hello,
i'm considering purchasing a tablet pc to use in multimedia performance situations... basically i am planning to work with flash and/or opengl to create real-time vector graphics and possibly do some video manipulation; however my focus at the current moment is simply 2d vector graphics...

i'm interested in using a tablet pc rather than a standard laptop primarily because i like the idea of seeing what i'm drawing as it happens, rather than using a wacom tablet and looking elsewhere...

my primary concern is that the tablet pc will not be able to keep up with what i'm doing & will start to drop frames etc...

i would also like a firewire port (or cardbus so i can put a firewire card in) & s-video out,

and i'd like to have bluetooth & either a clip-on keyboard like the hp/compaq or a slate (slate with bluetooth kbd/mouse is perfect)

so i have three questions:

1) from what i have read, the integrated intel cards aren't so zippy, so i'm assuming i should go with either an nvidia or (ideally) radeon - however it's a little disappointing to spend $2000+ on a machine with only 32MB of dedicated graphics memory when i could spend $1500 on a new 12" powerbook & it would have twice as much memory... not to start a mac/pc war or anything, but my personal preference of os is os x, so i've really got to be convinced that the graphics card is going to be up to par...

it seems as though the only tablet with a radeon card is the NEC - and from the looks of things it's not avaiable in the us right now... and i can't seem to find much information on it (in english) to compare it against the alternatives... i already looked at the excel spreadsheet & there are a bunch of columns missing, so i think whoever filled that in was just as confused as me... so if anyone has some more information. like whether it has firewire & s-video ports, if there are other processor configurations & maybe where to buy one...? that would be great....

from my understanding, the next best graphics card available is the nvidia that ships with the toshiba, then the nvidia in the hp compaq.

i guess the toshiba is the most practical, except a) it doesn't have s-video out (it does have a cardbus slot, so i could put in a firewire card if necessary), and b) i'm not so psyched on the design...

i like the design of the compaq, but the cpu is a bit underwhelming - anyone know how a 1.1 gHz pentium compares to a 1.5 gHz g4? i searched for benchmarks, but came up empty & annoyed with pc/mac wars...

the acers & fujitsus seem nice except that they've got the intel graphics deal, and that scares me... does anyone have feedback on how they run with, say, graphics-intensive flash sites or medium-complexity 3d games?

2) has anyone swapped a graphics card (and/or cpu) in a tablet pc? is it possible? is it risky? how risky? are there any good resources for how to do this? i'd love an hp compaq tablet (the design is my favorite - although the versa pro looks quite nice too), but with say an ati radeon 9800 card & a 2 ghz pentium m...

3) i'm assuming that hp compaq will put faster cpu's in their tablets someday (soon?), and i was curious as to whether anyone knew of good "tablet rumors" sites, whether for hp/compaq or others...

oh yeah & if anyone can give me some names of major chains (or stores in the los angeles area) that might carry the hp/compaqs, acers & fujitsus where i could try them out in person (i.e. actually take in a cpu/gpu-intensive program on a usb drive & run it, or at least use the thing with some demos they have pre-installed, preferably with a pen), please let me know...

cheers,
mk

Welcome to the site and thank you for taking the time to register.

In the early 1980s IBM didn't believe that color monitors were important to the use of a computer. Eventually companies started to provide optional equipment (CGA) and eventually VGA ... and ... and ...

Unfortunately, the original Tablet PCs were not designed with games and other video intensive in mind. After the third or fourth generations hit the market then we'll start seeing the demand for better video being met.

NEC told me that their new slick Tablet PC will not be sold in the US. They can change their mind, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I stopped filling in the spreadsheet after that phone call and even debated removing it. Maybe someone from a location outside of the US can help fill in the missing information.

Correct.

Correct.

I've been asking for units from Tablet PC companies for almost one year. I wanted to do a side by side benchmarking and comparison. Each PR rep said they didn't have a unit available or that my name would go on a list. Only Tatung and Sahara have sent review units. No other company.

