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IBM Portables Hardware

IBM Tablet Announced 131

Posted by CmdrTaco from the check-out-those-pictures dept.
Ahkorishaan writes "We heard from an earlier report here on Slashdot that IBM(Lenovo) had filed a patent on a TabletPC, and now they have officially announced the product. Our friends at Laptop Logic have a short review."
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IBM Tablet Announced More

IBM Tablet Announced

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  • Old news... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by radiojock ( 542397 )
    I know for sure(can't say how) but this will never be officially supported under linux(or *bsd) don't waste your time on something that isn't worth it

    • Linux for Tablet here (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bach37 ( 602070 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:24AM (#12856287)
      Lycoris (I know, *grown*) has a Linux release for a tablet pc [lycoris.com]. Though this press release is dated 2003.... hmmm...
      • Edit: grown should be 'groan.' Sorry!
      • And, there were even some tablets [about.com] sold with it.

        The thing is, many of the tablets sold with it were rebadged WinXP tablets. The "manufacturer" bought these tablets WITH OS (can you say "Windows Tax"?), then wiped them, put Lycoris Tablet on (Lycoris tax), and marked them up so that they could make a profit.

        Also, I've heard the OS simply isn't up to snuff for a tablet - HWR sucks, primarily, so you're really restricted to an OSK, and those suck as a rule.
        • FWIW, Mandriva bought out Lycoris, so there could be a Mandriva-based Tablet OS sometime...

          Mandrake was one of my favorite distros when I still had a Linux box running - urpmi meant no RPM hell (if you grabbed from urpmi repositories, of course, but with Easy URPMI [zarb.org], that wasn't bad at all). I remember HATING Red Hat. I don't care for Ubuntu. I'm giving Xandros (Open Circulation, of course) a try on Virtual PC, FWIW.
    • Dude, the IBM Thinkpads are some of the most Linux/*BSD supported laptops out there. Not to mention IBM's huge Linux campaign right now. Either way, yours was only a mediocre troll.

  • Patent? (Score:4, Funny)

    by CMBologna ( 155447 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:08AM (#12856216) Homepage
    But TabletPC's exist already!

    • Re:Patent? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:18AM (#12856263)
      This one is different: it's red, needs no batteries, and you control it with two large knobs at the bottom of the screen.
    • First, one can APPLY for a patent on anything. Doesn't mean it will be granted. Post says its only an application. Second, USPTO site has only one patent app for Lenovo, application #20050064866, titled "Combined long and short distance wireless communication system and its method", which may or may not be implemented on a tablet, but certainly isn't FOR a tablet.

  • Is it just me or... (Score:3, Informative)

    by paulius_g ( 808556 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:11AM (#12856227) Homepage
    I recall seeing their tablet in their online store a week ago.

    I didn't look into details, so it may have been a simple laptop with weird rotating screen.
    • I didn't look into details, so it may have been a simple laptop with weird rotating screen

      For the most part, isn't that what a "tablet" PC is? Not really sure what makes this so earth shaking.

      • It's so earth shaking because it's IBM. IBM is often said in the same breath as "quality".

        Also, some tablet PCs are "slate" type, which means that the screen is permanently open, and there's no keyboard.

        However, this is a "convertible" type. That's a laptop with a screen that twists. It's also supposedly the smallest convertible - basically, the same spec as one of the better small slates, but slightly thicker, and it's a convertible.

        I would NEVER buy a slate, but with sufficient money, I'd buy a convert
    • I've been testing this for my company for over a month now. The X41 is still an ugly beast and the battery life isn't as good as proclaimed.

      Go with the Fujitsu.

  • Mirrordot. (Score:5, Informative)

    by wlan0 ( 871397 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:11AM (#12856229)
    Uh, /.ed already.

    Mirrordot here. [mirrordot.org]

  • drool (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    As an artist I've been waiting for the right tablet to come along. I just wonder if it has the same "laggy" feeling of other tablets I've tried. I don't understand why a tablet would be, since mice aren't laggy at all.

