My daughter will be starting college in the fall and she has asked for a tablet pc. I'm trying to find a reliable source that will give me a good primer on these. Pros/Cons. What features are important. Comparisons. etc. My gut feeling is that a standard laptop will suffice, but I like data to make this decision. And if I do go this route, which one is the best value.

Any thoughts/direction/or input is welcome.

Thanks.

 

just curious, why does she want a tablet?

 

You know.... I feel like an idiot... because I don't know.

I assume she finds the writing feature advantageous somehow. That's kind of what I'm trying to learn. What are the advantages (if any) of a tablet over a PC or laptop? Why would somebody want one?

 

Toshiba has a good line...

 

My college gave me a tablet for a semester - it was cool, but I honestly see no reason why she'd need one.

It was an IBM (Lenovo whatever) X41 Tablet - it was nice, but like I rarely took notes on it or anything like that...

We did use some software in my calc and physics classes where we'd all join a session and could write, share notes, etc via the network. But this was a class where everyone had tablets and the lectures were all ran using this software.

Other than that, I really didn't use the tablet functions for much else. And as I said, having no disc drive was a pain in the ass. (I'm sure you can buy tablets with internal drives, this is just my experience) I wouldn't recommend a tablet, unless there's a particular reason she'd like one. I'd definitely give the X41 a good review though.

If you're completely unorganized, it is much easier to organize notes on the computer...

 

I work in IT at a law school that has a mandatory computer requirement. In the nine years I've worked here, I think I've seen maybe three students that had tablets. That should tell you something.

BTW, if your daughter says she wants a tablet because she can "draw on it" for art/design classes, then her expectations are misplaced. The pen resolution on tablet screens is poor compared to a dedicated external digitizing tablet.

 

I finally asked the most logical question... WHY do you want a tablet?

She said, "I don't know. I used one once before and it was neat."

Needless to say a standard laptop will do.

 

^LOL - yeah a standard laptop will probably end up being better.

FWIW, back in 2000, I got my hands on a Sharp Tripad (AKA Vadem Clio - vid) courtesy of my then-employer, who was big into tablets... I was developing software for them, so they gave me one to take home. I was wrapping up my undergrad degree, so I also used it for school. I used it almost exclusively in 'laptop' mode rather than 'tablet' for a couple of simple reasons: 99% of the time you don't need to draw anything, and 100% of the time it's faster to type than to write.