Another slate vs. convertible Tablet PC debate
Consumers looking to pick up their first Tablet PC have a big decision to make because before you can compare makes and models you have to decide if you want to go slate or convertible Tablet PC. Everyone’s needs are different and a lot of folks are hesitant to purchase a Tablet PC without a keyboard, although slates are thinner and lighter and more portable as a result. We told you about Marc Orchant recently rediscovering the benefits a lighter and smaller Tablet PC offer over some of the larger convertibles and also Tracy Hooten’s decision process to switch from a convertible to slate for mobility reasons. David Lewis went through the same process and was trying to decide between the powerful but large Gateway and the Motion LE1600 slate. He finally decided on the Motion slate and his primary reason echos my sentiments exactly:
However, I finally decided that if I get the cheap one and then leave it at home because it’s too much trouble or too heavy, I may as well have not gotten anything at all.
I personally prefer the slate form for the type of usage scenarios I usually find myself confronted with but a good attachable keyboard is a must for me, as I stated here.
-jk
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I have had since the first the NEC versa lightpad, 10″ 2.2 lbs, and love it. No longer available. The weight and size have been perfect. That was over two years ago, and nothing new is close. What happened? At that weight, a slate really makes sense. I’ve ordered a Q1, but will keep the NEC for reading in bed.
Reading these slate-vs-convertable debates… I think we’re witnessing an interesting transitional period in terms of our society’s data input methods.
While many have noted their tendancy to spend 80% of their convertable Tablet time in “slate” mode (hence the desire to go with a pure slate), my story has been nearly the reverse. As a Pocket PC user for most of my undergraduate career, I’ve used an external keyboard with my Dell Axims so much that the thing might as well be attached. I’ve folded and unfolded my Dell Bluetooth Keyboard so many times (beginning and end of each class) that critical plastic parts of it have snapped. The pen has been nice and handy at certain critical juntures, but typing is how I write if a flat surface is available.
Maybe it’s the unique combination of
- my early interest in programming (I was a nerdy coder back in high school),
- my piano teacher mom (who taught me such disciplined hand posture at the piano as to make hours of computer typing go by without ache or strain) and
- my notoriously bad handwritting (I started trying out cursive when I was in kindergarten by copying images of cursive letters, forming many of them backwards, and never dropping the habit)
…but in any case, typing is something I would never want to be without – so the extra weight and thickness of the keyboard on a convertable will NEVER be a waste for me. Now, it is a great testament to the Tablet PC platform that a type-o-maniac like me still wants one… but since typing can be done much neater and theoretically faster than handwritting, is the “pure” slate computer not just a transitional medium for all those users who grew up before home PC (and keyboard) market penetration had reached the heights it has today?
I’m 23 and many of my friends still prefer handwritting to typing for everyday stuff. But in younger generations, MSN Messenger is working wonders to change this.