot of cool UMPC and Tablet devices... makes me wanna go crazy in your online store!

SondreB

9/2/2008 8:59:41 AM #

I would seriously consider getting a slate with a dual-mode digitizer (pen+touch). Unfortunately there are not a lot of them out there... If possible get a machine with capacitive touch instead of resistive; the difference in the touch experience is beyond comparison. I currently use the Dell Latitude XT, and the touch screen is awesome (still have some driver issues with the machine in general though). Good luck!

J-K

9/2/2008 9:00:16 AM #

Thanks for the comment J-K! And to please you, I've just ordered the Sahara i440D which has dual-mode screen. I'm not sure if it's capacitive or resistive, but I remember my HP TC4200 had a pretty good digitizer experience. Look back soon for a review of the Sahara device from TabletKiosk.com

SondreB

9/2/2008 9:00:46 AM #

Cool! If you're coming to the MS RD meetup in April maybe I'll get a chance to check it out ;) Jeg møtte deg forresten så vidt med Jonas i Trondheim etter en av MS eventene for en liten stund siden. Jonas skal antakeligvis bo hos meg helgen før RD meetupen Cheers! J-K

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4/26/2009 5:48:26 PM #

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5/17/2009 10:34:28 PM #

I was just thinking about Easier TDD with Visual Studio 2005 (Macro) and you’ve really helped out. Thanks!

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6/21/2009 5:59:28 PM #

This is really a good feature.I currently use the Dell Latitude XT, and the touch screen is awesome (still have some driver issues with the machine in general.

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6/22/2009 9:44:35 PM #

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Wow! this is a great feature.I will probably buy a tiny Bluetooth keyboard and possibly a docking station, but I want to scribble notes and be connected all the time.

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7/2/2009 7:41:44 PM #

Can anyone tell me how do I transfer my photos to my pc without a scanner?

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7/5/2009 5:24:06 PM #

Specifically, Tablet PC refers to a product announced in 2001 by Microsoft, and defined by Microsoft to be a pen-enabled computer conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of the "Windows XP Tablet PC Edition" operating system or a derivative thereof.

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7/6/2009 8:12:49 PM #

If for some reason, the stylus disappears in-store, shoppers will only see a blank screen sitting on a shelf and most likely a salesperson who doesn't have a clue about how to use the device. I wish you the best of luck with your slate tablet decision.

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7/9/2009 1:33:49 AM #

This is a good tablet PC without a keyboard - pen only operations. I will probably buy a tiny Bluetooth keyboard and possibly a docking station, but I want to scribble notes and be connected all the time.Thanks for sharing.

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7/9/2009 6:29:53 PM #

Nice stuff.I will probably buy a tiny Bluetooth keyboard and possibly a docking station, but I want to scribble notes and be connected all the time.

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