Hi,
Just wondered if anyone had any recommendations for a tablet-style PC to use with Skritter (or other chinese handwriting programs/handwritting recognition).

I've briefly tried a separate writing tablet (eg Wacom style) for writing chinese, but I found that I didn't like not seeing what I was writing under the pen - felt sort of 'disconnected' from what I was writing.
So, I've been thinking of getting a tablet PC, which I can use for other things too.

The Asus EeePC T91 (or maybe T101) seem reasonably priced.
Anyone using either of these, or do you have any other recommendations?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Cheers,
Ben

I used to use a Gateway CX series tablet PC while I was in school; it turns out it's not great for taking notes but I really do end up missing it now.

But really, if you're only looking for something to practice Chinese on - I'd say buy the cheapest tablet/convertible that you can find on Craigslist. The earliest ones are about a 2003 vintage which should have more than enough horsepower to run Skritter.

I use an HP 2710p that I bought 2 years ago on ebay for ~$1100. It's a good pc and tablet. Does everything I need. Built-in video card seems to struggle to get by, though. I wouldn't run Windows Vista or 7 on it, either--only XP.

I'm with Zach. I bought a Lenovo X61 for school and loved it. In my case, I needed a general purpose laptop that I could also use for taking notes and practicing my 汉字。

I can't speak for other tablet PCs, but inking on the Lenovo is great. Writing is smooth and natural, both on programs like OneNote and here on Skritter. Windows 7 has much improved handwriting recognition over Vista; the interface has been tweaked too. And it's great for graphic stuff, like working with Photoshop or Illustrator.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you're in the market for a new laptop, and not just a machine for practicing Chinese, you might want to consider a tablet PC. I wouldn't trade mine for anything.

I use an HP Touchsmart which is a great tablet PC, but at close to $1900 (Australian), it's a bit too much if all you want to do is use it for Skritter.
Having said that, running Windows 7 tablet version is really good, the handwriting recognition in both English or Chinese is really good and I have found that I use it for a lot of things other than Skritter.

I would be wary of getting a really old tablet. I had a chat with a would-user yesterday who was seeing some choppiness with a tablet PC from 2005--it was a bit too slow for their taste, so they left.

I would be wary of buying a tablet PC, period. They are expensive, and the digitizer technology can be unreliable at times.

My recommendation is save your money and buy a graphics tablet (commonly called "drawing tablets") from Wacom. I bought the Bamboo Pen&Touch for $100 and I'm in love with it. They are thin and lightweight. I keep it connected to my netbook at all times, so it's great for taking notes in class or studying at home.

For me it came down to this:
$2000 for a good tablet PC (ex: Lenovo x200)
or
$400 = $300 for a netbook + $100 for graphics tablet

I am going to wait for an advanced Android phone with Flash 10.x. I generally do not buy Apple products, otherwise I'd consider buying a used iPhone after the completion of the Skritter iPhone app.

For the most users, if compared to tablet PCs, advanced smartphones probably offer the better cost-benefit tradeoff.

When I wrote my message I was careful to qualify that "it depends on what you're looking for." Assuming that cost isn't your only consideration, you'll also be looking at form factor, power, versatility, etc.

The downside to buying a $300 laptop is that you're stuck with a $300 laptop. If that's what you want, fine. If you're looking for a phone that you can also Skritter on, that's fine too. Your main question should be: What kind of computer do you want, and what are you going to use it for?

What jpearse says about digitizer technology being unreliable is news to me. Maybe with old tablet hardware, as Nick suggested above. But the technology is so much better now. Next generation multi-touch devices will be better still.

The reason I recommended a tablet PC is because it was the perfect computer for me. I needed something versatile, fast, and ultra-portable. This meant that having a notebook with a convertible form factor was a huge plus, and external devices, like Wacom drawing tablets, were out. And yeah, it cost about $2000. Others cost less.

