Jeff Mottle Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hoping for some advice and possible personal experience here. I travel a lot as many of you know, around 80,000 miles this year flying, so I spend about 3 months of the year working from the road on my laptop. Currently I have a MacBook Pro (Running both OSX and W7 via Parallels) and an Iphone. I get between 100-200 emails a day so I can generally keep up with important emails from my iphone and I do any other work at night from the hotel room using my MBP. However, lately it's come to my realization that I'm going to need something else to help me keep up with things other than emails while I am away from the hotel room. I don't carry my MBP around as it's too heavy and I already carry about 10 lbs of camera and video gear, so I need something in between the iphone and the MBP. I need I've outlined a few of the criteria below: MUST HAVE 1) Weight under 3.5 lbs 2) 12" screen or smaller 3) Built in Wireless 4) As small as possible footprint 5) Bluetooth NICE TO HAVE 1) Tablet PC properties for note taking during the day. 2) Built in 3G Initially one might think the iPad is the ideal candidate for this, however I also have a pretty important requirement to save attachments from emails and web links and then forward those via email or upload via online web forms. Unfourtunately the iPad can do none of this, even with 3rd party apps. The only possible way for an iPad to work is by using a remote desktop app to just access my workstation in the office. My concern with this however is that when I travel and I don't have access to WiFi away from the hotel, I am paying approx $4-$5 per MB for data usage, which can chew up pretty quickly with a Remote desktop app based on past experience using my iPhone tethered to my laptop. I've been looking at the MacBook Air, some of the tablet PC netbooks and a few dedicated tablet PCs like the Motion Computing one here: http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_J35.asp Certainly price is an issue, but size, weight and functionality are more important. Any other road warriors out there who have some suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I've become completely dependent on Microsoft OneNote for note taking - so much so that I installed Parallels on my MBP just for it. For when I don't want to carry that weight I have an Acer Aspire 1410, which I would very highly recommend except that it isn't available anymore, so instead I'll recommend the replacement, the 1810T. It's higher spec and more expensive than what I have, but since mine can also do just fine in Powerpoint and Photoshop Elements and can just barely handle Lightroom, I'd assume the new one will be better at all of those things, and also good for notes. Add a USB 3G connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 regarding the ipad.......If you want it for answering all your emails, you'll probably hate having a keyboard without a tactile element to feel where the keys are at. I really don't enjoy creating anything on the ipad, I see it as more just a delivery device. I wouldn't consider the iPad for anything more than a snazzy digital portfolio, for that I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 I've become completely dependent on Microsoft OneNote Yeah me too, which is why I kind of why I was also considering a tablet PC. While I've never done it myself, the demos I've seen of handwriting in OneNote are pretty good. I'm also on a paperless office kick right now and would love to use it in the office for all my note taking too. I need to get all these scraps of paper under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hmmm, handwriting... have you seen the new HP Slate with Windows 7? They announced it a couple weeks ago, not sure about availability. It supports both finger and pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Hmmm, handwriting... have you seen the new HP Slate with Windows 7? They announced it a couple weeks ago, not sure about availability. It supports both finger and pen. Funny, I'm actually on the product page right now. Looks very intriguing. Not available in Canada yet and there is no word on when it will be available, but I'm not adverse to buying in the US. I do prefer to get computers here if I can though as waranty issues can be a bitch. Of course I don't know how easy it is to get one of these given they are so new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Can't attest to quality of either one, but we were looking for an ipad replacement computer and found these two: http://www.pioneercomputers.com.au/products/info.asp?c1=183&c2=188&id=3188 http://www.ctlcorp.com/v4/p-909-2gopad.aspx Both run windows 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Hmmm, handwriting... have you seen the new HP Slate with Windows 7? They announced it a couple weeks ago, not sure about availability. It supports both finger and pen.This is what I would recommend for Jeff as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dollus Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 https://store.archos.com/tablets-fi-95.html surprised nobody has mentioned archos yet. I'm looking for something along these lines as well for use on commuter rail to read/watch flash based tutorials and use for Skype calling/video. Samsung Galaxy was interesting until they tacked on the monthly data plans w/verizon and killed the voice in the US version. I wanna go ubuntu/android though instead of win7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 I think I'm going to hold out for that HP slate. If I get a tablet format, I'd prefer that I am able to also write with it, so I want a touch and active tablet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 I Just saw a thing today on a new dell that's a laptop with a screen that flips around to become a tablet. It looks pretty sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted November 23, 2010 Author Share Posted November 23, 2010 I Just saw a thing today on a new dell that's a laptop with a screen that flips around to become a tablet. It looks pretty sweet. Is it public yet? got a link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 http://apcmag.com/dell-unveils-amazing-flip-screen-netbook.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Geers Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 I think this is a bit bigger than your specs, but I ran across this the other day and it looks pretty interesting for someone in a similar situation. http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=techspecs -Brodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted November 26, 2010 Author Share Posted November 26, 2010 After spending 4 hours on a friends Acer netbook yesterday it pretty much sealed the deal for me. There is no way I can do without a full size keyboard. I almost went mental trying to access even the @ symbol due to the compressed keyboard. Typing anything was next to impossible. I don't have big hands, and I'm sure over time one could get used to it, but I really did not like it. Not knowing how long it will take for the HP slate to get to Canada, and it's own lack of a keyboard, I broke down and got an 11" mac book air. I got the 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and 128 GB SSD storage. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate via Parallels and it's works wonderfully. I really did not notice a difference from my 17" MBP which has a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo. So far I am really liking it. So much so, I'm almost contemplating making the MBA my only laptop for travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Nice. I really like that design (but unfortunately I'm not in the market for a laptop). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Dell just released their "Inspiron Duo": http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=fndoiz1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=inspiron-duo $550 dollars. Intel® Atom® Dual Core Processor N550 (1.5GHz, 512K L2 Cache) 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 10.1" Widescreen (1366x768) Multi Touch with Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam Intel NM10 Express Video 320GB 7200RPM SATA HDD Drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Interesting one chad.. I may have to find a way to check that one out soon! seems a bit more in my price range for what seems like basically a toy than the macbook air. here's a full review on that duo: http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/30/dell-inspiron-duo-review/ Netbook-wise recently i went with the Acer Aspire AO721 for my father, it should be showing up any day now so i'll give it a good test run here before it gets packed back up for him. (He's as casual of a user as it gets, so it will definitely be enough for him, i'm curious if it'll satisfy my casual side though!!) I'm curious why it comes with win7 home premium 64bit by default though. seems an odd choice.. we'll see. Acer Aspire AO721 Screen Size: 11.6" Maximum Resolution: 1366 x 768 Memory Size: 2GB Capacity: 250GB Hard Drive Processor Class: Athlon II Neo 1.7GHz 5hour battery / 3lb / ~400 usd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 I looked at the engadget review, and it wasn't very favorable. It seemed that they weren't fond of any of the windows 7 tablets though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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