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A Tablet PC in every hand?

27 Feb 2003 by EK

Accoding to this story at New.com sales of Tablet PCs in both the U.S. and Europe have far exceeded manufacturer’s expectations.

Toshiba several times has increased production of its Portege 3500 tablet, after having trouble meeting initial demand…HP also has inked a few large corporate deals involving its tablet PCs…The company recently signed an agreement to provide 1,000 tablets to a large company.
Indeed, tablet PCs have “done better than the industry expected for the short period of time they’ve been shipping,” said Alan Promisel, an analyst with IDC…The research firm forecast U.S. tablet PC shipments to reach 150,000 units in 2002…That figure is expected to jump significantly in 2003 to about 675,000 units, or roughly 5 percent of the overall notebook market, Promisel said.

I have to admit that for some inexplicable reason I’ve wanted a Tablet PC since they were released late last year, but I thought I was one of the crazy few. Still, I’ve yet to see anyone with a Tablet PC nor do I know anyone who has one. Has anyone been using a Tablet PC for any amount of time? If so, any thoughts? The reviews I’ve read thus far have largely been lukewarm, but I’d love to hear from people who have made real world use of one of the machines.

13 comments so far (Post a Comment)

27 Feb 2003 | Scott said...

Gabe from Penny Arcade has been using one for awhile now. You can read some of his thoughts here. In summary, he hasn't been happy with his hardware from Acer, and he wishes he'd done some more research before buying, but he absolutely loves working with a tablet.

You can also check out tabletpctalk.com.

27 Feb 2003 | Steven Garrity said...

Part of the allure of the tablet PCs I've seen so far is that they also seem to be great (traditional) laptops at the same time.

27 Feb 2003 | ek said...

Hey Scott, thanks for the links!

I'd love to see a manufacturer develop one specifically for the design market. If you think about it, the concept is really perfect for design professionals. Put it in tablet mode, plug in an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse (preferably wireless on the latter two) and you have a self contained Wacom tablet/computer that you can draw on (the OS supports pressure sensitivity).

I know that Wacom makes a combo tablet/display device that offers functionality similar to the above, but the benefit of the Tablet PC is that you can also take it with you and, in the case of the convertible versions, use it as a normal laptop while traveling.

The one existing model that comes close to what I'm looking for is the Toshiba convertible, but it's a bit underpowered and lacks built in firewire. I know I can add firewire via a PC Card, but I hate dongles.

I hope that at least one or two second generation models will have more of a performance focus.

28 Feb 2003 | Lawrence said...

Some similar thoughts over on Scoble' weblog:

"Did you just have an epiphany there? What else uses a Wacom tablet? Can you say "graphic artists?" Yes, that's right. Using Photoshop on a Tablet is a freaking dream. Instead of using a digitizing device off to the side of my keyboard, I draw and write right on the screen. This BLOWS AWAY any other "Wacom-based" system I've ever used.

If graphic designers figure this out, and get over their hate of Microsoft before Apple comes out with one of their own, Apple is toast in the graphic design business. After all, Photoshop and Illustrator are two of the things that keep many Mac fans on Macs."

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2002/12/24.html#a1950

28 Feb 2003 | hurley#1 said...

"If graphic designers figure this out, and get over their hate of Microsoft before Apple comes out with one of their own.."

I bet Apple will come out with one of their own soon. Check out Inkwell, which sets the stage for such products.

28 Feb 2003 | Didier said...

I think there's a pretty logic reason as to why we haven't seen all that much Tablet PC's being used in our surroundings: I think a Tablet PC is (for now) mostly an added value to professional users. Think of warehousing for example. The logistical process of order-picking for instance is an activity where mobility is essential. The use of a PDA represents limitation as to it's capacity to operate more complex tasks.

Moreover I don't think a Tablet PC can be realistically compared to a Wacom Table: they have been created for different purposes. A Tablet PC enables a high rate of mobility without the need to have periphericals to operate it, thus making it a lot smaller and lighter than a Laptop (and easier to operate).

Other industries that could benefit from a Tablet PC is the Insurance sector, where individual sales agents need to have a high mobility combined with a tool that enables them to have all information stored on a single device.

Although right now it is mostly seen as a "new hot tool" by the general public, it certainly has features that enable a higher productivity. To me, the need for mobility is the key issue.

More case studies can be found on Microsoft's Tablet PC homepage: Tablet PC Case Studies. Although these are of course mainly examples of succesful implementation and only serves as a marketing tool for Microsoft, it's still interesting to read.

28 Feb 2003 | fajalar said...

My company bought quite a few from all the current tablet makers. Right now it is just testing to see if Tablets can work here.

From an interface/interaction designer point-of-view, it would be nice to design some app for it. At least for having a change of pace.

Actually this makes me wonder. How much did HP charge for those 1000 Tablets? Or was it a situation of, "Here's some cool tech stuff for not much money. Use it and talk it up so we can sell more.

28 Feb 2003 | Tommy said...

Take a portable, make the screen stylus sensitive and add a new hinge so you can fold the screen back on the body and you have a tablet PC. Still a bloody brick you can't fit into your pocket, but somehow more portable according to marketing departments. Yeah, right.

I'll stick to Palms, iBooks and PowerBooks if I want a portable solution.

01 Mar 2003 | Don Schenck said...

Microsoft sucks.

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