When Mom’s Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet PC arrived at the end of December, it was the first of a new set of PCs finding their way into our family. She’s been traveling around the country with it – quite happily. It doesn’t add much to her suitcase and she can email from hotel rooms. Loren purchased a new Toshiba Portege M700 within the first few hours it was made available in early January. With it’s 2.6GHz processor, it has the performance that he needs as a developer. Elizabeth a has Toshiba Tablet PC for college. Layne revitalized a Tablet Kiosk slate, so he could use it as a research notepad as he writes his thesis using his Gateway.
As the PCs in the family get refreshed, the older PCs start looking — well, old.
Dad lovingly uses an HP TC1100 Tablet PC with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. There’s no doubt that it’s a work horse, but he really could use something new, longer battery life, and a little peppier. Over Christmas, we siblings asked each other, "What should Dad’s next PC be?" He’s a tough one. Dad is one of the most mobile people we know. In the mornings he writes from his home office, and by afternoon carries the PC upstairs to be more social – unplugged. He carries the Tablet PC with him to doctor appointments for loved ones, which for the last year have been about three to four times a week for several hours at a time. He even takes his PC to stores and uses it while waiting for other people. When the battery runs out, he just stops working. This ultra-mobility lends toward UMPC, but display size stops that. He really needs a 10" or 12" display size with a wide angle view so he can flip between the multiple documents that he’s writing. Plus, Dad likes the HP TC1100 and he quietly mentioned that he’d prefer an HP.
So when HP released its TX2000, two of my brothers and I exchanged several conversations about how suitable it would be for Dad. It’s affordable. It’s a good all around mobile PC. But Dad could be on battery power up to 10 hours in a day, without a place to plug in. So then we’d switch back to saying the HP Compaq 2710p may be a better fit for him. In the end, battery life rose to top priority and a 2710p was ordered. It should arrive toward the end of this week.
(HP is running a $505 discount on the RM272UT, by the way, and you can find it at 3rd party vendors for around $60 less.)
I’m next in line for a new PC. Hopefully. I have my eye on a Lenovo x61 Tablet PC with touch, 1.8GHz processor, 4GB of memory, 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and extended battery. Power plus battery life with a dual mode digitizer…. Luckily, March is just around the corner. 🙂