I am so close to purchase my first tablet. I am almost settled on Acer C303. But I still have a few remaining questions:

1. What OS does it come with? Is LongStar/2005 already relased to the vedor and available on C303? I've contacted Acer, its rep, Mark, has no clue what 2005 is about. (Perhaps he should view this web site?)

2. Is Acer going to come out with 1.8 Dothan on C303? I hate to buy the 1.7 now if 1.8 is right around the corner;

3. Any other Tablet convertable that packs that much of features (1.7+, 1G RAM, 60-80G HD, DVD RW? Perhaps with a better graphic?

Please Help!

It is a good choice!

No problem. That is why we are here ;-)

Lonestar is only available as an update from Microsoft. However, Acer and others will be able to ship their Tablet PCs with 2005 installed in the October range ... this is a guess based on a different vendor who stated October. But remember, after they are loaded then it will take time to get into the market.

I'm not sure on the time frame so I'll poke around and see what I can find out.

Not with better graphics. Sorry but that is why the Tablet PCs are great for business and not games.

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Thank you for the information. Too bad Acer can't load Longstar now. :( I didn't think it would take that long. I guess I will d/l myself. I just like it to be my original image for the tablet. I don't think I can wait until October.

More Questions:

1. Does anyone know what kind of bus the motherboard is? MHz? Does it come with One Note? If so, what version?

2. How is Acer C303 compared to Averatec anyway? Anyone has any idea? Feedback? Performance-wise, note-taking?

3. With all the sticky key and other issues, any way to be sure not to purchase those "earlier" makes? Maybe by serial number?

4. Warranty and Repair Services? Are they fast? Worth it to purchase 3 additional years?

I know this is probably a silly question to ask.. but anyway... I thought because of MS drops the OS pricing, Tablet should be cheaper. However, I haven't really seen the mfgrs. drop their pricing. Aside from Averatec, there weren't any drastic shift on Tablet pricing for existing mfgrs (Student budget here).

Thanks a bunch! I am just so leery to put that much money into a tablet. Academic pricing from Acer? Guess not!

Just a note, according to Acer's nomenclature they'll never have a 1.8 Dothan C303. The 1.8 would be a C304. Not sure whether a 2.0 Would be a C305 or C306 though...

For my use, I use it 90% as a notebook, 10% as a tablet, so I wanted to make sure the tablet I choose had similar features that a notebook would have without sacrificing too much for tablet features. I wanted to make sure what I chose had the processing power to handle the programs I use: MS Office & Onenote 2003, Adobe Acrobat & Photoshop, Ulead Photo XL, ProShow Gold, MAcromedia Studio MX 2004 with Flash Pro, and Captivate video creator tool from MAcromedia.

I've tried both Acer and Averatec tablets. Both handled the above programs without problems.

First I will start with Averatec. Priced at $1,150, this tablet is the best bang for the buck. Processor at 1.7 mobile, 512 meg ram, 60 gig HD and CD burner, DVD player. Although the manual states 1 gig is the max, I took out one 256 RAM chip and added a Low Heat 1 GIG RAM chip to bump up to 1.25 Gig RAM. (Both slots are easily accessible). I didn't have another 1GIG chip to test if it would handle 2 gigs. The size was nice although a little heavy for the size, but it was one of the few that felt solid, not fragile. The screen appears to have a glass type cover so it appears to be very durable. Downside it didn't appear to have pressure sensitive or an eraser built into the pen. Not a big deal if you are taking just notes.

Battery life was 2.5 hrs, unlike toshiba, it has a built in optical drive, no lugging external devices. Staples is one of the few stores that doesn't have a re-stocking fee, so I had 14 days to try it. The unit does run warm on the bottom. This unit was able to handle all my applications without problems and the price was unbelievable. It also came with MS Office One Note. For buget users that want tablet features, this is defiantly a winner.

I then found out about the Acer c303 XMI SP2. Purchased at CDW for $1825.