    • Re:drool (Score:1, Informative)

      by willisbueller ( 856041 )
      It is unlikely a tablet PC screen will meet your artistic needs in the near future. Wacom produces screens for tablet PCs [wacom.com]. You can see the specs are unimpressive even when compared to a generic tablet. However, take a look at their Cintiq [wacom.com] line. /pixar uses them

  • What (Score:5, Informative)

    by lemonylimey ( 745130 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:16AM (#12856248)
    That's not a review, it's a summary of the press release and it's two weeks old. I'm used to commenters not RTFA, but it's getting a bit much when the posters can't be bothered either. You can find the only real review of the X41 Tablet I'm aware of here:

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1823715,00.as p [pcmag.com]

    • But Wait! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by lemonylimey ( 745130 )
      An excellent little 'first look' gallery of pictures:

      http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/default.asp?news ID=264 [tabletpcreviewspot.com]

      I currently own an X40 and I'd have to say it's the best laptop I've ever used - superb keyboard, light weight and battery life combined with the legendary IBM build quality. The 1.8" hard drive isn't the fastest out there (actually, I'd be suprised if there were any slower) but I'd say that's an acceptable compromise given the pros. I love the tablet concept so we'll see how long I'll be able
    • From the article: "It will also provide 170-degree viewing, an optional integrated fingerprint reader for unsurpassed security, the latest ThinkVantage Technologies for reliability and convenient wireless connectivity"

      Well, it might be a summary, but it looks like they copy-pasted entire sentences from a press release!

      • Well, the pcmag review is certainly more useful:

        The unit also comes standard with a four-cell battery, which lasts approximately 2.6 hours.


        This is some kind of joke isn't it? Why sell anything with a battery that would last you for less than 3 hours work? Especially if you can buy an different battery, which should last up to 6 hours, as an extra. But then it probably won't be quite as light. Hmmm. anyway, nice try, shame about the battery.



        • from TFA:
          Li-Ion battery life

          2.6 hrs (4-cell) up to 6.3 hrs (8-cell)
          With optional extended-life battery
          5.0 hrs (4-cell) up to 8.5 hrs (8-cell)

          that means in testing the minimum life they got out of it was 2.6 with a maximum of 6.3 hrs out of it.
          • Grr...

            2.6 hrs on the 4-cell, up to 6.3 hrs on the 8-cell (twice the capacity - FWIW, from what I've heard, almost everyone with an X41 has the 8-cell).

            The "extended-life battery" is something that plugs into the docking connector. Not necessary if you've got the 8-cell.
            • Replying to myself, because I realized that what I said made little sense...

              Chances are, the 4-cell number is estimated normal, the 8-cell number is theoretical maximum.

    • Re:What (Score:2)

      by fm6 ( 162816 )
      I'm used to commenters not RTFA, but it's getting a bit much when the posters can't be bothered either.
      No, that's predictable. I'm sure most story submissions are crap, and always have been. That's why we have editors. Alas, the editors no longer feel the need to edit....

  • Who is going to make the money? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Crimson Dragon ( 809806 ) * on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:17AM (#12856253) Homepage
    Well, it looks like IBM will continue to have business relations with Apple, just not what they intended [thinksecret.com]!

  • Wildstrom likes it... (Score:2, Informative)

    by kclittle ( 625128 )
    Wildstrom at BusinessWeek likes the X41 [businessweek.com] a lot!
  • is this a joke? hey, hawks out there! patent calculators !!
  • Full tablet PCs have been out for years by Toshiba and multiple other manufactuers. Flip-top laptops have been available from Acer, Toshiba, and others for years also.

    I'm sure that flip-top laptops will become more common over time, since it adds a nice touch of functionality to the computer.

    This news of IBM's entrance to this market is more noteworthy for its tardiness...

    • Re:Not novel by any means (Score:4, Informative)

      by Deathlizard ( 115856 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:54AM (#12856377) Homepage Journal
      There's really two notable things here. It's IBM and it's small.

