Share your tablet history - if you dare!

Can you imagine @dstrauss trying to do this? :smiling_face:

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Wed have to pony up for extra server space! :sweat_smile:

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That looks more like me counting the money I’m saving by ProVantage not shipping my SLS order.

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That was a GREAT blog…

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That ExoPC was so dang disappointing. I wanted it to be so good and it was just…not. And I was one of the lucky ones that actually got it. Then I returned it within the window when the OS never really materialized.

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I was in the Exopc forum too and did reserve one. However, I was lucky to bail early when I saw it wasn’t going to be all that. Plus there was no pen support.

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x230t - Solid workhorse, so much so I bought a second as a spare and parts. Both still are in use.

Protege M200 - Something cheap to play with, was well beaten by the time I bought it and lived a short life with me.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - Wanted something light to draw and consume media, unfortunately Android tablets just aren’t for me.

ATVN8 - Bought just for reading PDF’s, eBooks, doodling, and media consuption - rubbish WiFi.

Zbook X2 - Wanted to love it, but too heavy to use comfortably anywhere other than when seated. Rubbish battery, glorious pen experiece.

L390Y - A good successor to the x230t and my current daily driver.

Dotted in between has been an array of Wacom tablets.

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I’ve been retired since 2006 so FWIW my choices have tried to focus on what’s best for traveling (e.g., device size & weight, “good enough” software options, & decent occasional remote desktop usage).

Does the Tandy Model 100 count? If so, I started my tablet usage with one.

If not, here’s my list (devices I still own noted w/ “*”):

  • Lenovo x60
  • HP TC1000
  • HP TC1100
  • Viewsonic ViewPad 100 SuperPDA (Windows CE)
  • HP Touchpad (WebOS)
  • Surface Pro (the original)
  • Surface RT
  • Surface 3
  • *Huawei Matebook (original) - now used exclusively as a digital picture frame
  • Surface Pro 4
  • Surface Go
  • *Surface Go 2 - my primary traveling device
  • HP Stream 7
  • Lenovo Yoga Book (w/ Android)
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab E
  • NOOKcolor
  • Amazon Kindle Keyboard
  • Amazon Kindle WiFi
  • *Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
  • Amazon Fire 7 (5th Gen)
  • Amazon Fire 10 (2019)
  • Amazon Fire 7 (latest)
  • *Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020) - used exclusively to read Kindle-incompatible e-books
  • *Apple iPad (7th Gen) - now used exclusively by my wife
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Respect! :raised_hands:t2: :grin:

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It counts as both first tablet and first ultraportable - iconic! When you talk about “tech press events” the Tandy 100 was as ubiquitous back then as MacBooks/iPads are today…

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I consider the Tandy 100/102 more of a laptop than a tablet. I owned the NEC version of this device (PC-8201A) and absolutely loved it, but it had no real display to speak of and most certainly had no pen input. Battery life (4 AAs) lasted for months. The keyboard was as good as anything that Thinkpad developed over the years.

Okay I’ll have a go. Might not be truly in the right order. I’ve always wanted a device with a pen (maybe it’s a Star Trek thing), and even tried to make the old iPads into what the Surface would eventually do so well. I went through so many iPad touch screen stylus’, only for each to be slightly less worse.

  • iPad 3 (retina) - yes I resisted until the retina version

  • iPad Air - I should not have lifted my friends iPad to see what it felt like. The iPad 3 was quickly replaced.

  • Dell Venue Pro 8 - I loved this machine (if I can forget how bad the pen was) the form factor was great and so sturdy

  • Surface Pro 4 - finally the device that did all I wanted. It is still working away and now stationary as my desktop PC connected to two screens using the hub

  • Samsung Tab S6 Lite - something light for media consumption, and it has a pen too

  • Surface Pro 8 - I resisted upgrading from the SP4 as it still did the job, and then Microsoft did practically all the upgrades I wanted, and in graphite black. Now my travel anywhere PC, relegating my SP4 to a life at the desk

EDIT oh I forgot, there was a really cheap Kindle Fire quite a few years back. It was eventually ignored, with the lack of resolution and apps. I guess it fell behind the sofa, never to return.

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As a backdrop, for about the last fifteen years, I have bought old tech off Craigslist cheap, repaired it and then resold it. So, I have a gone through a lot of tech over the years (usually breakeven or for a profit). Here is my legnthy tablet history.
TC4200– My tablet odyssey started out with the gateway tablet that got a lot of us hooked. I found this on Ebay cheap, for like $50, minus RAM and the hard drive. I bought a dead laptop off Craigslist and harvested it for the parts necessary. Of course, it still ran Windows XP. The usefulness and productivity as a student and teaching at a community college quickly made me yearn for something that ran Windows 7.