This is the one I finally settled with. Why? For $675 extra, I gained the following. 20 gig more HD space, Firewire, 5in1 card reader, DVD multi format Burner, Bigger screen 14.1 vs. 12.1, longer battery life 5.5 hrs, bluetooth, and 2 gig Max RAM.

This computer had everything I wanted. I previously tried a "Power" notebook, but found it too heavy for practical use and terrible battery life. Not too useful if you want to be mobile.

The Acer C303 is similar in size to my old notebook that I was replacing, so the 14.1 screen size wasn't too much of an adjustment. The weight, believe it or not is very close to the averatec, perhaps a bit lighter. The keys are very comfortable to type with. The touch pad is a tad too small for my taste, but it's tolerable.

I took my 1 gig RAM chip and replaced one of the 512 Meg chips to increase my RAM to 1.5 gigs (2nd slot is under the keyboard, instructions are on Acer's website). What made me really go for this notebook was the outstanding battery life. It's the only tablet, and one of the very few notebooks that also has a modular option to add a 2nd battery to increase battery life 3 more hours. (Remove the DVD burner). This gives me 8.5 hrs of work time. For me, 2 hrs goes by too fast to worry about having to plug a computer in. (What's the good of being wireless if you have to be plugged into a wall) 8.5 hrs allows me to go all day, then have it charge at night when I'm sleeping. Even at home, I don't plug it in until I go to bed. I can carry this anywhere in the house without any wires. The ultimate luxury.

With Acer's Blue tooth, I purchased a JABRA blue tooth headset and I can do voice rec. wireless. Although you can't hear anything via the headset, the mic works without problems, though there can be static, but for voice rec, it works fine. THe Blue LED blinking can be annoying though, very bright.

The screen appears to be similar to typical notebook screens, although a little more durible, but apply too much pressure and you will see the screen colors shift. Averatec's glass screen prevented this from happening.

Pressure sensitivity and the eraser works ok. I would like it too be a bit better in response, but at least it has this, although I will be using it more for notes, not drawing.

As a notebook, the acer performs just fine for my Applications listed above. I was even able to create a photo show with 3D transitions with Pro Show Gold. Size and weight is much more manageable than my trials with an HP 15.1 Widescreen 64 bit Athlon. Personally, I don't like widescreens, I like the height of a "normal" screen.

In summary, this tablet has the power for my aps, incredible battery life, features include integrated DVD burner (no toting external devices, ie. Toshiba), Large screen, Comfortable typing, oh yeah, the ac adapter is small, 1/3 the size & weight of HP's notebook adapters. Bluetooth, Wireless, Firewire, Card Reader for my Photos which handles 1 gig SD cards, HP and Gateway notebooks didn't handle this, again would of caused me to carry an external reader.

Anyway, for the extra $675, it has been well worth the investment. The extra modular battery cost extra 175, ouch, but 3 hrs extra is worth it for me. It didn't come with One note, but I was able to get one on ebay for $33 full version, and an extra power adapter for $34 on ebay. I also purchased a targus AC/DC/Airplane adapter that works with this computer that is slim and very light, unlike radioshacks IGO which weighs as much as the HP power adapters. I looked at toshiba tablet and even though everyone totes how the high res is better, on a small screen, you'd kill your eyes trying to see the icons and text.

You do take a chance with Acer, as I've heard through my research that some of these tablets work, others come out of the box with problems. I was lucky. I also purchased a Total Coverage extended warranty via CDW for $197 that covers the screen and everything for 3 years. This is also cheaper than most of the extended warranties aka Best buy $300, doesn't cover screen damage.

Anyway, I hope this helps. For budget user, get the Averatec. It too is a great liitle tablet for the money. Otherwise the Acer C303 XMI SP2 is a winner. Forgot to mention the smart card reader. A bit of fluff, but security minded users, this is nice :)

Also, Acording to an Acer Rep, they should be coming out with a 3rd Gen Q3. I just couldn't wait.