Nontrivial Exercises

A Tablet PC Exploration Begins

I’ve started reading about Tablet PC’s for a few months now, after being generally curious about the technology, and then having my interest piqued by Michael Hyatt writing about his Tablet PC experience. I’ve since combed through many other resources and blogs devoted to the Tablet PC and have learned quite a bit. My interest has only grown and I really wanted to experience for myself what productivity and effectiveness benefits or impediments this technology would offer.

My company has standardized their computing platforms on just 4 or 5 Dell PC’s – 2 laptops, and 3 desktops to meet the various needs of R&D folks and other, more mobile folks. For the past 3 years I’ve been using a Dell Latitude C610, which has performed its job very well. However, we do not have any flexibility to introduce new computing platforms – i.e. a Tablet PC – to our hardware baseline … or so I thought.

After communicating with a couple of the leaders in our IS organization, I discovered that we actually were beginning a small trial of Tablet PC’s. They graciously allowed me to be part of an upcoming portion of that trial, and it turns out that upcoming portion is starting now!

My system arrived last week, and I was very excited to receive this box:

And even more excited to find the Toshiba Portege M200 inside:

 Here is a picture of the system in slate mode:

The trial platform our company is using is the Toshiba Portege M200, a convertible Tablet, which means that it functions as a standard laptop with a keyboard and screen, but the screen swivels around and folds down over the keyboard to become a “slate” for just pen input.

The complete configuration of the system I am using is:

• Toshiba Portege M200
• 1G RAM
• 1.80 G Hz Pentium M processor
• SXGA+ display with 1400×1050 resolution
• Built-in 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth
• A docking station (port replicator) is included with my system

I will chronicle my experience, observations and conclusions as I have them over the next 8 weeks, the planned duration of the trial. My initial expectations for using this platform based on what I’ve read so far are:

1. Increased ability to “connect” to other people in a meeting while having the resources of a computer at my disposal. Having a traditional laptop screen flipped up in front of you in a meeting creates both a physical and psychological barrier between you and others in a meeting. Being able to write on a Tablet PC just as you would on a notebook can eliminate that barrier, while having files, tools, email, etc. available to you during the meeting.
2. Stimulating creativity by allowing for free-form input in notes or in reviewing documents. Drawing notes, lines, arrows, and even doodling can stimulate a thought process better than simply typing on a keyboard.
3. More accurately capturing information by writing in a more free-form style on a blank page, rather than only typing in a serial line-by-line manner. Yes, I can type faster than I can write, but I hope to experience some benefit by being able to draw shapes, arrows, clarification and other diagrams as I take notes when using “ink” rather than a keyboard.

I look forward to learning, and hope that my experience can benefit someone else considering a Tablet PC.