I am, frankly, disappointed. Two years ago I was very excited to get my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC. I loaded OneNote, watched videos, learned to use the system well, etc. Unfortunately, it is simply not working for me. This is a bit hard to explain, but basically, here is what I encounter, and thus the reasons for considering going back to a standard notebook PC:
1. When I'm in a meeting, I need to be able to take notes easily, quickly w/out technical "issues." Inevitably, when I use OneNote, I will occasionally have the "ink" move in the wrong place.
2. Using bullets when taking notes just doesn't work particularly well--doesn't usually indent as I'd like, sometimes paragraphs are combined or separated inappropriately.
3. I often have difficulty getting the task bar (which is on auto hide) to activate when I move my pen to the bottom of the screen.
4. When on a table, the tablet is hard to write on. A legal pad is relatively then so the writing angle is fine. But, on the Tablet, the profile is higher making it harder to write usually resulting in my holding it on my lap

In essence, although a legal pad is extremely limited, a leg pad and pen just work--no technical fiddling, waiting for the system, etc. In a meeting, one must be fast in taking good notes.

Am I the only one experiencing this frustration? I actually WANT to stay with the Tablet but frankly, using a legal pad and pen just seems to work better.

Finally, will Tablet PCs be capable of running Aero Vista next year?

Any comments would be appreciated.

I think a lot of the things you are experiencing are "growing pains" suffered by a new technology without a lot of background on how users want to use that technology. I have been running Vista on my M200 for a month or two now, and Vista adds a few really nice touches that aid in using the table (like the little check boxes in the upper left corner of icons). Other sofware (such as the problems you mention with onenote) are sure to be adjusted as well.

I am convinced that the "laptop only" computer is a deadend, and any new laptop must include tablet functionality. The usage patterns are ok, and are only going to get better.

Brian.

Brian, thank you for the input. Have you experienced any of the problems that I have outlined?

Let's see:

1. Onenote and moving ink around. Yep - get this all the time if I try to move blocks of ink around. For some reason, Onenote wants to move other blocks out of the way and put the one I'm trying to move anywhere except where I want it. I pretty much just don't try to move ink around while in the meeting - I wait till later when I have time to figure it out.

2. Using bullets - Now there I don't know. I never use the bullets or auto-indent lists or anything like that - it always seems to get in the way, and is rarely formatted the way I want it formatted.

3. Getting the task bar to "un-hide". Boy - this was a big one with the Averatec tablet I used to have. The digitizer was flakey around the edges, and even worse when on battery. I always use "auto hide" except on that laptop when at work - It just didn't work well. Now, I'm using a Toshiba M200, and it is much better with the digitizer, so "auto hide" is working well for me (although I "cheated" a little when I calibrated to screen/pen so that the mouse cursor is just slightly toward the screen edge from the pen tip).

4. Writing with the tablet on the table - Yeah - this can be a pain. I tend to sit with my desk chair up as high as it will go, and that helps put me more "over" the tablet, but I do find myself putting my left hand under the back of the table and holding the back end of the tablet up. Also, because of the limited viewing angle on my tablet, it can be hard to read when laying flat. I should mention too that I always use the "primary landscape" mode of the table, just because that's what I'm used to with computers - using portrait mode on a computer just feels wrong. I think the M200 viewing angle is better the long way than the short way, so portrait mode would probably work better when laying flat, but I won't do it.

All in all, I agree pretty much with everything you said. I guess I am just a little more accepting of the problems - or willing to work around them? Anyway, I love the tablet, and can put up with the few "goofy" things.

So you are not alone in the problems that you mention.

Brian.