Portégé 3500
Other tablet PC vendors focus on reducing size and weight; Toshiba opted for maximizing performance: The Portégé 3500 has the fastest processor of the devices that I tested for this review—it's also the largest and heaviest (by about a pound). Like the C102Ti, the Portégé 3500 has a convertible design and can't be vertically oriented when used with its keyboard. It looks like a fairly conventional notebook PC, but rotate the display 180 degrees horizontally around its oversized central pivot, and you can fold the display down to cover the keyboard. The result is a large, heavy tablet—too heavy to hold for long in one hand. Using the Portégé 3500 in tablet mode is further compromised by the stylus, which is full-sized but square and uncomfortable to hold. The Portégé 3500 provides a small on/off switch for the built-in 802.11b wireless network card.
In notebook mode, the Portégé 3500 offers a nearly full-sized keyboard, an excellent display, and outstanding performance. Toshiba has also customized XP Tablet PC Edition with some options to extend battery life—a Super Long Life option is available that automatically dims the display and disables unused devices. Toshiba offers a standard 3-year parts and labor warranty on the Portégé 3500. I think the Portégé 3500 will appeal mainly to power users who want a conventional notebook PC that they can occasionally convert and use with a stylus. The Portégé 3500 comes with Adobe Acrobat Reader, Sensiva's Symbol Commander, Zinio Systems' Zinio Reader, and Toshiba Custom Utilities.
ViewSonic Tablet PC V1100
ViewSonic is a name that most readers will probably associate more with monitors than with PCs, but the company has been making mobile computers for several years now, focusing on vertical markets. The ViewSonic Tablet PC V1100 is an excellent, pure tablet design that slides into a docking station for use as a desktop replacement. Although the unit works well when hand-held, I found the display too small for comfortable viewing in the docking station—even with the dock directly in front of me on the edge of the desk and with Extra Large Fonts selected. You can plug an external monitor into the docking station and configure it as either a primary or secondary display.
ViewSonic provides a small USB travel keyboard with the V1100 but no pointing device, unless you purchase the docking station—a $299 option—which comes with a full-sized mouse. The docking station also includes a CD-ROM drive.
Besides XP Tablet PC Edition, the V1100 comes with Microsoft Reader, Office XP Pack for Tablet PC; a 30-day trial version of TabletPlanner; Citrix Systems' Citrix ICA Client; and by the time you read this article, a Voice over IP (VoIP) application that will let you make telephone calls over the Internet.
ViewSonic uses a smaller standard battery (4-cell, 30 watt-hour) than other tablet PC vendors, and the V1100 has a shorter battery life as a direct result. However, the company offers a high-capacity battery (8-cell, 60 watt-hour) that widens the unit by 0.75" inch, increases the weight by half a pound, and doubles the battery life. Other options include an external charger that will charge two batteries at once and an auto/airplane adapter that will power the V1100 from a 12-volt cigarette lighter. The V1100 has a standard 1-year parts-and-labor warranty; ViewSonic also offers a 3-year extended warranty option.
Second there are options to display multiple pages in Journal, this allows you to select more then one page worth of text.
Finally, every version of the Tablets I've seen has come with at least the install for Offic XP Pcak for Tablet PC.
ZZ Szabo August 21, 2003