Question for Tablet PC Gurus

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks,

Looks like I've got to send my Sony desktop replacement notebook back to Sony for a warrenty repair. That means I've got to get another machine to get me through the 2 weeks of wait for the machine to come back.

Insead of just getting a second, and ultimately redundant, notebook I wondered about getting a Tablet PC. Then when my main machine is returned I can use the Tablet as a notetaker, etc.

Question: can the standard slate-style tablets run programs like Outlook 2003, and Quickbooks okay? They don't have to run fast, just reliably. What has been your experience?

BTW, I'm looking at the NEC and other small format Tablets. They have a Pentium 3 processor and about 20G of hard disk.

Thanks!
Scot

 

[tfadams]

Tablet PCs can definitely run all the Office products, including 2003. They run a "superset" of Windows XP Pro, so anything that runs on Windows XP runs on the Tablet. Also, the slates and covertibles both run the same version of XP, so either one works.

I had beeen using a Compaq TC1000 for over a year, but just recently moved to a Fujistsu 5010D (various reasons, speed and screen size increase being the main ones). I use it as my main machine at work and really like the fact that I can take it with me when I go to a client, or just down the hall for a meeting.

I prefer the slate model, because I can dock it here at the office and use my monitor, keyboard and mouse. However, it's lighter than a convertible since it doesn't have an attached keyboard, so carrying it around or holding it while taking handwritten notes, is much easier.

Check out www.tabletpcbuzz.com which is probably the best user-run website for all Tablets out there.