TX 2500 – So, I managed to find a cheap TX2500 on CL. The combination of the parts made a little profit off the TC4200 and I bought a TX2500 from a jilted ex-husband who got the laptop but no password. Of course, in hindsight, this was a bad decision as mine was incredibly susceptible to the video display solder issue. Plus, the fan ran a lot, which bothered my law school classmates. I got like two years use out of it and then it died. We had a deal at the law school to use loan money to purchase a computer, so I got a Macbook Pro and kind of abandoned Windows for a while.

iPad – Around this time, the iPad 2 came out, so I was able to get a cheap version of the original iPad. I was the envy of my law school class, as I had scanned my thousands of pages of textbooks and was able to carry everything on this little gizmo.

iPad 2 – Eventually, subsequent models of the iPad came out, so I picked up a used iPad 2.

iPad 4 – I don’t remember much about this device, other than I remember being irritated at the new lightning connector. I also remember being said it was not a Surface Pro, as they came out shortly after that.

iPad Air – I got a well playing job, clerking all summer so I bought an iPad Air on clearance when the iPad Air 2 came out. I think I had this one the longest. Once I graduated law school and started practicing law, I remember buying a hard shell keyboard case for it. One of the reasons I drug it out so long was because I was waiting for the iPad Pro to come out. At that time, I had been anchored in the apple ecosystem. If the Pro competed with the Surface, I would stay. If not….

Elitebook 8760p – We all know the iPad was not that great, so back to Windows I go. This one had a bit of a sketchy story, as the guy selling it worked for HP and had won a bunch of credit as a sales incentive. He bought like three of these when they were going for $1,500 and he was going to keep one and flip the other two. He hated it. I guess he sold the new ones pretty easy on Ebay but he could not get any interest in the one he actually opened. He finally sold it to me for like $500 (with the paperwork, so I knew it was not stolen). I used it for a couple years, but did not really like it. A lawyer from another firm commented on it and I sold it to him for a grand – another nice profit.

Surface 3 – By then, I decided I did not really need a laptop – I had been fixing and flipping broken laptops on Craigslist for a while, so I had a top of the line Macbook unibody that was making due (this was 2016, so it was not that old). The Surface 3 had been out for a while, so I used my profit to buy one. We all know now – nice try but it sucked.

Surface Pro 4 – Our office manager saw the Surface 3 and did a cost analysis on getting rid of paper and buying everyone Surfaces. I was the guinea pig and my firm bought me a Surface Pro 4. Finally, I had found 2-in-1 zen. Of course, it died a lot.

Surface Pro 2017 – which led to the Surface Pro 2017 as a warranty replacement after I went through 4 or 5 SP4’s in one year.

Ipad something – I was recruited away by another firm and the Surface was not mine, so I downsized to an iPad – whatever the cheapest one with a pencil was. I had a windows phone, windows laptop but I am stuck with this stupid iPad. But, it was super productive. I had been real sick that year (whole other story) so we had a lot of hospital bills and this was the rare time my wife vetoed an electronics purchase.

SurfaceGo – I rode out the iPad for a while, but, right before the SurfaceGo 2 came out, the Surface Go took a huge drop in price. I was able to get an open box (but like new) Surface Go 8GB/128 for like $299. I knew the keyboard was tiny so I didn’t even get one (though I did eventually). By then, the money situation was better and my wife got the old iPad, so the veto vote was withdrawn.

SurfaceBook2 – When the pandemic hit, I worked a lot and was flush with some bonus money and we needed another computer because my wife was teaching at home and my daughter was learning at home. I managed to get a MS refurbished Surface Book2 from Best Buy for $1,000. The plan was to drop the Surface Go and stop carrying two devices, but the SB2 hated that idea. It was, without a doubt, the second worst laptop I have ever owned (the TX2500 above wins). I never used it as a tablet, it always was turning on in the bag. I just hated it. So, I got rid of it.

Surface Go2 – The OG Surface Go was sluggish, so when the Go2 took a huge price dip, anticipating the 3s, I had a bunch of credit saved up with Microsoft from Bing reward points and bought a Surface Go2 m3. It’s my favorite device now. Sometimes I use it as a laptop, sometimes as a tablet, sometimes I hook it up to my portable monitor. The only thing it struggles with is Zoom, but that may be because I run it through the website plugin.

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I’m not nearly the connoisseur everyone else is, though I love the tech, and fell in love with the idea of having a tablet pc when the Asus EP121 was first announced. My problem is, I’m cheap, so I never spent much money on anything, until my most recent purchase when I finally said, forget it, I’m getting something flagship and nice.

Anyway

HTC Flyer (loved this thing so much, it was Uh Mazing at the time) I somehow made this last for several years, even though Android fragmentation was incredibly bad at the time.

