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I just got myself a tablet PC, and I'm still getting the hang of it. Is it cheating to use the keyboard?

Maybe it's my fondness for Transformers. Think of the tablet mode as the equivalent of wolf form--It's harder to talk, but it's great for all kinds of other things, like Photoshop.

I envy you... so much...



What type of Tablet PC is it? Specs?

Scott Gardener wrote:I just got myself a tablet PC, and I'm still getting the hang of it. Is it cheating to use the keyboard?

Maybe it's my fondness for Transformers. Think of the tablet mode as the equivalent of wolf form--It's harder to talk, but it's great for all kinds of other things, like Photoshop.

Is it pressure senstive? Because I can use my Palm as a touchpad/pen device on my computer, but it lacks the true sentitivity of a drawing tablet.

Way to go Scott! My dad has a tablet PC too. They're pretty fun to mess around with, lol

It's a Gateway CX2610, similar to the CX200X available directly from Gateway. It's the model offered by Best Buy. Basically, it's a CX200X with the larger battery and an 80 Gig hard drive.

Pressure sensitivity: Yes, and no.

It is one of the few tablet PCs that don't use Wacom drivers. It has pressure sensitivity, but unfortunately, Photoshop does not support it--a bit of a let down, but I had researched this beforehand, so it wasn't a shock. Still, I'm getting some good test run capabilities within Photoshop Elements 4. Support for pressure sensitivity will be mixed for awhile. If you're a die-hard Photoshop artist, your best bet might be the Toshiba Tecra M4; it uses Wacom drivers, and it has a higher screen resolution.

Tablets right now have come a long way, and it's nice to see that they're finally getting out of the dogma of the "oversized PDA," where the main focus had been on keeping them as light and small as possible, at the expense of processor power, optical drives, and screen size. I still look forward to the day I can draw in a 17 inch widescreen monitor, but this is one that can fill the role of portable work and play system. It can burn DVDs and handle complex processing tasks. This puppy is going with me to events like A-Kon. It's a tablet, but it can double as my desktop replacement's replacement.

But, my main computer when I'm not travelling, drawing, or lounging about home with some light Internet reading, will still be my Toshiba Satellite P35 behemoth.

Most graphic artists are probably waiting for the day we see Mac OS-X Lion, Tablet Mac Edition. As long as their primary advocate is Bill Gates, they'll avoid them out of spite, in spite of the improvements Microsoft has made in terms of stability, and the ease of porting information between Macs and PCs these days.

Scott Gardener wrote:Most graphic artists are probably waiting for the day we see Mac OS-X Lion, Tablet Mac Edition. As long as their primary advocate is Bill Gates, they'll avoid them out of spite, in spite of the improvements Microsoft has made in terms of stability, and the ease of porting information between Macs and PCs these days.

That's something I'd like to see, though I'm not a graphic artist. I just like the 'feel' of Mac OS X better than that of Windows, and a pressure sensitive touchscreen would just be icing on the cake.

Check these out too...
and forget the keyboard...
http://www.motioncomputing.com/products ... _pc_le.asp

unless of course its this keyboard

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

Slates are for those who are extremely brave. I have a hard time giving up the keyboard completely, especially since I'm a writer. (I know, odd, I say "writer," and I insist on using a keyboard in lieu of writing? Just doing my part to fit into this kooky species called humanity.)

But, there's no substitute for drawing directly on the screen. You can draw and scan; you can plug in a Wacom Intuos, but it's just not the same as having a computer that shape-shifts into something that looks like just the monitor.

I thought I'd show off my handwriting recognition unedited, just for kicks.

five gained an appreciation-furl r what it. must be If talk in wolf form. it would imagine it is similar to my computer's. handwriting recognition technology.

to is even worse if I try individual letters....

The original speech: "My name is Jonathan Scott Gardener, and I have been infected with an alien virus that causes lycanthropy. I am here to prove beyond doubt that there is reality behind many of the circulating conspiracy theories, and to show you that the legends are true."

Now, here's the same speech given in wolf form, in "lycanthropese"...

"A; I(a" is Io#athan S.itt GarN@ner, and I have beon inSectcd wI>S 5n a1ien virus that caus6s lycanthropy. I am here tT prove bCy8nd Rjubt ttdt 1hQne is rea1;ty b)\:nd mani sf !h( circu\atinB (anspiri(y theJr;e5 , and to shoa y8u th4t the IeBonds are true."