      I've played with an X41 non tablet a few months ago. It wasn't the most powerful thing out there, but the small size of it made it really attractable. It weighed almost nothing, and the keyboard had a great feel for a laptop that was it's size. If the tablet has anything close to the feel of the X41 then it's definitely got potential here.

      As for the IBM name, you pay a premium for it but there is nothing outside of a tougbook that can touch IBM when it comes to reliability and overall toughness of their laptops. I've seen IBM R51's (it's the laptops we give to students on campus) affected by drinks, candle wax, a flood, cigarette burns, run over by a car, and
      even dropped from three stories and they still would turn on under those conditions. I can't imagine a latitude or an armada take that much abuse and still be functional. This isn't even getting into the IBM support side when it comes to fixing these problems. We do all the IBM support on campus and their RMA system is hard to beat.

      If this tablet PC has any of these qualities, it's going to be pretty attractive to Execs and IT departments looking for their new computer replacement.
    • The real irony is that everybody's saying "IBM's first tablet PC, why are they so late?"

      However, the ThinkPad 700T, the FIRST ThinkPad, was a slate tablet, and released only a year after Toshiba released the first tablet.

      IBM also released a couple of convertible tablets, the 750P (IIRC) and the 360P (again, IIRC). They didn't fold the same way, but they still counted. (The screen was held in a frame. The screen could be flipped on the frame, and the lid shut, and it'd be in slate mode).
      • I guess I trusted the original poster on this being the first IBM/Lenovo tablet.

        I'll second the notion above that Thinkpads are great laptops. I have an ACER TM4205LMWi which I bought for regular use. Later, I bought an old IBM Thinkpad (T23) for messing around with Linux. I'm impressed by the Thinkpad's usability - I would rather type a paper on the Thinkpad than on my Acer! Bryan

    • This news of IBM's entrance to this market is more noteworthy for its tardiness...

      Hoohah, that's where you're wrong! IBM has had a tablet PC for a while, and it was pretty damn cool. Check it out here: IBM Transnote [pencomputing.com].

      They also had the 730T, which was a monochrome 486 deal if I remember correctly, and the 7592, but I can't seem to find a good link to spec's.

  • thinkpads are cool (Score:2, Insightful)

    by akhomerun ( 893103 )
    i love how IBM's thinkpads still look nearly the same as they did 15 years ago and they still look cool.
  • What happened to IBM's Linux affair? The only way Linux will further progress is if you make it work with the new. This is the best place to start Linux on tablets from the ground up, with IBM's "support". Office productivity can be made with OO.o and wine. Especially with the end of June nearing meaning OO.o 2.0's release near. I just don't get it... i feel like deja vous from Batman Begins... some manager at IBM didn't get the memo. :o/
  • I love IBM ThinkPads. If cost were no object, a ThinkPad would be my first choice for a notebook. Now having said that, I just can't find that much use for these Tablet PCs. My handwriting is atrocious, so I'd rather type. If I need to draw a picture or diagram I'll use a piece of paper and scan it in later.
    • My handwriting is even worse, but the recogniser does an unbelievably good job of reading it. It's funny to look at people's faces when the computer converts what they've just written (and I can't even read) with 100% accuracy.
      • Maybe I'll have to give it another try. The last time I used handwriting recognition was with my Pocket PC 2002, which didn't hardly work at all.
      • (This is all assuming that the recognizer that comes with Office 2003 is the same as the one that the Tablet PCs use)

        I've actually played around with O2K3's handwriting recognition with a mouse, which means it's all even more atrocious than normal, with about 95% accuracy. That's pretty cool.

        If I had the money, I'd get one of these, but I don't, so I'm sticking with an X21 that I'm getting.

  • Lame Links (Score:5, Informative)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @11:59AM (#12856391) Homepage Journal
    TFA isn't a review -- it's just a rehash of the IBM announcement. Plus it's on a site with zero Slashdot compatibility. Wny not link the IBM/Lenovo page [ibm.com] directly? Probably because the submitter wanted to promote his site.
  • Wow, the site is only two weeks old.

