Dec 15, 2013
Continuing with my coverage of 10-11 inch Windows tablets, a quick look at the Dell Venue 11 Pro. I mentioned this tablet first in this post, and it looks like the Bay Trail version of it just started shipping. The Haswell version has been shipping a bit longer. You’ll see below that I think neither looks like a great choice.
Dec 14, 2013
An Important new Bay Trail tablet just became available in the US market. It’s the Fujitsu Q584. It’s now the second 10 to 11 inch Bay Trail model to appear for sale here, after the Asus Transformer Book T100.
It’s important to me because it brings all the advantages of Bay Trail, and adds a good digitizer pen. It also offers more storage and RAM than other offerings to date. On top of that, it has an incredibly high resolution screen, and the unit is ruggedized and even waterproof! All at 1.4 pounds and 11 hours of battery life.
However, this is probably too over engineered and too expensive for most of us (starts at $879 without the keyboard dock). It’s really pointed at the shop floor or medical market, where Fujitsu has maintained a high-end Tablet PC presence for years, long after the Tablet PC was dropped by other PC manufacturers.
In other words, if you are simply looking for a Bay Trail tablet with a good digital pen, I’d wait. You’ll probably soon get a much better price from Lenovo or Sony or some other manufacturer that has shown a dedication to supplying pens with some of their tablet models, and at more competitive prices.
Here’s a brief review:
http://www.winbeta.org/news/fujitsu-q584-windows-81-tablet-finally-sale-us-market
And here is the Fujitsu website:
http://www.shopfujitsu.com/store/stylistic-q584-tablet-pc#wf_accessories
Michael
Dec. 12, 2013
Here is an extract from the new 4th Edition of my Outlook book. This extract is on how to use Window Outlook Instant Search in a more powerful way. Instant Search is simply the search box that sits above the Inbox in Outlook. There is a lot more power hidden in this box than you realize! This extract comes from pages 127-129 in the new book.
Why read this? Effective use of Outlook search saves you a lot of time. And once you get good at this, you can do a lot less topic-based filing (which also saves you considerable time). Macintosh Users: the book shows you how to use Mac’s Outlook 2011 search tool as well; I just don’t show the extract here. Continue reading
Dec 8, 2013
I’ve been talking about the promise of upcoming Bay Trail -based tablets for some time. Well, I finally got my hands on one and have been using it for about a week: it’s the Asus Transformer Book T100.
The results are game changing. This is a near-full-powered Windows tablet/laptop with the size, weight, and battery life of an iPad. I finally feel like I can get the true tablet experience without compromising significantly on Windows performance. And that’s important when using the MYN productivity system, since many people want tablet options for going mobile with desktop Outlook and other productivity applications.
Dec 4, 2013
I wrote an article last year called Still a Two-PC World. I find it is time to restate and update that article, given changes in the tablet landscape, and, given comments I’ve received recently.
The gist of that article is this: to fulfill your mobile productivity computing needs, don’t expect to find one computer/tablet that does it all. You’re not going to find one hybrid PC that does a good job as both a tablet and a full-powered work laptop. Even though there are a lot of 2-in-1 hybrids out there, none of them fill that role, and I don’t think they ever will.
November 29, 2013
I’ve been waiting and watching for some 10-inch Bay Trail Windows tablets to roll out. These are iPad-sized tablets that promise access to a full desktop copy of Outlook, something often needed when using the MYN e-mail and task productivity system. Such tablets give you a full version of Windows, not the limited Windows RT version like on the Surface 2 (non-Pro). And recall, Bay Trail devices run just as fast as many laptops, but with a smaller tablet size and very long battery life.
One such tablet that has been out almost a month now is the Asus Transformer Book T100. It was recently the number-one best-selling laptop on Amazon. The 64GB version lists for $399 with keyboard and Microsoft Office (Home and Student) included, which is an incredible price. Continue reading
November 15, 2013
Looks like the ebook version is still about a month out, our apologies. We’ve just rejected the epub results from one vendor, and are switching to another, so sort of starting over.
The issue is mainly the index. We really want a linked index in the epub, and that’s harder to do than first thought. But I think it is really needed in a technical reference like this.
By the way, most publishers, when they convert to epub, just take a PDF version of the book and OCR it to get the epub text. But that leads to errors and no features like a linked index. And if you put out an early poor version, it is very hard to update those delivered files on Kindles and Nooks, once you have the better file. We need to do it exactly right the first time.
So thanks for your patience. By the way, we are looking into activating a new program on Amazon called Matchbook, where if you buy the paper book you can get the Kindle version for only $2.99. We’ll keep you up to date on if we can get that activated for this title.
Michael Linenberger
November 15, 2013
Intel just put out a PDF brochure where they highlight their recommended list of new Bay Trail and Haswell tablets (and a few “portable” computers).
It’s a nice summary of what’s out now on the latest processors. (Shows mostly Windows but also shows a few Android tablets.)
http://download.intel.com/newsroom/kits/pcrefresh/pdfs/Intel_BuyersGuide_Holiday_2013.pdf
Mine Not There
By the way, the tablet upgrade I want isn’t in there (and isn’t even announced yet). I want an iPad-size/weight windows tablet with a new processor (read Bay Trail), with a high-quality pen interface. The latter (good pen interface) seems to be the hard thing to find. Basically, I want an upgraded (Bay Trail) Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2. Still waiting (but it’s coming).
I had hopes for the Bay Trail versions of the upcoming Dell Venue 11 Pro, but apparently Dell is using a low-cost digitizer on its new Venue line that is very poor for taking notes (that’s the reports on the 8 inch model). And I don’t even see a pen listed as an option on Dell’s page.
In general, I am a bit disappointed by what has been announced so far for Bay Trail. A month ago, Intel had claimed a long list of low-cost Bay Trail tablet models would be in the pipeline by now. But not really there yet.
Sony VAIO Tap 11
In that Intel brochure the new Sony VAIO Tap 11 looks interesting. It’s essentially a Surface Pro competitor (full i5 processor), but thinner and lighter than the Surface Pro. My only worry is, compared to Bay Trail tablets, it lists only 6 hours of battery life and it’s still somewhat heavy (1.7 pounds). And it’s a bit pricey, like the Surface Pro. A full review of the Sony VAIO Tap 11 is here.
Michael Linenberger
October 25, 2013
We all know by now that the advantage a Windows tablet gives is access to desktop copies of Outlook, Word, Excel, and so on. But what does that really mean and how practical is using such software on an iPad-sized tablet? Why not just get a laptop for that work, and then carry an iPad or Android (both with more apps available) as your tablet?
October 24, 2013
Tuesday was a big day this week because it was the day that the new iPad Air and Surface 2 came out. Tablets are very legitimate productivity tools, which is why I track these releases so closely. Here are my very quick thoughts on the new iPad and Surface.
