Tablet computing wins another convert - me!

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by orcinus

Does this mean your Foleosis has been cured?

Believe it or not, it even exacerbates the symptoms. I want a Foleo more than ever. The Lenovo tablet will be good for serious computing around the house or at a table. My smart phone is great for limited "always in my pocket" computing. But there's still a need for Foleo/UMPC computing. UMPCs are a bit expensive, and Foleo is a bit limited. So people will have differing opinions.

My thought is that Foleo can do email, web and MS Office documents. That's good enough for me when I'm on the go. If it's a well designed product it could be really useful. The size and portability of a smaller, instant on, device makes it something that I would be a hundred times more likely to carry with me at meetings, conferences, on planes or in cars, etc. But like UMPCs, the Foleo is also in an immature state, so better to wait for more powerful devices with better smart phone integration and more third party applications.

So my Foleosis really does seem to be nearly incurable if the product is well-done.

[Nate the great]

Do you mean the page where you select the RAM, HD, etc.? That's where I was. I was only offered the one battery and one warranty option. If they put more options elsewhere, then their website setup is f***ing stupid.

I am also amazed at the delay you have to suffer. I ordered my last Dell laptop on a Monday. UPS delivered it on the following Monday. That is the turnaround time I measure everyone else against.

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

Actually, Lenovo has had a fantastic reputation for hardware so far. And for the X61, they do have a warranty (plus accident protection if you want it) for up to 4 years. You probably have to go to the second page of the order customizations.

I agree that a lot of these online sellers make the order process painful and the right information is not always there, or on the right screens where you need it. Partly, I suspect that it's on purpose - they want people to just make quick decisions without researching, so they pick the "recommended" high profit selections, and throw in some of the unnecessary accessories and software that are high profit add ons which aren't even needed by most people.

But I think you pretty much see that on all the major online computer makers.

The frustration I face is that it will be quite a while before the order ships. (Right now it says 7/12, but there have been reports that those ship dates can often slip.)

[Bob Russell]

Actually, it's the next page. On my order, I believe the page with hard drive and RAM options only had a single 1-yr warranty line listed at the bottom. But when I clicked on "CONTINUE", all the full warranty selections were there at the top of that next page.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Do you mean the page where you select the RAM, HD, etc.? That's where I was. I was only offered the one battery and one warranty option.

[orcinus]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

So my Foleosis really does seem to be nearly incurable if the product is well-done.

Ah! This sentence clinches it - you've been cured
You've stopped trying to find excuses for buying Foleo and resorted to waiting for a v2.0

Edit: FWIW, i had a chance to play with an X60t and review it recently, and it's a really nice little machine (as long as you replace the light battery it comes with with the 8-cell one - the 4-cell lasts for only about an hour and a half of real use). I quite liked it (although i still consider slate Tablet PC's the only *true* tablets) and am sure you'll be really happy with your X61t.

[jkendrick]

Bob, excellent choice, you will love it! Marc and I just released the podcast covering the X61 today.

[mogui]

One think that might excite me about the Foleo is the possibility that it could come up with a screenful of Palm apps. I mean, you turn it on and within a second, you have access to everything you could see on a Palm T|X screen (for example). With that combination, the Foleo would be one of the easiest-to-use computers on the market.

I have purchased computers for nontech people in my family several times. I have taught them how to get on the internet and use email and chat. The next time I see them they have forgotten or become confused.

With the Foleo (in this fantasy) there would be no waiting. Grandma could click the listen-to-music icon or the view-my-photos icon.

Maybe I am deluding myself. Maybe it is just too much to expect.

[rmeister0]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

My thought is that Foleo can do email, web and MS Office documents.

Do we know this, though? I thought the Foleo didn't come with anything other than contacts, calendar and web browsing. I'd LOVE to be wrong about that.

Lenovo's web site may be lacking, but bear in mind that Lenovo is really a corporate PC brand and not a consumer brand; most of their sales go to businesses, and most business are buying from a reseller like CDW or Insight, and not from Lenovo directly. The Lenovos aren't sexy, but they're solid.

[orcinus]

Originally Posted by rmeister0

Do we know this, though? I thought the Foleo didn't come with anything other than contacts, calendar and web browsing. I'd LOVE to be wrong about that.

It CAN open office attachments and uses Documents To Go, at least according to the official site:
http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobi...tachments.html

[NatCh]

And web browsing would get you to any e-mail client that you can access over the web.

[erwin]

Hi Bob!

I advise you to consider a Compaq/HP Tc1000 or TC1100 TabletPc.

You can find a review of the TC1100 here:
http://www.tabletpc2.com/Review-HPTC1100.htm

and of the TC1000 here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Compaq_Ta...-20627295.html

You should be able to fetch them used on ebay, the TC1100 for around 7-800 US$ and the TC1000 for around 4-500 US$.

I used to own a TC1000 and now have a TC1100, and found them reliable. The only real problem with the TC1000 was the affidability of the powered stylus, a problem that is totally solved by the TC1100 un-powered one.

[NatCh]

I think Bob's pretty well decided, erwin, but I'm looking at a TC4400 through work, do you think your experiences with the 1100 would apply well to the 4400?

[Bob Russell]

The main issues with the new HP tablet that ruled it out for me were battery life and heat/fan noise. Besides it wasn't that much cheaper either.

[NatCh]

Hmmm. I'm not sure how much those will bother me, since I won't be using it "on the go" so much as transporting it from place to place.

I am a bit concerned about the lack of an optical drive, but I'll figure something out on that, I'm sure.

[orcinus]

If you're looking for a vintage slate Tablet, the best one ever made IMHO was NEC's Versa T400. Especially for reading ebooks

I had it for about a year, then sold it because i needed the money (for other gadgets ). It weighed 1kg (2.2lb), was thick 1.5cm and had almost exact footprint of an A4 page. You could easily hold it in one hand for long periods of time and it never heated up above lukewarm levels. It used a Wacom digitizer (with a non-powered, or, actually, inductive pen) with pressure sensitivity and came with two pens - one stylus sized, without pressure sensitivity and an eraser, that fit inside the tablet, and a larger, typical Wacom pen, with all the bells and whistles. It was ideal for reading, quick jotting on the go and quick/light graphics editing.

It's only downsides were relatively non-impressive battery life (around 2.5-3 hours of averagely to slightly above averagely intense use - read: light Photoshopping) and limited storage space (20 GB HDD, and it was very hard to replace it, because it was of the slim, 5mm kind).

I kinda regret i sold it... :/

[NatCh]

I'm not really looking for vintage, so much as a telecommuting/desktop replacement machine, and I don't expect to be reading all that much on it, I've got my Sony Reader for that.

But it does sound like an impressive system from those early Tablet days.