Lenovo isn't paying me, so I'll just stop here :-)

My poor experience with Tablet PCs is isolated to HP computers, which are notorious for their cheap quality. After some research, I discovered a lot of people have had similar issues with Gateway and Dell tablet digitizers as well. Granted, you have a Lenovo ThinkPad, which tend to fall on the other end of the spectrum for reliability. However, this spectrum seems very polarized in terms of quality and pricing. We do pay for what we get, but it seems you either pay a large sum for reliability (Lenovo, Toshiba), or you pay what seems to be a reasonable price for unreliable hardware (HP, Gateway, etc).

I have been using my HP TC4400 for over two years now (running all day, taking notes, etc.) and I'm really happy with it...can't confirm the cheap quality of HP in that case.

I use a refurbed Fujitsu P1610 convertible tablet running Vista - sized like a netbook but priced like a cadillac. I gave up on pen input since handwriting is just too slow for me, so I was stuck with an expensive brick until Skritter came along.

This is a passive touchscreen, so not as nice as the active digitizers on the Lenovos since you have to keep your palms off the screen. After 4 solid months of Skrittering, the calibration has gone a little nonlinear under the Skritter canvas area.

I also own a Wacom digitizer pad. Mouse is better than trackball. Digitizer is better than mouse. But nothing beats a tablet PC for being able to write directly into the square canvas and have the onscreen ink appear directly under your pen.

Machine is circa 2006. No performance problems with Skritter in Firefox. Screen is higher resolution than most, so my Skritter writing canvas is about 35x35cm at 250pixels.

Thanks for all the replies. It does seem that the tablet option is the way to go, so long as the price can be justified!

I think there the EeePC T101 is coming out next month, so I'll probably wait for that and get a demo to see how it performs.

Ben

Nobody is giving me an excuse yet to buy the iPad, although the mention of a Skritter app for iPhone intrigues. My two questions are:
1. Apple does not support Flash, so will this be a major hindrance to developing a Skritter app for iPhone / iPad?
2. I am currently using a Wacom tablet and don't think I would be satisfied with using a mouse, or index finger to draw the characters. iPhone does not use a stylus; would iPad support use of a stylus / pen?

I just bought my first Apple product a few months ago -- an iPod touch, -- and it completely rocks! I am using it almost exclusively for ChinesePod and Pleco Chinese dictionary apps, though it also includes a nifty calculator. (I heard something about 140,000 other apps too, though why anyone would want to do something other than study Chinese I can't imagine ;)

@podster I'm not one of the developers, but absolutely yes, the lack of Flash is a huge problem on the iPad/iPod/iPhone (and not just for Skritter).

I looked at the iPad and was not sure its price was justified. For well less than $500 you can get a really nice netbook or laptop that does run Flash and does everything else you can do on your normal computer because it IS a normal computer. By comparison the iPad is crippled.

James

I've got the same X61 tablet as murrayjames and I like it. It's getting a bit old (wear and tear is showing) and is a bit slow with Vista (maybe I should upgrade to Windows 7) and overheats a bit but I'd buy it again (and when it packs it in I think I'll buy another newer model).

@2shanghai: I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 a month ago. I definitely recommend it. Better stability, better handwriting interface, and *much* faster.

I have a 2 year old Toshiba Portege tablet and I love it. It's been very reliable, easy to use, stylus works great. My husband had a Gateway tablet which was terrible. Within months it started to slow down to the point where it was almost unusable. Now he has a Toshiba, too.

Using X61 & Windows 7 to pen this in. Handwriting and win 7 is nothing short of amazing.

But even the X61 is a bit heavy. Really waiting for a cheap net book style slate or tablet but the few out there are pretty pricey.

iPAD missed the boat with no pen input IMHO!

Given the amount of value I would get out of being able to use skritter on my iphone (which I use quite a lot) I think an iphone app would be worth a fair bit to me.

If there was an iPhone app, I suspect I would end up hitting 20+ words per day instead of the probably 5 or so now.

yes... the day i can conflate my pooing time and my skrittering time will be a glorious day :)

I wonder if the Apple iPad, the HP Slate, or the Dell mini 5 (not out yet), or this $199 Archos tablet, would work well with Skritter?