When picking a tablet computer (regardless of the manufacturer), user reviews commonly agreed that the more memory and CPU power you can give a tablet PC, the better off you will be. The theory of this is that the digitizing capabilities of the tablet has a tendency to be a bit of a resource hog and if you intend to have a positive experience your electronic pen, give it enough horsepower to breathe right or you won’t be satisfied with the results. I think this is single best advice one should take heed on when it comes to purchasing a tablet. There is more hardware specific advice coming, but let know forgot so of the other items that need consideration such as the Ergonomic Challenges of Tablet Computing (See The Personal Integration Factor).
Because of the horsepower requirements I was having a difficult time sourcing my new equipment from one of the on-line resellers. There are good ones out there (such as http://www.pcconnection.com) that stock a preconfigured systems and if you can find one that fits in one of their inventories - good for you. Because I my requirement for high processor speed and memory, it was difficult to find a model on the shelf that was within my budget. Sure, if money wasn’t an issue, most resellers stock the fully loaded Cadillac’s of most of the major brands. But some of them required a second mortgage on your home in order to get into one. After researching the more reputable resellers, I unfortunately decided to purchase the notebook from Toshiba Direct (http://www.toshibadirect.com). I say unfortunately because of the delivery experience I went through with Toshiba was less than stellar (If you are interested in what exactly occurred, drop me a note and I’ll expand on the events – it was actually an amazing first for knucklehead company policies). Nevertheless, Toshiba’s site let me customize my system with higher processor and more memory at a price that worked. About two weeks later, my notebook arrived straight from Shanghai China and I began the daunting process of the consumers personal computer upgrade (See The consumer’s personal computer upgrade Also see Can you see the Vista / With Web Based Apps You Can?).
Showing posts with label Toshiba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toshiba. Show all posts
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Vistas of expansion in a Personal Computing Environment
As a technologist, I have come to realize over the years that upgrading one’s personal computing environment is a bitter sweet process. Having to recently go through a replacement of my notebook computer, I couldn’t help but to provide some highlights of the event. With the thousands of computers sold on the market today, I am certainly not a pioneer here, but there are a few observations that I thought were worth posting on the blog that centers around the infamous computer upgrade.
In keeping with the theme of the blog, I’m not going to compare Product A to Product B (although I will comment on a few disappointing challenges and lack of features that I ran across). What I will do is discuss the sociological aspect of the event. I know, this sounds deep but it's really not. So - follow the links below to get the story. The sections can stand on their own if you want to go to a specific point, but I would recommend reviewing all of them since it tells the whole story.
Since all of us must go through this seemingly undesirable process at one point in our lives, I thought it was a worthy blog topic. Actually, according to my estimates the average person has to deal with this undesirable process at least 11 times in their lifetime. That is of course if you don’t count any of the upgrades for your wife, kids or other relatives that were smart enough to pawn it off on you.
For me, buying new technology is like being a kid again. It starts by imagining how wonderful it will be to finally got your first bike and be able to race around with the rest of your friends only; to find that you need to build your skill level a bit before you can keep up with them . As with anything, you need to stop and think - is owning the new toy (or in my case latest technology gadget) as good as the anticipation of owning it). Will I gain the productivity advancements that they claim comes with the purchase? I can’t help but to think about this especially when it comes to Microsoft Vista.
I’ll admit that the marketing campaigns that must have cost the Microsoft millions to produce probably had an effect on me. If they didn’t I most likely would have stayed with XP a bit longer before I made the jump. However, being the technologist that I am, my curiously got the best of me.
Making that decision, I was well aware of what I would be up against. After all, I have already been through 50% of my life expectancy of upgrades. I was ready for the excitement of getting a fresh new technology and all the rewards that are claimed to come with it. On the other side, having to give up a comfort level that was established over much time with my current system (even though it did have its problems) was concerning. Although, I’m not one to coin corny phrases, this is an obvious lead into one; there are always two sides of the coin. In this case the reality of upgrading one’s personal computing environment especially with a new operating system often dulls the anticipation a bit.
