I'm thinking of getting a tablet PC, specificly the Fujitsu T4215.

December 9, 2006 11:13 AM

This will be my first tablet. Does anyone have any expirience with these Tablets?

I'm thinking of buying this tablet before Christmas, would it be cheaper after. Also, all I want the pen for is graphic design and notes, I somehow don't feel that justifies the extra grand for the tablet. Also there are issues with Vista becoming the new OS of choice. Whats your take on all this?

posted by EasyLover to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Anecdotally, I've read that Vista contains some significant optimizations for tablets (and laptops). But, since I don't have a tablet to play with, I can't really comment.

Looking at the specs for the T4215, though, I can tell you that you aren't going to be able to run the full Vista graphical experience that you might be expecting. The Intel GMA950 onboard won't be able to handle all the shiny - Vista will default to a less pretty interface. If you do go with this tablet, and want to run Vista, make sure you max out the RAM to 2GB. You'll regret anything less.
posted by Drunken_munky at 11:35 AM on December 9, 2006

Notes? What kind of notes? Could you type them instead? It's faster to type than to write, assuming of course you have some typing proficiency? Would paper suit just as well, though a tablet is cooler?
For graphic design, could you get a separate wacom tablet instead? It hooks up through usb and allows you to write, just where you write is obviously not directly on the screen, (the pad is separate). Also, the seperate tablets have much higher pressure sensitivities (12 or 16 bit levels of pressure vs. 256 levels for tablet pc)
posted by defcom1 at 11:40 AM on December 9, 2006

The Register on Tablet PCs.

Are you sure you want to participate in this particular Microsoft Beta Test?
posted by Orb2069 at 11:46 AM on December 9, 2006

Defcom1: Any sort of note taking that includes sketches or diagrams pretty much demands paper - so physics, math, bio ... quite a few subjects. (I'm not a tablet-user, but my roommate is.) Even for those math and physics courses that don't need much in the way of sketching, most people just don't like LaTeX.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:47 AM on December 9, 2006

My significant other works in a business that has created a medical office patient data collection and analysis system, using Tablet PC's as the user input device. She's worked with a Tablet PC for about 2 years now, and what I know about them stems largely from experiences with her unit and the business in which she works.

First of all, the Tablet PC form factor isn't all that standardized, and the capabilities of individual machines follow directly from the sub-form of the unit. Most machines, including the ones my SO uses, are convertibles, because they give the most flexibility in moving back and forth between uses as a "normal" laptop, and a Tablet. FWIW, my SO uses her machine as a "normal" laptop 99% of the time. In her business, she occasionally demonstrates her firm's software using pen input, but that's about the only use she makes of Tablet capability. Mechanically, her current unit is top heavy when the screen is put into the cradle clips it occupies in keyboard mode, and so using it while actually having it sit on her lap is not particularly comfortable or effective. Usually, she puts it on a table surface, or on her desk at work. Previous generations of machines she's had were even worse, with her first one not having room at the RJ-45 Ethernet connector for a normal strain reliefed patch cord to be plugged in, when the screen was put in keyboard position. Given the abysmal quality of that unit's 802.11b connection hardware, I eventually made a custom RJ-45 patch cable for her use in connecting to my home network when she visited me.

In the medical offices in which her company's system is installed, the Tablets are used 95% of the time by patients and doctors in Tablet mode, using pen input to check off information on custom soft-forms, and to make minor text notes. Text recognition isn't good enough for general untrained recognition of patient input, so this is scraped from the Tablets as image data by the application software, and fed to the database backend without any attempt at handwriting recognition. A medical transcription service converts hand written data from the images to ASCII, for liability and accuracy reasons. The early versions of Tablets they used had various 802.11b problems due to their Broadcom WiFi chipsets, and they've recently upgraded yet again to newer machines, with better hardware. The battery life of their current Tablets is about 2 hours when new, but the batteries seem to age pretty quickly in office use, as the units are constantly in and out of charger racks all day, while patients use them.

Personally, I think a quality voice recorder and a scanner, combined with a copy of Dragon and some image manipulation software, would be a far more practical and flexible note taking system, than a Tablet PC, particularly if you are intending to use Vista as the OS. But a lot is dependent on exactly the uses to which you put the device, and on the device itself. Vista will use more processing power for its full range of eye candy, and if you intend to use handwriting recognition extensively, you might want to demo a Vista equipped Tablet extensively, to see how practical that is as a personal text entry system, for your handwriting.
posted by paulsc at 12:19 PM on December 9, 2006

I run Vista on an X41T (Thinkpad tablet) with "only" 512mb of RAM and I have no problems. I've used it in almost every class for the last three semesters, and I love it.

