Welcome to a Laptop Battery specialist of the Toshiba Laptop Battery
While Microsoft's Tablet PC design has come a long way since its introduction in 2002, it has failed to catch on with mainstream users.
There are several reasons. They tend to be more expensive than traditional portables. They've primarily been marketed to business users in specific industries, such as medicine.
And, frankly, they simply don't work as well as they should.
Here's a look at two tablet PCs, both of which were designed to work with Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system. One's aimed at consumers, the other at business users, and both still have some of the flaws that keep tablets from being snatched up by the masses.
HP. When I first saw the Pavilion tx1000 at CES in January, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. A consumer-based Vista portable that was small, lightweight and relatively affordable, it seemed like it could be a breakthrough product for the tablet PC category. But alas, once I actually used one, my hopes were dashed. Not only is this not a great tablet, it's not a particularly good notebook, either.
The tx1000 is what's known as a convertible tablet. It can be used like a traditional notebook PC, with an upright screen and built-in keyboard. The screen swivels and can be locked down atop the keyboard to become a tablet.
It's small and lightweight, with a 12.1-inch screen and 4.26 pounds, with a four-cell battery like Toshiba PA3248U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3250U Battery , Toshiba PA3250U-1BAS Battery , Toshiba PA3250U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3257U Battery , Toshiba PA3257U-1BAS Battery , Toshiba PA3257U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3258 Battery , Toshiba PA3258U Battery , Toshiba PA3258U-1BAS Battery , Toshiba PA3258U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3259 Battery ; the recommended six-cell adds about half a pound.
The model I tried came with a 2.0-GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor, meaning it has two processing units in one package. It has 2 gigabytes of RAM, a 160-GB hard drive, a DVD burner, a built-in webcam, fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi adapter and an nVidia GeForce Go 6150 graphics adapter. It sounds like a dream on paper, but reality is something altogether different.
In order to cut costs and possibly weight, HP has made the tx1000's touch screen work with a stylus that doesn't have its own power source. This means you can move objects on the screen with just a fingertip if you like.
The problem is that a powered stylus is more sensitive, and the tx1000's screen is decidedly insensitive. I found I had to bear down with the pen to move objects, expand windows or write smoothly. It made using the tablet a chore rather than a delight. In addition, the grid used to sense movement darkens the screen noticeably. Even with the brightness turned up all the way, it still was too dim for my taste.
Sadly, its keyboard has some serious shortcomings, too. I usually like HP's keyboards, but this one has a fatal flaw that I've complained about in other brands, and it's disappointing to see it in an HP notebook.
HP has placed the cursor keys deep into the keypad layout, forcing the right shift key to be smaller and placing the up-arrow key next to it. The result: It's way too easy to accidently hit the up-arrow key when you mean to shift, sending the cursor key up into the text above as you type. As far as keyboard design goes, this is an unpardonable sin.
Battery life with the 4-cell battery is about 2 hours with average use; the six-cell only adds about an hour to that.
And, as is often the case with HP's consumer systems, it's got way too much junkware — trial versions and marketing come-ons.