    Didn't people already know about this?

  • Is IBM even in the business? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nurb432 ( 527695 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @12:11PM (#12856444) Homepage Journal
    I thought IBM sold off their PC and laptop business??

    • They did. IBM still sells the laptops on their website. Infact part of the deal was to use the IBM name for the laptops. If you look on their site, you'll notice the true manufacturer is listed in several places.

      I decided never to buy IBM computers again after the sale. I don't have a problem with a chinese company owning ibm's desktop/laptop divison, but I do have a problem with the chinese government owning a large stake in it. (I'd also have a problem with my government owning a stake in a company)
      • While it can't be considered owning a stake - many companies (such as Apple) received government grants (read as subsidy) as startups.

        They also ALL receive tax credits - which is in all fairness - investment. If a company were not to pay taxes properly or piss off a government official - trust me - you'd see who owned who!

  • why are small 1280x1024 displays so hard to find?
    is there a shortage of high-res displays?

    IBM used to make a laptop with a 1600x1200 display. Now their largest screens seem to be 1400x1050.

    Some mainstream 15" HP laptops are also limited to 1024x768, which is ridiculous.

    With 128MB of video ram, why not provide a high-res display option?
  • In case you want to read the article, here it is...

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    Webmaster - please contact support as soon as possible.



  • Will IBM realize whom to sell Tablets? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by danimrich ( 584138 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @12:21PM (#12856513) Homepage Journal

    I hope IBM will make Tablet PCs useful for college students, for the education market and for artists.
    Current Tablets are not very attractive because of

    • short battery life (if you're going to use your tablet for classes, you need more than 2 hours--anything over 4 hours would be best)
    • high price tags
    Tablets are currently targeted at executives, but there are surely a lot of students, graphics freelancers etc. around who would possibly buy a Tablet if it were useful and affordable.
    • Gee. I never knew I only got 2 hours out of my tablet... I guess it might be the exchange rate and all.

      Seriously, I get 3-4.5 hours from my tablet, depending on wifi use and whether I record the lecture or not, double that with an external battery (I leave it to recharge in my backpack, with the zipper open). And I just checked, my M200 would now be around 1500 USD. For a powerful (P-M 1.5-2.0 GHz) 12" with a 1400x1050 screen and a discrete graphic accelerator, I don't think it's that bad. If you want to g
      • CHEAP, not inexpensive, is the correct word for the Averatec tablets, from what I've heard... the screen is screwy, it overheats WAY too easily, lots of dead pixels, and the plastic literally decomposes.

        I've actually looked at Averatec (for that and other models) in the past, but with those reports, I'm not going to TOUCH them. I'll stick with IBM.
    • this is why buying a tablet comes down to either buying a convertible fujitsu, or buying an electrovaya. my electrovaya SC-300 was only $1000 canadian on Ebay (new, straight from the company, btw) and has 8-hour-battery life (listed as 12-hours). my only real complain about it is that it's not lighter and that it should have been a convertible, but with a $3 metal bookstand you can use it on a table like a laptop, but better, since you can push the separate keyboard out the way when it's time to write on
  • I saw the IBM TabletPC (which is mainly a low end laptop with pivoting touch screen) and I was not impressed at all. The system was the highest end and scrolled like a hog. IBM join the market too late with a very poor product.
    • The X41T does not have a touchscreen (passive digitizer). Instead, like almost all current tablet pcs, it uses an active digitizer.

      Makes me wonder how thorough your evaluation of the X41T was...