In class, I can write down diagrams, formulas, and other things that are a pain to type. I can sketch out ideas in any freeform manner that I choose, and editing is so much easier than on paper – erasing, moving selections around, resizing, and cutting/pasting all happen instantly and painlessly. If I need to crunch in a lot of text (rare, for a class) I can always just flip up the screen and type it. OneNote converts my handwriting into text behind the scenes, and I can search through it all later on.

I used Windows XP Professional Tablet Edition for the first semester in a half, and then switched to the Vista RCs later on. I highly recommend Vista over XP. It runs faster, is less buggy, and has far better tablet support than XP. It's actually integrated, as opposed to just sort of taped on.

I opted for the giant battery pack when I got my tablet (8 cell lithium) and my battery life is usually about 5 hours at normal usage. I definitely recommend getting the biggest battery you can, as having to hunt for a place to plug in is way uncool, man.
posted by tumult at 1:23 PM on December 9, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

tumult, i'm interested in a similar rig to yours, both for notes and for drawing. how's the pressure sensitivity? i currently run a wacom tablet+ notebook combo, but want to simplify. If the tablet had the full 256, i'd seriously consider picking one up.
posted by fake at 2:57 PM on December 9, 2006

Fake-

I've been the proud owner of 3 Tablet PCs now. Almost all of the Tablet manufacturers use Wacom hardware and software, and yes, you do get the full 256 degrees of sensitivity.

Hugh Macleod uses his to draw many of his famous comics, and ArtRage will allow you to fully exploit this ability on a Tablet.
posted by SlyBevel at 4:12 PM on December 9, 2006

The pressure sensitivity is good. If you're interested in drawing, though, you might want to get a better stylus than the one the X41T comes with, as it's very light and plastic-y. And yes, almost all Tablet (with a capital T) PCs use Wacom hardware and drivers. The specs are usually closer to Cintiq than Intuos. In the case of the X41T, because of its compact size and small borders, you tend to have some jittering of the cursor around the very extreme edges. Not a big deal.
posted by tumult at 4:16 PM on December 9, 2006

Orb2069:
Look at the dates - the most recent article is 18 months ago, and is talking about how their complaint has been fixed.

I been using a tablet for 3 years now. I think the extra cost is worth it - if you're going to be spending a chunk of your life using a machine, the interface with that machine should be as non-sucky as possible. I find I type much faster than I write, so I don't use the handwriting much, but I used the pen for everything else, and most of the other tablet-PC features.

The model you're looking at looks like a good one to me - I doubt it's a grand more than a truely comparible model - there is some stuff in that you only get in very high end laptops. My one concern would be that for graphic work, especially photoshop, you need to ensure the digitizer and pen support graded sensitivity - some types (such as finepoint) are only on/off, while others (wacom) have proper pressure sensitivity. I couldn't find specs on which kind it has in the short time I looked.

Also, discussion forums like tabletpcbuzz.com are a good place to talk to people who own the exact model.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:20 PM on December 9, 2006

My dad has been using this particular Toshiba tablet for about 4 months. It's been buggy from the start, and he no longer uses the tablet/handwriting features due to the pen's odd design and inconsistent performance/functionality (he almost always keeps it in "laptop" mode). The other major complaint is it's limited screen resolution makes it hard to have several things going at once -- after only 2 programs open, Windows needs to start stacking programs in the Taskbar. This machine also has a fingerprint scanner -- something we've found less useful than we'd imagined in replacing typed usernames/passwords (it often takes 2 or 3 tries to get it right). Finally, more than any other laptop either of us have used, this machine is VERY hot to the touch when running -- it's nearly impossible to put on your lap for any extended period of time without extreme discomfort...

On the plus side, it's had excellent battery life.
posted by chefscotticus at 9:25 PM on December 9, 2006

I've used tablets for the past several years, and have specifically been using the Fujitsu T4210 since spring (it was the immediate predecessor to the 4215, with a slightly different processor). I love the tablet form factor--I do a lot of notetaking in small meetings, and to me there's a world of difference in being able to simply scribble notes on something in my lap, as opposed to having a regular laptop open, with the screen between me and the rest of the group. I like being able to use it for diagrams, quick flow charts, and especially mind mapping. And when I'm brainstorming or free-writing I find it flows more easily when I'm handwriting rather than keyboarding.

The upsides of the Fujitsu: quality build, excellent customer service/support, absolutely silent operation, onboard CD/DVD drive and the option to swap it out for an extra battery, which in my experience gives 5-6 hours of battery life. Downsides: it does run hot, and it's a little heavier than I like. If I were in the market today, I'd also take a long careful look at the Lenovo X60. Toshibas are popular machines, but I've just heard too many horror stories about their customer support to take the chance.

Definintely check out the forums on Tablet PC Review -- I know there's at least one guy there who's been running Vista on a T4215.
posted by Kat Allison at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2006