Thinking tablet/ultra portable

[Steve]

The insurance on my laptop runs out in a couple of months, so I'm contemplating an upgrade from the mobile but large thing I currently have, to a tablet PC or ultra-mobile laptop.

My current lappy is an Acer Travelmate 4502WLMi. It's a dothan 1.6Ghz Centrino, 512MiB RAM, blah blah blah.

I quite like the idea of a tablet, but do throw in any ultra-mobile suggests if you really want. I'm looking to spend as little as possible... then again, who isn't?

Key features for me this time around are not really performance; it's more about connectivity, portability and battery life. That aside, even if you suggest a tablet PC with a 200MHz processor, it'd be nice to see 512MiB RAM in there.

Thanks for the help folks,
Steve.

[dave87]

The Acer Travelmate C6--, Celeron -> Centrino based Tablet PCs, depending on the model you chose. Good laptops, 7-10 hours battery on the one at work (*though it does have 2 batteries*)

Dave

[TheAnimus]

Ultra Portable and TabletPC in same phrase is quite hard, the reason been there are some which are just laptops + tablet input. (often known as convertables, the screen swivels round and hides the keyboard on some. Some are just like regular laptops) and there are "full slate" tablets.

Full slate tablets have no keyboard physically attached (bluetooth, and holders excist). An example of this is my friend andrew, he uses a full slate, its much smaller than my convertable (about 70% of the thickness of mine). But he has a seperate query keyboard to carry round (which actually has a holder on it for the 'slate' its quite neat, but not for me. I touch type very fast, much faster than i can write with a pen. So i would never go for a full slate enless it was much smaller.

I like toshiba's tablets best myself. They've just got it right.

edit: should mention my bias, i'm writing this on a portege PII 1.3ghz one, very nice (esp considering its age), i've seen a friends broken thou, columns stopped working, but mines yet to do that, but apparently its not un-common.

[Steve]

I haven't had the best of times with Acer, but might get another at a push.

To clarify, I'd like a tablet with a keyboard, e.g. a convertable one with a swivel screen.

Thanks guys.

[dave87]

Yup, thats what the Travelmate is. Though I agree with you, where I work ordered around 40 of them, and about 5 or 6 have various faults within the first couple of months. The Latitude X1 might be a good idea if you want the ultra portable one, and having worked with other dells I'd find it hard not to recommend them. Only negative point is price, but you pay for quality

Dave

[TheAnimus]

The IBM and the Toshiba are the favourates.

Fujitsu are quite good too.

What level of performance do you need?

I'm planning on selling my Portege 3500 at the end of the month assuming i get paid. It needs a ram upgrade thou, and might be a bit slow for what you want (PIII 1.3ghz).

[[GSV]Trig]

If u want portable them small Sony Vaio's are nice and have everything built in.
Pricey tho...

[arsen]

heh, ive been on the same quest as yuo for a month or so now, although my warentee on my lap-mobiledesk-top (its that big.) runs out in a few months.. so im lookin for something more suited to travelling that im doing at the moment.

anyway.. the list of what ive found..

ultra portables:
dell x1 (its dell, but its actually a samsung, so its nice )
sony vaio t1xp / t2xp or if youve got lots of cash to burn, the latest TX series (t1/t2 replacement)
toshiba portege .. not so amazing, but still ok, and toshiba quality.
ibm (lenuevo i think they now are owned by.) thinkpad x40

tablets:
ibm thinkpad x41 tablet
dialogue flybook (my fav, even has sim card slot for ultra portability. but may even be TOO small.)

k.. they're all very nice laptops, and for a newish ultra portable they dont come cheap. if you look hard enough the vaio you can get for roughly £1k, as with the dells, but being laptops youll want to spend more on warantee. tablets are gona cost you somewhat more.. averaging around £1300. i cant decide if the tech is going to become the new standard, and therefore.. if it is, its worth the extra imo.

i steered away from HP, compaq, PB, acer(not really anything wrong with acer, can be some nice kit, just no specifically ultra portable model i saw) as they remind me of PC world.

they all come in 512 ram varieties, thankfully, as that was one of my requirements too. most have 1-1.2ghz centrino's, 'cept the flybook with a transmeta crusoe ;o

let us know what you decide on eventually if you do

[Grey M@a]

If you want a tablet look at the HP/Compaq TC1100 use them at work, they are bloody handy when over the other side of campus and accessing the AD / GP. They are not sluggish either.

[csl]

I'd definitely check out one of the IBM X series, as they've got the great keyboard (always interesting to see how sub-notes can keep a decent keyboard). Will be pricey compared to the Acer though.