Outline
Taking the jump into new computing territory takes a little planning. Other than the obvious configuration bits and bytes that you need to decide on (See Guidelines for selecting the right Tablet PC); one other consideration that is often overlooked is evaluating your current personal computing environment. That is, understanding what you clearly are trying to achieve by buying a new computer or moving to a newer technology like Vista (See Identifying your commuting environment). In my case, it started out simple. My laptop was about 5 years old and was starting to run into more and more configuration problems that was effecting my work. Since I was staying with a portable, my choice was a Toshiba tablet based system using Windows Vista and Office 2007 (See Can you see the Vista?). For some strange reason I have been curiously patient in buying a tablet PC. This was odd since for many years now I have felt very strongly about the major benefits that tablet based systems can bring. The Tablet PC’s evolution has been slow, but significant developments have helped to bring its computing capabilities more mainstream (See The evolution of tablet computing). With this, it seemed to be the right time for my needs to make the move. More importantly, this supported one of my personal goals that I have had for quite some time of trying to achieve a paperless environment. I’m not sure if I am entirely there yet, but I am certainly closer than I have ever been (See Microsoft OneNote - Is it the death of the pen and yellow notepad?). Tablet computing still has it challenges today and the manufacturers may need to rethink the way they are delivering these systems to the market. More importantly, they need to take a closer look at how people can effectively use them, something I call "the personal integration factor" (See The Personal Integration Factor).
In keeping with the theme of the blog, I’m not going to compare Product A to Product B (although I will comment on a few disappointing challenges and lack of features that I ran across). What I will do is discuss the sociological aspect of the event. I know, this sounds deep but it's really not. So - follow the links below to get the story. The sections can stand on their own if you want to go to a specific point, but I would recommend reviewing all of them since it tells the whole story.
Since all of us must go through this seemingly undesirable process at one point in our lives, I thought it was a worthy blog topic. Actually, according to my estimates the average person has to deal with this undesirable process at least 11 times in their lifetime. That is of course if you don’t count any of the upgrades for your wife, kids or other relatives that were smart enough to pawn it off on you.
For me, buying new technology is like being a kid again. It starts by imagining how wonderful it will be to finally got your first bike and be able to race around with the rest of your friends only; to find that you need to build your skill level a bit before you can keep up with them . As with anything, you need to stop and think - is owning the new toy (or in my case latest technology gadget) as good as the anticipation of owning it). Will I gain the productivity advancements that they claim comes with the purchase? I can’t help but to think about this especially when it comes to Microsoft Vista.
I’ll admit that the marketing campaigns that must have cost the Microsoft millions to produce probably had an effect on me. If they didn’t I most likely would have stayed with XP a bit longer before I made the jump. However, being the technologist that I am, my curiously got the best of me.
Making that decision, I was well aware of what I would be up against. After all, I have already been through 50% of my life expectancy of upgrades. I was ready for the excitement of getting a fresh new technology and all the rewards that are claimed to come with it. On the other side, having to give up a comfort level that was established over much time with my current system (even though it did have its problems) was concerning. Although, I’m not one to coin corny phrases, this is an obvious lead into one; there are always two sides of the coin. In this case the reality of upgrading one’s personal computing environment especially with a new operating system often dulls the anticipation a bit.
Outline
Taking the jump into new computing territory takes a little planning. Other than the obvious configuration bits and bytes that you need to decide on (See Guidelines for selecting the right Tablet PC); one other consideration that is often overlooked is evaluating your current personal computing environment. That is, understanding what you clearly are trying to achieve by buying a new computer or moving to a newer technology like Vista (See Identifying your commuting environment). In my case, it started out simple. My laptop was about 5 years old and was starting to run into more and more configuration problems that was effecting my work. Since I was staying with a portable, my choice was a Toshiba tablet based system using Windows Vista and Office 2007 (See Can you see the Vista?). For some strange reason I have been curiously patient in buying a tablet PC. This was odd since for many years now I have felt very strongly about the major benefits that tablet based systems can bring. The Tablet PC’s evolution has been slow, but significant developments have helped to bring its computing capabilities more mainstream (See The evolution of tablet computing). With this, it seemed to be the right time for my needs to make the move. More importantly, this supported one of my personal goals that I have had for quite some time of trying to achieve a paperless environment. I’m not sure if I am entirely there yet, but I am certainly closer than I have ever been (See Microsoft OneNote - Is it the death of the pen and yellow notepad?). Tablet computing still has it challenges today and the manufacturers may need to rethink the way they are delivering these systems to the market. More importantly, they need to take a closer look at how people can effectively use them, something I call "the personal integration factor" (See The Personal Integration Factor).
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