Netbook Tablet as a Viable eBook Reader Option

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by ColdSun

I have a couple netbooks, both of them ASUS 10.1 inch. I love the form factor, I can read in bed with it because I don't have to hold it. They don't overheat and the battery lasts over 7 hours.

I've got a Dell Mini9 that would be pretty good even as a traditional 9" netbook/clamshell form factor, and entirely solid state with an SSD and no fan, but only has 2 hr battery. I could see a 9-10" netbook with 10+ hrs as being a good alternative. (And 10+ seems to be already achievable on some ASUS netbooks.)

It's true that for some of us in the near term, a tablet or convertible form factor probably isn't as necessary as some other device characteristics. But the downside right now is that resolution is usually only 1024x600, which is a little small on the vertical side for some use cases. (For example, those using Eclipse or Netbeans to do development.)

[ColdSun]

Well, yeah, but I wouldn't do development work on my netbook. I use it purely for entertainment. Reading, movies, music, and surfing. If I could find a 7-8" form factor netbook for a decent price (not over $300 as most of the good small ones are), I would pick it up in a second!

Thinking about it now though, I might use my netbook to do work on SQL Server Management Studio once in a while.

[tablettweet]

I think if you are gonna buy tablet maybe be patient, wait a little bit for ASUS Eee tablet ! maybe it's cheaper than IPad and all of netbook. for use it as e-reader maybe it's another choice ! (But for me I still wait for Microsoft Courier ;])

[ntsan]

Got a 2nd hand T91(non MT version) for US$229 on ebay recently, quite a steal! A similar one end up US$320 2 days later, so I consider myself very lucky!

After some tweaking (uninstall bloatware, get Tablet function working in XP, GMA 500 HW working and Win 7 UI makeover) it is running up nicely. I like the weight, really quiet operation (SSD rules!) compare to the previous ones I own, and the screen is not too small to read. Though performance is slow for others so this one is strictly for ebook and playing offline movies. (only 30% cpu usage on 720P mkv with GMA 500 hardware decoding). Playing anything over 480p in Youtube result in lag.

Toshiba M200: the first tablet I bought, used for drawing on the go. But lately having problem with pen pressure not working sometimes so I sold it (use bamboo on normal laptop instead). The screen is nice with 1400X1050 which is great for reading any ebook, but a bit heavy to hold and hard drive making clicks every now and then. Battery life only last <2hr. Bought for $195 2nd hand, performance is top notch with Pentium M 1.86ghz and FX5200 can play legacy game quite well.

SmartQ V7: I thought with 3 OS (CE, Android, Ubuntu) and ability to play 1080P coupled with large battery (6hr+ on SD video playback) and 7" screen should be great for portability. But after using it for few days I found I just can't get on to it as I thought I would, and 7" 800 X 480 is too small for some of my pdf (txt book and some mags) so I sold it after few days, paid $229 for it.

Samsung Q1UP: was seriously consider getting this (torn between this and T91), was selling for $330 on auction site (really great bargain!), I love the Core ULV1500 cpu as it is 2X faster than Atom Z520, even though they got same clockspeed, and 2GB is plenty enough. But the 7" is too small for me, though it got the same resolution as T91 the text will be a bit small to read. The 7hr+ battery life is really juicy.

Random 10" Win 7 Atom tablet: was considering this as well, cost $378 on auction site, 10" seems to be perfect compromise between portability and readability. Only downside is the 90 minutes battery life.. I mean WTF? The portability factor totally got let down by really tiny battery life.

[paaThaka]

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for this thread.

I thought I was going crazy and the only one with these type of requirements that you people are looking at.

The links have been wonderful. I was first looking at Panasonic Toughbook/Let's Note C1 and it's a bit too steep at 2300EUR

Now, thanks to you, I've found:

- Gigabyte T1005M, 1366x768, Atom N550 multitouch with USB3 and SD-card, 1.5kg
http://gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3570
Negatives: no button selection for portrait/landscape mode, reported battery life 4hrs

- Viliv S10, 1.2kg, 1.6-2Ghz Atom, resistive (pen supported), 3G, SDHC, USB2, SSD, silent, 7.5hr battery life, webcam, wifi, bt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00f9tOz4UQY
Negatives: hinge/latch has been criticized, single core 1.6Ghz Atom may be slightly underpowered (there are several different configurations?), viewing angles limited, no auto-rotate or frame buttons

I just wish there were devices that would not have the keyboard, but have the 1366x768 resolution display and weigh under 1kg. It's doable. Maybe next year.

[sea2stars]

I upgraded an old HP tc1100 with a 64GB SSD/Windows 7 and currently use that to read PDFs (textbooks mainly), web browse and sketch on; 10.4" active digitizer. I really wish HP would revive this form factor with current hardware. Win 7 runs rings around the XP install that the system came with. With wifi/bluetooth off and undervolting I can get about 3.5 hours out of a fresh battery. If I remember correctly you can hotswap batteries, although I haven't tried it yet. The tablets weights about 3.1lbs without the keyboard; a hell of a lot less than textbooks.

[mrkarl]

I use my t91mt every day.....it's great.....and it's really good for al my D&D spreadsheets too

[kennyc]

I'm been doing a lot of reading on my DroidX using FBReader and Aldiko....works great except in direct sunlight and then I use my Sony 505.

