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Made the decision

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Not that you all were sitting around waiting for me to post my decision on which tablet pc I was going to keep, but I have made up my mind and thought I’d let you in on the decision.

The LS800 has pretty much been my sole computer on and off for the past month, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, loved having a computer that small, and it is completely up to the task to be my sole tablet pc. However,  I’ve decided to keep the X41 and let the LS800 go. Why?

1) Although the portability of the LS800 cannot be beat, I need to stay with the higher performing tablet. I’d rather sacrifice on the portability for performance. Encoding videos today showed me that. Plus, I have everything I need with the X41, except the size / unobtrustiveness of it.

2) The LS800 and the eo really showed me how valuable the companion computer idea is and I was able to experience the real strengths the LS800 has, especially in regards to taking notes ( active vs touch digitizers ). The price point,  though, even with my partner discounts, make it difficult to stick in the “companion computer” realm. To keep it, it would have to be my only computer.

3) Although 800 x 600 worked well for almost all of my applications and was actually much better to work with than I originally though, it did create some aggravations in regards to my programming and mindmapping. I need a minimum of 1024 x 768 for programming purposes and prefer a higher resolution for mindmapping.

4) Surprisingly, I didn’t mind carrying around an extra keyboard, but when I needed to get some programming work done,  I needed to find a flat spot for the ls800 and the keyboard.

5) A built-in keyboard ilike the OQO’s is really not a bad idea and should be strongly considered by all the UMPC oems and Motion. DialKeys is not going to cut it.

6) The LS800 was a much better experience for me than the LE1600. Why? The Lenovo keyboard I used was dependable and the bumpcase provided a nice stand. That combination, plus the size, made it a better slate tablet pc experience for me.

Am I going to miss it? Absolutely – I take it everywhere. I’m almost dreading writing this post because I know what it will mean. I’m going to go back to relying on my Treo and X41 and seeing how bad the pain is since getting use to having a very small computer with me everywhere I went.

I’ve learned some good lessons through this experiment:

1) Automatic sensing of input ( touch vs pen ) is the way UMPCs and the LS800 have to go.

2) Motion has the superior product on the market right now and the experience justifies the extra costs – as your own computer.

3) Built-in stands are a necessity. I shouldn’t need to buy a bump case to get it to stand up

4) Overall, I get more excited about using the LS800 vs the X41 – it feels more personable.

5) The extended battery really raised the value of the LS800 tremendously for me.

The LS800 has been sold.

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