  • Tablet PC fallacies (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nostriluu ( 138310 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @02:03PM (#12857007) Homepage
    I've had a Toshiba M200 for almost a year. Its a very popular tablet. It weighs a bit more than this new Lenovo, but has a higher screen res (1400x1050) and a faster CPU and probably hard disk (mine is a 60GB 7200 RPM drive). It also has a tilt sensing accelerometer, but I'm not aware of any cool applications for that. :)

    Just to swipe at a few fallacies:

    1. As a tablet, its a decently powerful machine. Pentium M @1600 mhz is a nice chip, and it supports up to 2 GB RAM. I used to disdain notebooks and always go for custom built desktops, but its been my full time workstation since I got it.

    2. It was more expensive, but not much more than a comparable good quality notebook. Certainly not cheap though.

    3. Battery life is up to four hours.

    4. Getting Linux to run on it is a pain, but that has more to do with laptop power management functions and other non Tablet details. Several people (who have more dedication/knowledge than me) have gotten theirs running fully, including pen input.

    For my *nix needs, I currently use CoLinux; I can run a CoLinux instance (which is running X, Gnome, and server stuff like Apache and Mysql), Eclipse on the Windows side, a bunch of Firefox browsers on both sides (which use the most memory), VNC @ 1400x1050x16 into the Linux side, and assorted shells and its still comfortably usable for dev with 1 GB of RAM.

    5. I almost never use the pen for text input, but the convertible form factor is very handy (for example, when on a train/plane or reading on the couch) and using the pen is a nice alternative to the mouse/trackpad (I do wish it had a trackpoint).

    6. All the Journal/Onenote stuff seems interesting, but I haven't really checked it out since it doesn't have much to do with my main work and I don't feel particularly inclined to commit to anything from one vendor.

    The speech integration is cool, and after MS did an update I notice it responds to some words especially well (it favours pronounciation of "United Nations").

    7. It has a dedicated button to take you to Windows Task Manager (where you view and kill processes). The button icon represents a toilet plunger. Very apropos. This is probably to cover for the fact that there has been a memory leak problem with the MS tablet software 'tcserver' for some time that MS has refused to fix. After a week or so of operation it gobbles up a bunch of RAM. Go Microsoft.

    Note I'm talking about a convertible, not a true tablet, which don't have an attached keyboard and are lighter. If any of the above sounds good to you or you just like trying new stuff, you might want to consider a similar device.

  • Vendors miss the boat on tablets... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WareW01f ( 18905 ) on Sunday June 19, 2005 @04:05PM (#12857580)
    My personal annoyance about the "tablet PC" market is that latter part... the "PC". When they first started the craze way back in 2000 or so, I thought, it would be a cool idea. Meaning just a tablet Something with a nice, readable screen (digital paper was all the buzz as well) that I could use to read normal 8.5x11 documentation on. Maybe take notes, but that's it You know, like a tablet of paper. Simple, thin, low power. Kind of an over grown PDA. I don't want the PC part, I have a nice desktop for when I'm at my desk and a pretty swell laptop that I do work on in a more mobile fasion (read coffee shop hacking). The missing piece is the tablet. Something to take with when I walk away from both. Something I can read on the bus, or curl up in a chair with.

    Yes I have a stack of PDA's in my junk drawer. I read quite a bit on a Palm III and I'm up to watching vids on the bus on my PalmOne LiveDrive. It's not the same. I can't sit outside and read (can't see the screen in direct light) and I still end up carrying a notebook and killing trees to print RFC's (laser double-sided, 2-up... I don't need back problems as well as getting stoned by tree huggers)

    Is it a plot by the paper companies? (Or ink/toner sellers?) This is what's keeping paper alive. It's all these reviewers that complain that this tablet is a little wimpy on the processor or that tablet won't replace a laptop. Duh! Not the point. Charging $2k plus ain't going to help either. Let's take a big step back, and work on good old hirez, black and white text folks, you know, like in every best selling book, manual and most all newspapers. Then we can go WiFi and bluetooth keyboards and the mess.

    Am I alone here?
    • Am I alone here?

      No, that's exactly what I want too. Maybe if they used the same tech that they used in that paper thin clock, that only uses power when the display changes we'd get good b+w thin displays that run on an aa battery or two. I don't need high refresh rates.

