Tablet PC's

IceWolve

I did a quick search and didnt find anything on it realy. I was wondering what yall thought about tablet pcs/laptops? Are they worth getting?

I was thinking of getting one, as i am in the army and a laptop would be great to have, and having a tablet laptop seems pretty usefull though im not to caught up on how good and reliable these are.

sir-knight

I have a toshiba m200 considered the porsche of tablet pcs a couple years back. In terms of mobile, yes, it's a mobile tablet system... but it's not that great for painting as it has half of what an entry level wacom tablet has in terms of pressure sensitivity and features. The pen tracking is also a bit jittery and imprecise.

Also you pay a premium on the tablet... For the same price I could have a decent tablet pc with a crappy intel integrated graphics card, I could have a dell XPS system with sli capable and buy a wacom bamboo to give it tablet functionality.

I don't think there are many wacom tech tablet PCs out there with real video cards left on the market. My m200 was one and the toshiba m4 was another.

You also need to consider if you want the wacom pressure pen, because some of the TPCs out on the market don't use the wacom technology. There's a list somewhere on the wacom site about which vendors they provide tech to.

As an artist, I should've gotten a nicer spec laptop and bought a new wacom intuos to go with it, instead of the tablet pc.

Try reading up on all the latest discussions at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com

Tumerboy

I've been looking around as well.
My friend just got a Gateway C-140, and likes the feel/sensitivity of the tablet portion. I'm curious what you guys think is best right now, both in terms of that, and in terms of being able to run games etc. on it?

James Edwards

From what I've seen that Gateway is the best tablet pc for an artist right now, as it can be configured with a mobile graphics card instead of an integrated chipset. I'm personally staying away from tablet pcs until I see cintiq/intuos 3 pressure levels (1024). Most tablet pcs are only as sensitive as a graphire/bamboo (512). Some are even less. I did not enjoy using a graphire2 tablet after using an intuos for years before that, so I'm not willing to compromise on that aspect.

The reality for me is that I'll more often than not still be using the device at my desk, where my current tablet is, so unless I see some more artist focused tablet pcs hitting the market this year I will probably just buy a cintiq 12wsx as a compromise. Tablet PC profile with cintiq parts that is attached to your pc. Not bad, and roughly half the cost of a bigger cintiq or tablet pc so it's more of a temporarily solution until a really badass tablet pc hits the market. Even the few new ones that were announced at CES were disappointing in terms of specs.

This would be my ideal tablet pc:

-slate form factor - no keyboard, though maybe some nice peripherals to go with it if you want to dock it at home and use it as a pc too.
-intuos 3/cintiq pressure sensitivity (1024 levels) and a good amount of configurable buttons to make up for the lack of keyboard.
-14" or 15" screen (usxga resolution,)
-Intel mobile penryn cpu = even the lowest end will do, as it's more about battery life with these than gettinging a few extra GHz.
-2 gigs ram minimum
-dedicated graphics card 256 mb ram minimum (wouldn't want to use mudbox on anything less)
-solid state hard drive - 80 - 120 gigs would be fine
-wireless for mobile or home internet access (pretty standard stuff these days)
-no cd/dvd, so no moving parts inside and allowing for ultra thin, lightweight profile, like if you just ripped the screen half of a laptop off and that was the size of the whole thing. Just make the drive a peripheral that you can plug in at home.

-multi touch combined with pen input would be ideal. Would be awesome to see them combined in photoshop or artrage similar to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuoDVzAsExw

-primary software use: artrage, photoshop, Zbrush, Mudbox. I could care less if it had any other hardware or software installed. Does anyone even use things like finger print scanners? I don't - and that's all that matters.

The tech exists to make such a tablet pc right now. But manufacturers only seem to care if a tablet can do handwriting, and so build their stuff to the minimum shitty spec. Someone really needs to step up and make a real artist's tablet pc.

sir-knight

to my understanding wacom penabled technology is limited to only 256 levels of pressure sensitivity.

James Edwards

sir-knight: pretty sure that is correct for a lot of tablet pcs. I was only using the Axiontron Modbook (apple Macbook converted to a slate tablet pc) as reference for 512 levels of pressure, as that is what they claimed the modbook was using. I haven't seen anything higher than that.

http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook

sir-knight

hmm it might be a new wave of tech coming from wacom... but the tablet screen is still quite pricy. If I had the choice again, my 2k would be more suited towards getting a full sized cintiq for home use if I really wanted the tablet. Sad story is that I barely use my intuos as it is now.

arshlevon

a little too pricey for my tastes, its as much as a cintiq...

but i have been hearing a lot of buzz about this guy..

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic...;l=en&s=gen

sir-knight

don't think it has pressure sensitivity, I was reading up on it and it says nothing about it, also dell is not listed at wacom's site in their list of vendors they provide tech for.