Graphics Tablets Vs. Tablet PCs?

[Officer 1BDI]

I'm in the market for a new laptop, and the various tablet PC models out at the moment have caught my eye.  Though I'm a fast typer, I tend to organize my thoughts better in writing, and the mouse just isn't cutting it when I try to line and color my various scribbles.  I was looking in particular at a Gateway Convertible, but horror stories of customer service have scared me away....

In the meantime, I'm considering, as an alternative, buying a cheaper, normal laptop and a Wacom (?) tablet.  I realize there are limits to what I could do with a Wacom as opposed to what I could probably do with a tablet PC, but having little experience with both items, I'm not sure exactly what those limitations are.

I know that some of you own graphics tablets, and I was wondering if any of you could please tell me what they're capable of?  I'd mainly use it for sketching and digital art in general (I have PSP 9, so I assume that program would be compatable with it), but if possible, I'd love to be able to use it for class notes as well (lots of science courses this year...).

Also, if any of you have experiences with tablet PCs, are they hardy enough to withstand all of the electronic scribbling I'd probably be doing on them?

I still have a while to decide (my current laptop's still standing for now, but the battery life and tendancy to overheat is prompting this search), so there's no rush to buy one before school starts. 

[Andreas]

I have a TabletPC and I love it! It's one of the very first ones (Acer Travelmate C102 with Pentium III ULV and 256 MB RAM), but for most tasks, it's sufficient. The display is designed for writing on it, so it's far more durable than an average notebook display, but I suspect its pen resolution isn't as high as an external Wacom tablet (although it uses the same pressure sensitive pen). You should look up some specs to be sure, though.

I'm not an artist, so I can't really comment how useful it is for drawing digital art, but it's great for sketches and technical stuff, and the handwriting recognition works quite well when you write properly. Also, using the pen is a lot faster than using the touchpad, so you don't need a mouse at all.

What I really enjoy is reading e-books and surfing the web; although the display is rather small (10,4"), it's very crisp and easy to read. Modern TabletPCs have slightly larger displays, so it should be even better. It's also very light in weight (about 1.5 kg), so you can hold it as easy as a large book, and it's easy to use in class.

When I bought it, the battery lasted about 3.5 hours, which is quite good for a small thing like this. Also, it doesn't have any fans, so you can work without any annoying buzzing. I didn't regret that I bought it for a single second, even it was quite expensive. Since it was a demonstration item at the local electronics store, I got it for 1000 €, about half the cost of the suggested retail price, and it was already a year old or so. But as I said, it's still powerful enough for the usual tasks, and any new model will be a lot more powerful than mine.

I prefer it over a regular notebook at any time, since it's so small and light, silent and yet durable. The battery degraded a bit over the time, naturally, but in most places, you have power anyway (or you can simply buy another battery). Obviosly, it's more expensive than a notebook with similar performance, but on the other hand, you don't need that much CPU power in most cases anyway. The additional features are great for students (and tech geeks, like me ) in particular, and it's surely a lot easier to use it in classes, since you can use it like normal paper, but with full editing features.

[archonix]

I would say get the table. A tablet PC will hve too poor a resolution unless you pay a lot of money, and when it ventaully dies you'll have to do the whole thing again. A tablet initially costs more but it's dedicated to just one thing: drawing. That makes it more reliable for that one thing and the advantage of a seperate piece of hardware is that if you ever decide to upgrade your computer or, heaven forbid, the omputer dies on you, you still have it. There are other advantages too, like tile sensitivity, more pressure sensitivity and other such things. The only problem you face with  a tablet is the portability. In short, there is none. Or very little, since a useful one is usually quite large.

[Officer 1BDI]

I was figuring that about the portability (I had to ask, though).  It didn't even occur to me that the resolution on a reasonably priced tablet PC could be shot.  It makes sense in retrospect....

I prefer [tablet PC] over a regular notebook at any time, since it's so small and light, silent and yet durable. The battery degraded a bit over the time, naturally, but in most places, you have power anyway (or you can simply buy another battery).

It's interesting that you point out the light and durable aspect, because the models I was looking at are notorious for their heavy weight (I was aiming for a convertable, though, so that's probably a factor).  3.5 hours sounds ideal, though (my ruddy Toshiba only gets 1.5, if that).

Regarding the tablets, does anyone recommend a particular size?  I'm used to working in 8"x10" sketchbooks, if that matters (I don't exactly fill the page, but my drawings tend to utilize as much space as necessary).  Am I limited to working within the same sized "canvas" as the tablet's square, or would I be able scroll around and expand my drawing space?

[archonix]

The drawing area maps directly to the screen with most models, so you can zoom in for detail work. However if you're used to making large movements you're probably better off getting a larger tablet. Larger is also better for avoiding RSI and such.

[Andreas]

It's interesting that you point out the light and durable aspect, because the models I was looking at are notorious for their heavy weight (I was aiming for a convertable, though, so that's probably a factor).  3.5 hours sounds ideal, though (my ruddy Toshiba only gets 1.5, if that).

Well, I guess the current convertibles are a tad larger than mine (it's also a convertible, but with external floppy and CD-ROM drive), and thus both heavier and probably with less battery power, since the current CPUs are faster, needing more energy (the same counts for the larger displays, obviously).

As Graham pointed out, an external tablet might be the best for drawing, since you have more options for configuring the sensitivity and such, whereas the TabletPC's are specifically designed for writing and (technical) sketching. If you really consider to use a computer in class, the TabletPC is the way to go, I'd say.

[Suusje]

Well, I guess the current convertibles are a tad larger than mine (it's also a convertible, but with external floppy and CD-ROM drive), and thus both heavier and probably with less battery power, since the current CPUs are faster, needing more energy (the same counts for the larger displays, obviously).

Yes, the current CPU's are faster, but they need less energy than their predecessors. If you buy a laptop or a tablet PC, make sure it has one of these CPU's:

- Intel Pentium M
- Intel Core Duo (also known as Yonah)
- Intel Core 2 Duo (also known as Merom)
- AMD Turion ML
- AMD Turion MT
- AMD Turion 64 X2
- A Transmeta CPU (Crusoe or Efficion)

Don't buy anything that has a mobile Celeron, mobile Pentium 4, mobile Athlon 64 or mobile Athlon XP. Those things use huge amounts of energy and perform pretty bad compared to other/newer CPU's. The more energy a CPU uses, the shorter the battery life will be and your laptop/tablet PC will be considerably hotter when used.

[Officer 1BDI]

Don't buy anything that has a mobile Celeron, mobile Pentium 4, mobile Athlon 64 or mobile Athlon XP. Those things use huge amounts of energy and perform pretty bad compared to other/newer CPU's. The more energy a CPU uses, the shorter the battery life will be and your laptop/tablet PC will be considerably hotter when used.

Yes, that's exactly where I went wrong.  'Course, I was counting on the company to design a notebook that contained a CPU it could actually handle. >_>

Anyway, I'm leaning towards the laptop + graphics tablet option right now (I can live with using paper and pencils for biochem).  Thank you for your input, everyone.