Posting from IBM ThinkPad X41

[neuromancer]

A convertable laptop. I have it in tablet mode using the pen and hand writing recognition.  I get it as a house guest this weekend to test the network stuff on the home network. So far I have to say I like this unit better than the Fujitsu Lifebook.

The weight is sweet and is very slim. The only thing I dislike about IBM laptops is they use the red nipple instead of a "track pad".  I'll post up other thouqhts as I use it more.

 David

[digiSal]

Post up some pictures of that thiing. So it picked up all your handwriting then? or did you have to edit some?

Next year we should be getting the Tablets for the Docs at work. Well, if it doesnt get pushed back again that is! I cant wait to get myself into them.

[neuromancer]

Post up some pictures of that thiing. So it picked up all your handwriting then? or did you have to edit some?

The house guest was highjacked by the boss. He took it to a meeting at the end of the day and I wasn't sticking around for him to return. Oh well ...

It picked up the handwriting well. I am getting good at it anyway so I rarely have to do edits. After you use the hand writing for a while you get to know what you can and can not get away with. The battery life was a VERY sweet 5+ hours during my initial test.

David

[neuromancer]

I did bring home the Fujitsu T4010. This box has become my right hand at work.

A convertable that turns into the tablet.

I love this machine! Dual batts if I pull the optical bay so I can get a strong 7-8 hours of usage. It's very handy and travels well. I take it to meetings and scribble most notes down on the screen or if I am on the phone and I have to make a quick notation I can just write it on the desktop. This unit does not have the finger print scan like the ones we are ordering up at the moment. The five buttons at the bottom right of the monitor are set to a parseword to prevent boot. HIPPA compliant for the mobile transport of health data.

David

[neuromancer]

One other thing I noticed when I ran the IBM X41 through it's paces on Friday is the radio reception is a lot better on the IBM vs. the Fujitsu. I can't pick up the "Board Room" node with the Fujitsu while sitting at my desk (down two floors and through a hell of a lot of concrete and steel, the server room is between me and the node). The IBM was able to "see" the node at one bar but was unable to connect. If I get up from my desk and walk to the door it picks up an IP and connects, something the Fujitsu can't do until I walk past the server room and enter the stairwell.

David

[digiSal]

Sweet fking boxes....

I always wanted a Tablet PC so that i could be portable at work and be able to administer things but I have found that a Wireless PDA with VNC Viewer or Remote Desktop did the trick.

They have done wonders with battery life on those things though. I can barely squeeze two hours off of my Compaq 900mhz Laptop.

and my site looks crappy on Resolutions below 1024 x 768. Ill do something about that this week.

[neuromancer]

The house guest made it home tonight with me and he brought a friend.

The one on the left is the IBM ThinkPad X41 and his friend on the right is the Fujitsu T1510D. I placed a pack of smokes in front so you can get some perspective. That's a 12.1 active digitizer screen on the IBM and a 8.9 parseive digitizer screen on the Fujitsu. Here's a shot of them in tablet mode.

The parseive screen is not what I want in a tablet but they can't get active digitizer in that size yet. Notice on the smaller Fujitsu they ditched the track pad and went with the nipple to save space.

David

[digiSal]

tell me again whats the difference between an active and parseive screen?

and that IBM is a freaking monster!! I am the type of geek that likes things in small packages so I love that Fujitsu.

I was always under the impression you didnt have wireless at home but i guess you do?

[neuromancer]

Short and sweat.

Parseive Digitizer is a system that is embedded between the outer surface and the LCD. The writing surface for parseive systems is usually more pliable. Examples would be PocketPC's and Palm's. Any pen or object can create a response, even a finger nail.

Active Digitizer is embedded beneath the LCD. Most tablets are active digitizer. The surface that you interact with is firmer (close to hard like glarse). Only a magnetized pen works with these systems. A pen from a Palm or PocketPC would not work. This creates the ability to enable the "hover" API's since you can hover a proper pen over an active digitizer and the curser will jump to that point. I found out that early generation active digitizer pens contained batts. Present technology creates the magitization from within the digitizer. The pen acts as a "reflector" to that field. With this you can add a switch to the pen to toggle right clicking functionality at the pen level and options are available to configure other toggle responses. A much more robust environment because the "hover" API's are utilized.

David

[digiSal]

good to know since we will be getting tablets soon!! so ative is the way to go! the docs here like to use pens as styluses for the Pocket PCs, i hate it. hopefully those digitizers are attached to the tablet to prevent loss?

Short and sweat.

Parseive Digitizer is a system that is embedded between the outer surface and the LCD. The writing surface for parseive systems is usually more pliable. Examples would be PocketPC's and Palm's. Any pen or object can create a response, even a finger nail.

Active Digitizer is embedded beneath the LCD. Most tablets are active digitizer. The surface that you interact with is firmer (close to hard like glarse). Only a magnetized pen works with these systems. A pen from a Palm or PocketPC would not work. This creates the ability to enable the "hover" API's since you can hover a proper pen over an active digitizer and the curser will jump to that point. I found out that early generation active digitizer pens contained batts. Present technology creates the magitization from within the digitizer. The pen acts as a "reflector" to that field. With this you can add a switch to the pen to toggle right clicking functionality at the pen level and options are available to configure other toggle responses. A much more robust environment because the "hover" API's are utilized.

David

[neuromancer]

The pens come with a tie down. You can see one on the top photos of the Fujitsu. The other units are loaners so the pen ties are not present.

As it turns out the docs were turned on by the IBM X41. They have been using a couple of Fujitsu T4010's like the first unit I snapped photos of. Their major complaint is the weight with the dual batt configuration. The IBM X41 is thinner, lighter and much easier in the hand. They all hate the red "nipple" track ball thing but feel that they can over come that. Looks like we are buying a couple 3-4 to play with more in depth. The next step is to figure out if we can hook the fingerprint readers into a "Biometric Server" set-up so that all authenication can be achieve through active directory. We can store authentication locally on the machines but we want roaming profiles and the ability to log into any and all units through a centralized server.

One thing that is slick is the ability to manage the wireless connection with IBM software vs. allowing Windows (which just gets way wonky sometimes). With IBM management we can set up profiles for specific connections. If you are in a certain node location we can change the default printer to reflect one that is nearest to you etc. Run scripts the whole kit and cabbodle. Way cool stuff I have never played with before.

David