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Sunday, August 19, 2007

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Follow Up on the Gateway E295/C-140X

I’ve been evaluating and trying out some new devices lately (and getting ready for a new round of evaluations soon.) So, I thought it would be a good time to do some follow up on the Gateway E295/C-140X Convertible Tablet PC.

The Gateway E295/C140–X

If you’re looking for a desktop replacement with Tablet PC functionality, I think the E295/C140–X would more than serve your needs. (Make sure you check out the InkShow on The Gateway E295/C-140X) In fact, within that desktop replacement context, I think this convertible Tablet PC is a real winner. Everything I threw at it these last several weeks handled just fine. I’m impressed with the Inking and kudos to Gateway for abandoning the FinePoint digitizer in favor of Wacom. Given my schedule I never did install Vista on the device instead sticking with XP. That was a factor of time more than anything else. I would imagine the Tablet PC experience would be even better with Vista’s Tablet PC improvements.

The Widescreen

I’ve stated many times that I’m not a widescreen Tablet PC fan. That said, after few weeks of usage I’ve come to really enjoy the 14” WXGA screen on the Gateway. Going back to a 12” screen leaves me wanting more on some occasions. I’ve always seen the appeal of the widescreen models, but I don’t think they make much sense in my mobile environment. As a desktop replacement, however, that is another story.

Performance

Since I’ve been using a Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Tablet PC, a lot of my comparisons are within that context. The two machines are configured differently, (The Gateway has 1GB of memory and the processor is 1.8Ghz, The Lenovo has 2GB of memory and the processor is 1.6GHz) so direct comparisons don’t really mean that much and would be unfair in my opinion. That said, I noticed no significant differences in performance between the two machines.

Battery Life

Gatewaye295_20029_thumb As I said in the InkShow review the 8–cell battery booted up showing about 5.2 hours available. In practice I was getting about 4.4 hours using Power Optimized settings. Switching to the 12–cell battery, I was able to stretch that to almost 7 hours which is impressive. If I were going to purchase this device as a desktop replacement, I’d opt for the 12–cell. The extra weight isn’t going to matter much in that case.

Lack of Auto-Rotate

Although the Gateway stayed on my desk most of the time, the few occasions I did put it into slate mode left me wishing that they had included an auto-rotate feature for the screen. Sure the button is easy enough to push, and I’m sure I’d get used to that over time, but I do miss being able to auto-rotate the screen.

Final Thoughts on the Gateway E295/C-140X

As I said earlier, if you’re looking for a desktop replacement with Tablet PC features, I don’t think you have to look far beyond this Convertible Tablet PC. It has enough power and functionality to handle most needs. If my life and work style were a bit more deskbound I could see myself shifting my scenario and using the Gateway in just this way with a UMPC when I needed to go mobile.

Tags: Gateway, E295, C-140X, Tablet+PC

Hardware | Gateway | Tablet PC

8/19/2007 11:45 AM MST

Follow Up on the Gateway E295/C-140X Comments [3] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Monday, August 20, 2007 1:36:02 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Thanks for the update, Warner!

It looks like the biggest issue you have with this Gateway is the size/weight. But again, it appears that you use it to write while having it cradled in your arm/on the go. You said that it's a winner for a desktop replacement (which in my definition means that it mainly sits on the desk for weeks or months at a time before being moved elsewhere). Is that what you meant?

What would your opinion be if it was in the context of a college student or something similar where the machine follows one around during the entire day (and everyday) from class to class (meeting to meeting, etc.) and there's always a desk (perhaps small to barely fit letter sized paper to larger surfaces)? Of course, also with the consideration of walking as the main mode of transportation.

Lastly, in your experiences of using TabletPC's (and in particular, Gateways), what's your take on the usual warranty (tech support/parts/labor), accidental damage (drop/spill/surge), and battery replacement plan? Is it worth it if the purchase was meant to last ~3-4 years?

Thanks again!

And anyone else, please feel free to respond!

potentialbuyer

Monday, August 20, 2007 5:39:31 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

potentialbuyer,

I think a student could be well served by this Tablet PC. In my opinion, it would be a bit heavy in a backpack, but could be luggable.

As to the warranty issue, I have never owned a Gateway or had experience with Gateway with the issues you mention. If you are looking at using the device for 3-4 years, I would say it would be worth it, unless you have other insurance.

Warner Crocker

Monday, August 20, 2007 7:29:00 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I enjoy reading your elements often. I bought this Gateway unit and then returned it. My biggest problems with it were that the finger print reader isn't on the screen side. So when in tablet mode you can't use it. the brain trust at Gateway put the reader on the keyboard, which needless to say isn't a smart place, while you're trying to use it as a tablet. If you use the reader for anything more than start up passwords ods are you wnat it while in tablet mode (slate mode whatever). The other challenge I had was right out of the box it gave me some driver install errors. I figured, "hey no problem" call tech support. on the 3rd person they couldn't figure out why the visto OS was asking for the direver for my Hard Drive... which obviously was working. The 3 tech folks, none of them could figure out how to get past it and finally I was able to figure out that the system basically needed to search itself for the dirver that was already there (duh). ?? The comment from the help desk guy.. "well this is only the start of our Vista problems sir." While I like his honesty, after spending that kind of coin it wasn't my preference!

Ed Stern

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