I've also used my Acer netbook a few times and while heavy it works okay...

[paaThaka]

Found this interesting, but expensive device:

Pioneer Computers Dreambook ePad L11 HD
http://www.pioneercomputers.com.au/p...c2=185&id=3188

+ 1366 x 768
+ Atom N450 (5.5W)
+ iON 2 (Nvidia GT218, although specs are confusing on this one)
+ 1kg, no physical keyboard, just tablet/slate
+ webcam, wifi, sd-card, hdmi, 2xUSB2
+ configurable/BTO, incl. 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD, GPS, 3G
- 4800mAH Battery, Up to 6 Hours
- glossy/glare capacitive screen, but can be configured with a non-reflective protector
- no pen input
- only shipping "soon" - no reviews yet (?)
- price is easily over $1000 AUD after configured with Win7 Premium, 64GB SSD, etc

What I'm really after myself, is:

- 1366x768 res minimum
- non-glossy screen (or with a non-glossy screen protector)
- runs full windows or linux to support Firefox + Zotero plugin + Mendeley + PDF & DJVU viewers/editors and full-document contents indexing (for fast searching)
- min 2GB RAM, SSD, USB2 (USB3 preferred)
- longish battery life (10+ hrs)
- weight 1kg-ish or under
- no physical keyboard required
- pen input capability is a plus (esp. at 1366x768 @ 10 inch)
- WiFi
= ideal research/reading tablet for reading books & PDFs/rtf/djvu/html and marking them and accessing web and local document storage (i.e. no closed island type solution that doesn't play well with everything else in the world)

The industry is almost there, but not quite...

[WillAdams]

I've been using Fujitsu Stylistic and various other Windows Pen Computers / Tablet PCs since buying an NCR-3125 longer ago than I care to remember.

Using a SSD and long-life battery really transforms the experience of using them.

Unfortunately, Axiotron never made their Pro model, but the ModBook is pretty close:

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

(1280 x 800 display)

If you didn't want to use Mac OS X, one can install Windows pretty easily.

Or there's the new ThinkPad X201T:

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/showthre...1t-full-review

(again, 1280 x 800 display though --- it's also a convertible)

William

[ghostyjack]

I've just bought myself an Acer 1825PT convertable.

It's got an 11.6" 1366x768 res screen, Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 CPU with 4Gb RAM & Win7 HP. Also the battery life so far has been around 6hrs+ with the default brightness and WIFI on.

This thing wipes the floor with any netvertable I've come across.

I found it for £700 (including VAT & delivery charges). Admittedly not as cheap as a netbook, but much more capable. The lower spec'ed 1825PTZ can also be had for around £500+ and it's still more powerful than a netvertable.

[ebsebs]

For anyone who's interested, Woot! (http://www.woot.com) is selling the Asus T91MT for $279.99 + $5.00 shipping.

If this type of device is your choice as an eReader, this is a great price!

[mrkarl]

sold out.........at that price I would have picked up a second one

[paaThaka]

Originally Posted by ghostyjack

I've just bought myself an Acer 1825PT convertable.

That sounds quite interesting. Some people have been able to squeeze 7 hrs with Wifi off and low-brightness.

How is it for reading?

Does the glossy screen bother you?

How about the grey-scale inversion of the TN-panel (view angle dependence)? Does it get really dark if you don't view it exactly at 90 degree angle?

How does the screen stay in place in tablet mode? Is it fixed or wobbly?

How about heat/noise of the fan?

I'd really like to hear more about this, as I can't test this model locally in any of the shops.

Thanks in advance!

[ghostyjack]

Originally Posted by paaThaka

That sounds quite interesting. Some people have been able to squeeze 7 hrs with Wifi off and low-brightness.

How is it for reading?

Does the glossy screen bother you?

How about the grey-scale inversion of the TN-panel (view angle dependence)? Does it get really dark if you don't view it exactly at 90 degree angle?

How does the screen stay in place in tablet mode? Is it fixed or wobbly?

How about heat/noise of the fan?

I'd really like to hear more about this, as I can't test this model locally in any of the shops.

Thanks in advance!

I can tell you that the fan noise is almost non-existent, you have to be actively listening for it to even notice it. As to the heat, it's not too bad, most of the base of the unit gets a bit warm (and I mean it's only a small bit) and only gets any-where near to being called hot by the fan vent.

The screen stays in place pretty well and moves no more than a regular laptop screen when in laptop mode. In tablet mode it holds itself in the correct place and doesn't give me any hint that it's going to move. After reading the reviews online about this laptop, I did get concerned about this as it was mentioned that the screen was very wobbly. I think the issue that the reviewers had was more due to the fact that they were all sharing a small number of review units and they were receiving a lot of wear & tear, more than would be expected in regular use. So by the time that they got round all the reviewers, the units were getting pretty worn out.

The screen screen glare doesn't bother me too much, I only use it inside and if it gets a bit much, moving the screen slightly gets rid of most of the problem.

The colour inversion only seem to occur badly from one side when in tablet mode, you don't see it from the other side. Laptop mode doesn't seem to have a problem with it. If you do get the inversion occurring in tablet mode then turn it around 180 degrees and the accelerometers will rotate the screen round and you are not now getting the inversion.

As to the reading experience, I've not had time to install all my ebook stuff yet, so I'll have to get back to you on that.