Tablet PCs?

[ffutures]

While I've been shopping for something really portable in a sub-notebook line, I've noticed that there seem to be a lot of fairly cheap tablet PCs around, eg. the HP 1100 at £150-ish, and some older slower ones much cheaper.

They're too big to be the machine I'm looking for, but I've flirted with graphics tablets on and off over the years, and given up on them because of the disconnect between my eyes and hand - e.g. my hand is down over there on the tablet, not drawing on the screen.

I'm now wondering if it would be worth getting something like this purely for graphics work. So battery life and weight probably aren't big issues, efficiency as a drawing tool is the main priority.

Anyone done any work with them and got any thoughts?

Comments

[parakkum.livejournal.com]

I have no idea about tablet PCs, but I can comment that my artist girlfriend uses a Cintiq, which addresses the eye/screen disconnect in a manner similar to the tablet PCs, by having you draw directly onto the Cintiq's display screen. The upshot of this is that you can actually have your Cintiq act as /extra/ screen space, rather than just mirroring your screen. The downside is that, as far as I know, Cintiqs are expensive.

The reason she chose the Cintiq over most tablet PCs was that the tablet PCs had fairly poor graphics ability (oddly enough), meaning it was better to have a Cintiq that was hooked up to a computer that's actually good at graphics.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll investigate the Cintiq.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And at 600 and up second-hand I think I'll pass...

[draconin.livejournal.com]

Not sure why you'd want a tablet PC if you're wanting it to do graphics. Why not just buy a good quality graphics tablet? I use a Wacom tablet (http://www.wacom-asia.com/intuos3/) for day to day work and, once you get over the brief period of getting used to the slightly different movements of working with a tablet instead of a mouse, you'll find that you'll not want to go back to a mouse. FAR superior control, both major and minor.

I use a tablet PC at work because I take it into the classroom, connect it to a (wireless) digital projector and use it in lessons. For which purpose, I must admit, it shines.

However, because the idea is that you're carrying it in the crook of your arm they have to be *very* light. This means (in the case of my one at work) no DVD drive (nothing but a quite small HD) plus it has quite a small screen that I find totally unacceptable for day to day work let alone graphics. Ditto keyboard is small enough to be uncomfortable for my fingers. As soon as I go back to my desk from the classroom it immediately gets hooked up to a 22in wide screen monitor and external keyboard, DVD and 1Tb drive. All of which, I might mention, I had to supply myself since the school feels that the tablet PC is sufficient!

Which reminds me - if you're buying it for graphics work the screen on a tablet PC is going to be *way* too small and low res! IMHO you're better off buying a high quality large screen monitor and a really good graphics tablet and using a normal laptop or desktop.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I've never got on well with graphics tablets, but these comments make it pretty clear that a tablet PC isn't the way to go.

[sirernest.livejournal.com]

Some friends doing graphics mentioned the tablet PCs are really bad for that kind of stuff. Laggy, nigh to no fine control and of course the insufficient graphics hardware.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!