[PLUG] Looking for suggestions / first-hand experience with tablet PCs.

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Sat Sep 20 02:19:08 UTC 2008


On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:19:12 -0700
"Rogan Creswick" <creswick at gmail.com> dijo:

> I'm seriously considering a Tablet PC for my next machine (to replace
> the venerable T42p) and I'm defaulting to the Lenovo X61 tablet --
> I"ve had fantastic experiences with my T42, and it seems like the
> reasonable choice.  Before biting the bullet, however, I'd like to see
> if anyone else has experience with tablets (running Linux, of course,
> I very seriously could not care less how well they work under
> windows).
> 
> My biggest hardware concerns are: screen resolution and battery life
> (1280x1024 is *really* pushing what I can stand) and the ability to
> drive suitably large displays when docked / at home.  (Where "suitably
> large" would ideally be dual 1600x1200's, but could be as little as a
> single 24" wide-screen.)  Anything less than 4-5 hours of battery life
> is also probably a deal-breaker.
> 
> I'm also somewhat concerned about the software support for the
> pen-based UI, and whether it will really be a viable means of input
> when writing / coding on a plane.

I have never used a tablet PC, but I do have some experience with a
Lenovo T61. Of all that you mention above, battery life is something I
would check out thoroughly. Lenovo claims 4-5 hours battery life for my
machine, but the best I can get is about two and a half. Yet I know
people running Windows on the same machine who get the rated battery
life. The majority of the problem is power management in Linux, which
evidently is not as smart as the Windows version. Do not ask me to
define "smart," as I have on a very dim understanding of how power
management works. There are also issues involving which kind of
graphics card your machine has. 

I strongly recommend the Thinkpad e-list:

The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad

I bet someone there will be able to answer your questions.



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