    • I too have been wondering about two things:

      a) tablets - as you've elogquently pointed out, why do I need a PC when all I want is a tablet; and

      b) digital camera - what I hoped for was a CCD and memory insert replacing the film in my camera. So why do I need a camera that has exotic shooting modes, in-camera photo editing (who the heck does that quintessentially ackward task?), and a footprint so tiny that I can't expect to use it if my eyesight falls below 20/20 or my fingers swell up?

      Maybe the watchword
    • i was griping about pretty much the same thing a while ago here [livejournal.com]. there have been some decent in-roads made in the ebook/"tablet"-type market, but all the good ones are DRM'd to shit and all the ones that aren't kinda suck.

      got a little layout for my dream machine in the above link, let me know what you think, people!

    • My personal annoyance about the "tablet PC" market is that latter part... the "PC". When they first started the craze way back in 2000 or so, I thought, it would be a cool idea. Meaning just a tablet Something with a nice, readable screen (digital paper was all the buzz as well) that I could use to read normal 8.5x11 documentation on. Maybe take notes, but that's it

      The problem is that with current LCD technology/pricing you're really not going to save much cost/weight/power by getting rid of the PC part
    • I want a bigger Newton. I had two different MessagePad versions, and I loved the interface. It was *designed* for a pen and that showed. But it was too big to carry with me everywhere (which is why I have a Palm to keep my schedule and contacts), and yet too small to be able to see very much info at once.

      I'd spend a fair amount for a steno-pad-size or 8.5x11" tablet running NewtonOS. Not that that's likely to ever happen, but I can dream...
    • I want something about A5 size, 14x21cm. The size of a trade paperback. No keyboard built in, but an option to plug in any old USB keyboard.

      It should have Acrobat Reader equivalent and a decent web browser, and wifi. I also don't care what OS it runs so long as it isn't Windows.

  • Resolution (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Insount ( 11174 ) * <{gro.remort} {ta} {nare2todhsals}> on Sunday June 19, 2005 @04:09PM (#12857610) Homepage
    It still has the lousy 1024x768 XGA display resolution, like all X series ThinkPads. At 12.1" they could pack much more than that at the same DPI as other ThinkPad models (e.g., 1400x1050 in 14.1" and 1600x1200 in 15" for the T series).

    My primary potential use for a convertible in tablet mode is as an e-book reader, for reading and annotating those lengthy PDF documents. A width of 768 pixels is just not enough to produce sharp text when viewing a PDF document preformatted for paper, especially if you want the page to fit vertically too.
  • I just bought an HP Jornada 820 [pdagold.com].

    Nice keyboard, conservative screen and No-Internal-Moving-Parts = 8 to 10 hours on a standard battery. With an extended battery, (if I ever manage to find one), the machine will get up to 15 hours on one charge. Not ideal, but better than a 'down by lunch time' modern machine.

    When a portable word processor is all you really need, that's all you should really buy. Best part is that after shipping and a spare battery, I paid only about $275 on ebay.

    Too bad the Alphasmart [alphasmart.com]
  • Why in the hell would anyone want that shit ? Someday it will be cool. Today it's junk. Are people too fuggin wimpy to carry a good laptop ?
  • The people at "Laptop Logic" are not my friends. In fact, I've never even heard of them. I certainly did not sign a friendship authorization form (FAF).

  • look at the memory prices!

    Total memory [6] [Help me decide]
    Note: Total memory includes the base memory that comes with the system.
    512 MB included in base system
    768 MB (2 NonParity DDR2 SDRAM SoDIMM PC4200) [add $125.00]
    1 GB (2 NonParity DDR2 SDRAM SoDIMM PC4200) [add $250.00]
    1.5 GB (2 NonParity DDR2 SDRAM SoDIMM PC4200) [add $750.00]

    http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/X ICLaunchConfigCmd?&configServer=eCimSERVER1&pageTy pe=6&site_type=public&base=18695C [ibm.com]

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