XP Tablet edition similar to XP Pro or Home?

I am looking into buying a tablet PC for law school, but on the recommended specs for laptops the school says to have XP Professional. Tablet PCs come with a "Tablet PC XP ed." is this closer to Home or Pro?
--In terms of networking, is Tablet PC XP compatible with XP Pro or not? I know the main difference is security, but that is the least issue for the school, I am more worried about other compatibilities (the school's wireless network/network/exam taking, etc.) if I chose the Tablet are there other huge differences between the two?
~otherwise I would have to buy a regular laptop in order to meet the XP Pro requirements if its not compatible, but I'd rather not because I really love the capabilities of the tablet....Any advice would be great!
Thanks[:I]

 

take it from a recent law school grad (class of '04), you don't want a tablet pc. just get a regular notebook.

 

Well, the thing is I can write faster than I type (and I type at a decent speed anyway, but...) And the tablet has the plus of being able to write on it and then convert it to text; while typing when listening to a lecture, and trying to get what the prof or a student says wouldn't be done as quickly for me if I typed as I would writing in my own shorthand, etc. Thanks for the response.

 

hmmm...

i would recommend playing with a tablet (maybe you already have?)... as you're probably aware, things go pretty fast in lecture. if your typing speed isn't too hot, you may consider just taking notes down on paper and then transferring to computer after class (a friend from my section did this).

the reason i'm dissuading you from a tablet is that (AFAIK) the recognition isn't that great (regardless of what the marketing materials say) and if you later go to convert something and the tablet can't recognize it, you've lost those notes. also, if the tablet converts to something incorrect or inaccurate, it could prove disastrous when writing a final. if you're typing and you spell something wrong/make a typo, no matter how aggregious, you can at least figure out what it was you typed whereas the same isn't true for recognition software.

anyways, obviously the decision is ultimately yours, but considering how important first year grades are, i wouldn't trust tablet technology for my notes.

again, if your typing skills aren't that great, i would definitely recommend just taking paper notes and then converting to computer later.

if you're dead set on getting a tablet, please please please consider at least getting a convertable, then, if you find out the tablet isn't working the way you expected it to, you still have a traditional notebook to fall back on.

in my 1st year section (and subsequent years) of law school the breakdown was like this...

notebook users - 95%
handwritten notetakers - 5%
tablet users - 0%

anyways, good luck, but do your research before putting all your eggs in the tablet basket

and good luck in school !!

 

Thanks for the advice. I did try out a tablet, and yes, like you said, there is some stuff it wouldn't recognize (of my handwriting) but you can always keep it in that format also (is what I was told). Like you probably know, many, like me, can read their own bad handwriting when others can't (or in this case, the computer can't) so I figured the worst that could happen is I'd have to keep in in that note format on the computer (which would be like having it in a regular paper notebook anyway). I did consider paper but I heard sooo many kids use laptops I didn't want to feel like an old-timer! It's not that I type slow, it's that I can write so much faster--I guess that sounds weird. I would of course get one with a keyboard that could convert to a regular laptop, I wasn't too sure what you meant by not having that (do they SELL ones that DON'T convert?--I didnt know that)!
But either way, I appreciate your advice, I will look at some regular laptops, right now I'm looking at regular HP and Sonys. Thanks for responding, it helps me out =)

 

Just a friendly reminder that we do have a dedicated tablet site if you want to talk in more detail: www.tabletpcreviewspot.com

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

The latest convertible tablets have the SAME hardware feature sets as laptops except just offering the tablet function too. Tablet 2005 is EXACTLY the same as XP Pro with just the added functions for tablets. My experience with tablet handwriting recognition is much, much different, with over 95% results. Check out tabletpcbuzz.com for some more balanced information.

 

If you are going to get a tablet, I would recommend one like this:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/tabletpc/tc1100/

As it has a keyboard also, we use them at work and they are not to bad.

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