For the past two weeks, I have been able to try out what I've called my ideal office setup - a Wacom Cintiq 12WX combined with an OQO Model 02. Generally I've been very happy with this combination as an ideal office set up. You've heard a lot about the OQO already, so I focused on the Wacom Cintiq 12WX for my very first solo InkShow.

As some initial impressions:

• What a marvelous screen! It's crisp and clear and easy for me to read. The resolution is 1280x800 and that's perfect for me for that size of device.
• The size and weight are good. It's easy to pick it up and hold it in my lap while writing or browsing.
• I wish all Tablet PC pens were as comfortable to use as the Cintiq pen! The grippy bit is very nice, and it has good balance and diameter.
• Love the pen stand. It's a simple thing, but I never wonder where my pen went to on my desk.
• I love the ExpressKeys. It's entirely possible that I might be able to completely rid myself of a keyboard on a regular basis.
• On the negative, I have seen the "confused digitizer" issue that Ken Hinckley mentioned in my first post, but I think I may have a workaround. Ironically, I haven't seen the problem since I figured out the workaround, so I haven't been able to test it yet.
  • The symptom I saw was when I had the OQO docked and resumed from sleep, the 12WX digitizer and the OQO digitizer were flip-flopped. I had to use the pen on the OQO to move the mouse cursor on the 12WX screen. The 12WX pen didn't appear to be doing anything. There was no clear way to fix this aside from a reboot, although an undock/dock sometimes worked too.
  • Workaround: I mention it in the video, but basically, use two of the ExpressKeys to force the digitizers to "remember" themselves. Once I find out for sure if it works, I'll give an update.
• In one of my "D'oh!" moments, I completely forgot to demo the actual inking on the monitor, so I'll do a quick follow-up showing how the inking works in an application like Journal or OneNote. My impression is that it works just fine, dependent on the actual computer. Recognition rate was the same as it was on the computer.
• Available from Wacom for $999 and from many other places online.

Oh, and the one I bought for work just came in today, so I'll still have the joy of using this lovely monitor every day.  

• Download the hi-res version (wmv, 20min, 139MB)
• Watch the embedded video below

Click To Play