Great questions but I don't have that kind of money to purchase the different units and try :(

LOL. There are a growing list of Tablet PC sites that have constant traffic and a growing list of blogs that discuss a particular tablet. Check feedster, google, and other search engines because rumors and opinion discussions can be very dangerous and harmful because I can't think of a "single " comprehensive site that incorporates good comparisons of all the Tablet PCs..

I'd suggest the Tablet PC Meetup in the Los Angeles area. There should be a meeting soon.

Sorry that I can't be more helpful. Maybe someone else can chime in with their experiences. I'd love to read them ;-)

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Below is a posting that I was working on for TabletPC Buzz, but it may answer some of your questions on the TC1100, so I'll post it here.

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So, here are some of my thoughts on the TC1100 32Mb Geforce Go graphics display with an external display (HP L1925 19" flat panel).

(1) If you are running the external display only, and you have set it for more than 60Hz refresh (say 70Hz or 75Hz), you will not be able to rotate the external display. This feature is only supported at 60Hz refresh.

(2) DVD video in Media Player 10 plays fine on the external display in clone mode, or with the internal display off, but will not play on the external display when the desktop is extended. WinDVD has no such issue and will play video on either display, regardless of the starting display. However WinDVD will not play video properly when the window is stretched across both displays (the 128MB 9500 Pro on my desktop system is able to do this fine).

(3) 3D applications such as Maya PLE 6 work fine in wire and shaded mode on either display, and even work when placed halfway between both displays. However, you cannot maximize or stretch the application window beyond the starting resolution of the primary display (1024x768 when starting from the tablet display, 1280x1024 when starting from the L1925). This is probably a GL/D3D issue.

(4) Adobe PhotoShop and Flash ran fine when stretched across both displays. I also found that After Effects worked fine when stretched across both displays. This was most effective with the monitors set in a vertical arrangement (laptop display just below external CRT). Using this arrangement I was able to maximize the timeline space while still keeping a very large video preview window on the external display.

(5) I was able to get early D3D games such as Unreal Tournament to run in portrait mode at 600x800 resolution. No problems.

(6) The 3rd party external display pivot software (comes with L1925) does nothing once installed. Its probably being overridden by the internal tablet functionality.

(7) DO NOT INSTALL THE INF FILES FROM THE L1925 CDROM! Whenever I installed these files I ran into a bluescreen reboot loop and had to roll back my drivers. I'm currently working this as an open issue with HP tech support...

(8) Picture quality from external VGA port is GREAT. You will have to autotune your external display (push button on bezel) for optimal quality. Be sure to run the special test pattern before you press autotune. This is a small Windows application that comes on the LP1925 install CD, and is probably available for other displays as well. It puts up a full screen test image that gives the autotune function something to chew on.

Overall, I'm VERY happy with the Geforce420 Go in the TC1100. My next step will be to get some color calibration equipment and see if I can get them to identical settings.

First, for performance and graphics I suggest you consider the Toshiba Portege M200. Currently, it is the only Tablet PC with resolution higher than 1024x768.

If the clarity of the display is more important than the resolution, then look at the Motion Computing M1400 with View Anywhere or one of the new Fujitsu Tablet PCs.

How long to you plan to keep this Tablet PC? How fast do you expect to recover the investment?

I ask because your dependence on graphics makes you a borderline candidate for a mobile PC designed with the upcoming platform change, especially one that has the mobile PCI Express integrated so you can upgrade graphics down the road. You could choose a model like the M200 now and then switch to one of the new designs late next year... just a thought.

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-- Lora Heiny

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hi lora,
just saw your post
thanks for the info...
i'd like to keep the tablet for at least 2-3 years...
performance (i.e. frames per second) is more important to me than resolution or clarity... although clarity is probably a close second...
at any rate - the mobile pci express is definitely an exciting development - and one worth waiting for....

cheers,
mk