thinkpad tablet + folio + stylus thoughts?

I am thinking of getting an inexpensive temporary machine to tide me over (through next summer?) while I keep an eye out for a replacement for my Z61t. I am normally quite practical- but then I thought- why not get a toy?

Any thoughts or experiences with the thinkpad tablet + folio case + stylus?

If the stylus works as well for note-taking as I have read, and the keyboard is up to par- I may hunt for an open box 16gb one.

(I am using a borrowed dell latitude 2100 at the moment- im hoping its as fast or faster?)

EDIT- I JUST saw the link to the tablet pc review forums- my apologies!!

 

I got the 64gb tablet+stylus-folio case (it works perfectly well with Thinkpad USB keyboard with trackpoint, inserted to the USB port, for the rare cases you really have to type more than a dozen words on it)

Fast isn't a good word to describe it. However you like to stretch the meaning of the word. 7yrs old Tablet PC is way faster and more versatile than this in any task, including browsing, or inking, or pretty much anything. Any kind of recently-made netbook is a rocket, in comparison, too, even when it comes to browsing, switching between apps, etc. Same could be said about any Android Tablet though, and iPads are not much better either.

That said, as a reading device, it's good. Hardware wise it's not bad either, is relatively light, has convenient ports for connecting external devices, finishing/feeling is as Thinkpad as it gets, and it's not as ridiculously limited as iPad is (if you can grasp a concept of "file", non-Jailbroken iPad's software limitations are striking and really annoying). As a picture/video/gaming device it's not great but acceptable (more of Android 3.0+ fault which does not have a real full screen mode, "thanks" to Google-Samsung partnership). For inking (if you don't need the script->text recognition) it's okay, software side is lacking, but will get there in a few months. Tons of other bugs and issues, some of which may be addressed by (very slow) coming updates (the device is still at Android 3.1).

Either way,if you have a 14-15" heavy laptop (such as T420/T520/T520 series), and want a relatively light-weight e-reader/light browsing/email device/calendar add-on to that, it might have its uses (ala Pocket PC from a decade ago). I might even say that it's one of better ones 10" Android tablets at the moment. A replacement to a Tablet PC (however old) it's not.

 

Power 7- your thoughts have been amazingly helpful- thank you so much! I was hoping that the thinkpad tablet would be as fast as an older netbook etc- so I am terribly disapointed It seems that while I am in a holding pattern for a suitable replacement for my z61t (heavy 14in) that I should also be waiting for windows 8/i5 slates. sigh.

As long as next years iteration of the thinkpad x1 has a higher resolution screen- i think all of my needs will be met in one device, so ill start praying .

thanks so much again!

 

I pretty much agree 100% with power7. My ThinkPad slate has been downgraded to purely an eReader. The PDF support using apps off the market is far better than say, an e-ink Kindle and the filesystem with expansion capability make it better than my previous iPad.

My entire library of books is on it and that alone makes the ThinkPad slate worth it for me. I cannot stand using it for any other function though.