Tablet PCs - who uses 'em, worth the investment?

[Sabarika]

I did a search and came up with very few results and even those had even fewer responses.
I'm saving to invest in a tablet PC once I buy a camera.

How many of you use these, what type is it, and would you say it suits your needs well/was worth the investment?

My plans for use don't limit to just photography, I do digital art and painting as well and plan to buy one for these purposes, as well as on-site photo editing and display.

I prever a convertible type tablet PC, but rumor has it that the new Axiotron Modbook (http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook) (a slate tablet version of the Macbook) has twice the sensitivity with an active Wacom digitizer than that of normal tablet PCs (512 levels of sensitivity compared to 256 levels), and was created with graphic artists in mind. I would assume this would be amazing for photography, seeing as post-processing would be a breeze. I'm still waiting for the first shipment to come out and hear customer reviews of the ModBook before I invest the $2-3k (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ModBook)into buying one (YOWCH). Plus, I've always wanted a Mac, and what better way to get introduced than through a Mac tablet?

I know a lot of you use tablets, the numberous Wacom threads gave that away, but a tablet PC is something I don't hear about often. Battery life I assume would be an issue for doing "on-site" editing or previews, but assuming you had access to an outlet, do you find it easier to use than, say, a desktop with tablet? I've never used a tablet PC, so I'm not sure of the ease of use, but I want one for the portability and flexibility of features rather than my huge desktop (which, dragging to a convention, it's NOT easy or convenient).

[CyberDyneSystems]

IMHO, they are over priced and a gimmick with few realistic applications.

I am not only a big fan of wacom style tablets, but I am also a proponent of the theory that in this case, smaller is better.
A ratio of 4/1 at least (screen real estate to tablet pad size) is preferred IMHO.
In other words I like a small tablet where minimal arm motion gets more done, but still leaves all the precision you could possibly need., (you zoom in for tiny details anyway)

tablet PCs take this the other direction, and turn it on it's head by forcing a huge 1/1 ratio that literally destroys most of the advantages of a tablet for me.

Again, there are SOME few application's where this kind of 1/1 or other large tablet is helpful, or even required in some cases,. but photo editing does not benefit from them.

Before you do something silly like in invest in one of these oddities, go grab a $45.00 Wacom graphire 4"x5" tablet,. and you may find this is all the solutionyou will ever need.

[KirkHMB]

I have two employees who have tablet PCs, and neither of them uses the tablet mode much. One never has the other did early on, but seems to have abandoned it lately. These are engineers who hoped to use them for field work, note taking, etc.

[Jon]

I have a Toshiba Portege M-205 tablet. For detailed photo-editing it's great, but I don't do that much. When I do, I like working directly on the image instead of with a disconnect. It's also really great with mapping software.

[Quad]

My wife has an IBM tablet PC and my brother has two wacom monitors. They both use these for ergonomic/health reasons rather than for photo editing. So at least they are easy to use. My nephew just got a wacom monitor to draw animation on. I have watched him use a tablet and that kid is fast at drawing with it. Again indicated it must be easy to work with. All three of these folks have used them for a bit. I think there is a bit of a learning curve involved.

I tried my wifes tablet (12.1 inch) to edit photos with but found it too small but still very precise to make selections with.


This doesn't really help you much but I would suggest trying to get one to use before you spend big bucks on something that may work great for others but not you.

[timbernet]

My wife has an IBM tablet PC and my brother has two wacom monitors.

http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/

I tried this at a trade show... WOW - that was amazing! Too bad it costs $2500 :-(

[wannasmaxx]

I bought a Motion computing LS800 mostly for it's small form factor. However, due to it's limited 1.2 centrino(I OCed it to 1.6) and only a gig of ram, I'd have rather gone for a Powerful desktop with that Wacom Monitor. That Modbook looks awesome though. The Dual core 2.13 with 3 gigs of ram looks sweet. If I ever do decide to go mac and want a slate form factor, That's the one I'll go for. Don't be put off of a small, less powerful computer, as (with the use of remote desktop) you can connect to a more powerful desktop for the editing part of your photography workflow. I use mine for travelling light and with a 60 gig hdd, it's like a big video player.
Here's mine.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid213/pc7861b8f0840b077e07d06fc88f8f8ae/ed3ae571.jpg

As you can see, I have a dock with mine, and off the the left is a Dell 2007wfp LCD.

[rhys]

I've seen them. To be quite honest, I'm not impressed. They just look gimicky to me. I'd rather a standard laptop.