HP Omni something or other. It broke before I had it a year and I sent it back to the factory. They said it couldn’t be fixed and wasn’t being made anymore, so they gave me a refund. My laptop was on the fritz at the time, so I bought a new laptop instead. Was tablet-less for a few years until I got the next one on my list.

Lenovo Miix 700 (m7 version) I used this for about 5 years as my everything device until time and bad updates finally got to it.

Huawei Mate 20X (Yes, it’s a phone, but it’s basically the same screen size as my HTC Flyer was, and has a pen as well. Aside from the stupid ban on software companies doing business with Huawei, so no updates for 3 years, it’s been a great travel device/sketchbook)

iPad Pro 2020 current device. I did tons of research, tests in store, questions on the original TPCR page, before committing to an evil Apple device. So much to love, so much to hate about it, but it’s definitely the most premium/ best tablet experience overall. The Miix 700 was a better this is the only device I need device. I wish there had been more advancement between my Miix 700 and 2020, but every device I tested at the time had worse pen performance than the Miix 700 did, where the iPad blew them out of the water, so here we are. Maybe my next device will be a SP9 or 10 or whatever when I finally upgrade. Problem is, I also got a 2020 MBP for work, so I don’t really have a reason for a do everything device, and, see point 1: I’m cheap.

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its good to know there are more sick people around world like me xD
my first one was drawing tablet wacom bamboo bought around 2006?7? then

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, easy pick at that time. Android was fresh, build in emr. Real issue was no software. Artflow was/is literally the only program i like. But this device failed to provide any money.

Surface pro 1, another emr device. At that time ive had like 2 wacom up817e. Ive made a lot of money of this device.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4, yup, emr was just too good. I imagined this device as a go to small drawing tablet. Failed hard my expectation. Artflow and Nomad sculpt. Rest was trash. Same story as with 10.1 tablet, no money.

Cube Mix Plus, True succesor to Surface pro 1/2. Unfortunatelly no support for wintab so i had massive problems and this device was unusable for a long time. Now its getting better thanks to windows ink support in apps that i use but it lays mostly unused.

Asus Vivotab note 8, i bought it with broken charging port, repaired, used for few projects so it at last paid for it self. I like this size. Unfortunately it requires a lot of optimisation to be usable. Its the ony emr device i use from time to time.

Lenovo flex5 14, i bought it for my mum so she can play solitare. I was curious about wacom AES. Its usable but bad in general.

Im still looking for some ridiculous second hand prices on Toshiba Z20t-c, Lenovo helix2 and cube i7 book. Basicly any decent preKabyLake/Windows10 device. I dont need it, but whatever.

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Wow, I really had to sit down to think about this one. I’ve owned far too many Wacom products in my life–and I am so much happier that I’ve moved away from them. I’ve spent so much of the last 15 years reinstalling Wacom drivers every 2-3 months.

Tablet PCs & All-in-Ones
2006 - HP iPAQ HX2490C Pocket PC
2012 - Samsung Series 7 Slate (on the advice of TPCR :D)
2018 - iPad 12.9
2018 - Surface Pro 6
2019 - Surface Studio 2
2020 - Samsung Notebook 9 Pen (on the advice of TPCR :'D)
2021 - Samsung tab S7 FE (on the advice of TPCR :sparkles:)

Wacoms
2006 - Graphire 3
2007 - Cintiq 21UX (DTZ)
2008 - Cintiq 12WX
2010 - Cintiq 21UX (DTK)
2013 - Cintiq 22HD
2014 - Cintiq Companion Hybrid

The devices I’m currently using a little bit each day are my iPad 12.9, the Samsung tab S7 FE, my Samsung Notebook 9 pen.
My main driver since 2019 is my Surface Studio 2. I love this thing so much, if I didn’t hate how terribly it’s begun to overheat. (Probably due to dust inside the chassis.) I’ve done the best I can to clean it out, and I have literally pointed a floor-sized fan at it to help with heat exchange on the base. I’m not looking forward to when I need to upgrade. There’s currently nothing newer on the market that satisfies my needs. Unless Microsoft wants to make a Surface Studio 3. :thinking:

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i used to have a list of tablets in a spreadsheet,
but can’t find it.

  • several windows tablets that ran windows TabletPC or xp
    these were huge clunky ones, with vga ports, and serial ports, and
    dedicated keyboard and mouse ports on them

– 2 different motion computing ones, a 10 inch one, and 14 inch one

  • 1 fujitsu 14 inch one

  • a few HP tablets including tc-1100 and another that was a hybrid laptop where
    the screen flipped over

  • some kind of super slim NEC one that ran XP

  • surface pro 1

  • surface pro 2 (using now)

  • surface pro 3

later
-1

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You know, I have one of those with expenses and “months used”. It’s a bit confrontational. :joy: The last version told me that I’ve been spending $120 per month on tablets for the past decade or so. This addiction hobby adds up!

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