Coffee break: An old friend makes an appearance at Panera Bread
I am working in the local Panera Bread this afternoon for a change of scenery but that scenery is making it hard for me to concentrate on my work. I walked into the “computer” area and as I was setting up to get busy I looked back and what did I see?
Sitting in front of a guy in the middle of a meeting is an HP tc1100! I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these beauties in the wild, and it fired up feelings of nostalgia. I still believe that the hybrid design of the tc1100 with the detachable keyboard and full slate design has not been touched by any design before or since.
An under 2-pound slate of 10-inches is the perfect size for a slate, and the tc1100 gave up very few compromises to make that happen. The hardware components are still in use today; at least some of them are. What makes this rare sighting so appropriate is that I was thinking just this weekend that I needed to try and get my old friend going again.
I used the heck out of that tc1100 in my daily work for so long, and when it was time to move on I gave it to my step-daughter to use for schoolwork. She used that for a few years until we got her a big laptop for college but the tc1100 never faltered in all that time. I noticed it was sitting unused on a table this weekend and thought to myself I should get it going again. I mean, the form factor has not been touched by anyone else, not even close. That Linux-based netbook from Always Innovative comes closest. What a trip down memory lane. I wish I could have taken a photo of the tc1100 in use, but I couldn’t for privacy reasons.
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Sometimes I feel like I want to buy one, but I think having a low-res screen would kind of drive me nuts. I got spoiled by my Toshiba M200 and my Fujitsu P1610 with their higher-res screens. But sometimes I still wish I had one for my gadget collection…
The res of the screen is the slightly better than that of netbooks so it doesn’t bother me much. The P1610 is awesome but a tad too small for that keyboard, plus I like dropping the keyboard for web surfing in the big chair.
I just checked the prices on eBay and they are significantly cheaper than I realized. Only a few years ago they were going for at least double that price. I’d consider buying one of these instead of a netbook. However, I’m waiting to see if/when Apple releases their own tablet, so I’ll have to pass on the TC1100, unless I come into some spare money that I won’t spend on more Nikon camera gear. :)
I wonder why this form factor hasn’t been ripped off by a netbook manufacturer? It would be a great differentiator.
With how cheap they are on eBay, I’ve actually been tempted to pick up one of these myself.
Does anyone know the general performance of the Pentium M compared to the Atom? (I know it’s not as efficient, but still).
mine has been running Vista Ultimate since its release and I’ve had nary a complaint that it’s too slow.
Though… I’ve been reading it’s 3.1 lbs, not 2 lbs.
Not without the keyboard which is why it’s so darn cool.
Absolutely loved my TC1100, got it cheap off ebay about a year after they were released. Used it non-stop until Vista came out, really liked Vistas Tablet stuff but the TC1100 never really got on with Vista. Got a M400 which never really worked as a TabletPC for me. Now use a MSI Wind clone which I love, but not as much as the TC1100.
I did fish my TC1100 out of it’s original box to try and install Windows 7 Beta on it, both the batteries are dead now though, and it seems (from what I’ve read) the bespoke nature of some of the TC1100s components mean it doesn’t work too well with 7.
I always live in hope that HP will release another modern version of the TC1100. Until then I can smile at its regular appearance in House as a portable life signs display :)
Yeah, I’ve been reading about it and it seems there’s a pretty big issue with its video chip in Windows 7. A more modern version even if it had a slow CPU like the Atom would be great.
I still have my TC 1100 and loved it/ love it still. I would love to see James get back into it and maybe we can get togther and work on the one issue that was a problem for me running VISTA Business and that was the SD Card Slot. If you stuck something in it (memory card of course) it would lock up. This was a well known and discussed issue and was never resolved, that I know of.
I have been wanting to get one of the Docks cheap since I got mine as well. Always a cool design I thought.
I guess I will be working on mine tonite
I have a dock for mine. :)
Now theres a HUGE Surprise!!
James,
I think the netbook craze is great, but you can buy a good used HPtc1100 on ebay for $350.00 and with windows tablet pc functionality would be be a great internet and notetaking device. I would like to get one for reading ebooks and zinio magazines. One of the reason I started reading jkontherun was the coverage of tablet pc’s and small portable devices.
It is a great buy for $350 for sure.
I have two of them, one with Vista Business and another with Win7. They still run perfect and work excellent as a bedside reader.
I’m currently a college student and still use a TC1100 daily. At ~$350 it’s at a great entry price point for students who are interested in exploring tablet PCs for notetaking and light computing. For day to day word processing and email the TC1100 is a great light weight but full featured alternative to a netbook with a higher resolution screen to boot.