Beginner’s Guide

30 July 2006 at 4:06 pm

Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Blog Related

Welcome to The Student Tablet PC! If you are here, you are likely considering a Tablet PC or you already own one and want to maximize your experience. The following will serve as a rough guide to help you explore some of what a Tablet PC can offer.

(For any term you’re not familiar with, please take a look at our Glossary)

We do cater to students, as we are students ourselves, but the information here relates to anyone who is interested in Tablet PCs and wants to manage information more effectively.

Introduction to Tablet PCs

When you think Tablet PC, depending on your technology background, you likely picture a spiral notebook sized computer with limited power, or you picture a laptop with the ability to write on the screen and turn the screen around (from the Gateway commercials). Both ideas are correct, but few know that Tablet PCs range from the very small book-sized “slates” to the monster-sized high-power laptops (called “convertibles”).

A Tablet PC can be many things, but it is not just a big PDA. If you think you understand handwriting recognition because of your Pocket PC, think again. Most Tablet PCs use an active digitizer, meaning you can touch the screen with your finger all you want and nothing will happen. The digitizer pen acts as your mouse and writing utensil. Why is this a feature?

• Better handwriting recognition
• No accidental interference from your wrist or pinky while writing
• You still have the hover ability you have with a standard mouse

So how are you able to hover over things? It’s called an active digitizer because the computer is aware of where the pen is without you touching it to the screen, much like moving a magnet over iron particles. What created a click or ink stroke is not the pressure on the screen, it’s the pressure on the tip into the pen. For example, I can hover the pen 1 inch from the screen, use my finger to push the pen tip down, and the computer thinks I clicked the screen. This is also why you need to have a special digitizer pen.

Links to get you on your way

As this is only a guide, the following is simply a tour of places on the web to help you along your way. Several are in-house links to articles on our blog or posts on our forums, however a good number are external links to some of my favorite places in the tablet world and where I personally found a great wealth of knowledge.

Before you get a Tablet PC

The TabletPCBuzz will be mentioned several times in this guide and the first is a post titled So You Think You Want a Tablet PC. Full of more links and a walkthrough of finding just the right tablet, it can certainly get you on your way.

For a similarly themed post that is more concise and to the point, James Kendrick’s So you want to get a Tablet PC is also a great read.

On the Student Tablet PC, you may find the following articles helpful:

• Answering Common Tablet Questions
• The Right Tablet for You
• Why I’m Going Back to a Slate
• 30 Tips for a Tight Budget
• Tablet PCs for Your Budget

Tablet PC Reviews

If you’re looking for reviews on specific Tablet PCs, here’s a short list of some reviews to get you started.

Student Tablet PC Reviews:

• The Student Review of the Gateway M280/CX200X
• M200 First Impressions
• It’s Tablet Day! Motion LE1600, HP TC4200, and Sahara i215!

Outside Reviews:

• Toshiba Tecra M4 In-depth Review - Flying Shawn
• TabletPCReviewSpot.com
• **more coming soon**

Once you have a Tablet PC

TabletPCBuzz also has another great beginner’s article titled Welcome New Tablet PC User with links to several informative and humorous posts at the Buzz that is a great resource for any new owner.

Some additional favorites on TabletPCBuzz:

• If I had known then, what I know now
• ATTN ALL STUDENTS!!! (posted by yours truly ;-))
• Max Performance from Your Tablet PC

Of course Microsoft has a few resources for Tablet PC enthusiasts (though some are a little old or basic):

• Tablet PC Home Page
• The Tablet PC Show
• Windows XP Tablet PC Edition frequently asked questions
• Tablet PC How-To Articles

And some helpful Student Tablet PC articles for the new Tablet PC owner:

• Letter to a Newbie
• Ink as Ink
• Keeping Your Tablet Happy - Time for a Good Defrag
• Spring Summer Cleaning

And if at any point in your tablet’s life you need to reinstall the operating system, I highly suggest Warner Crocker’s Reinstallation Diaries.

Accessories

Along with your shiny new Tablet PC, you may want to consider some (or all) of the following accessories:

• External mouse and keyboard
• Docking station
• External CD/DVD drive (for tablets without internal ones)
• Scanner
• Printer
• Carry bag - see our article on bag/case options
• External monitor
• External microphone and/or web cam

Several students in our own forums detailed the contents of their backpacks in this thread: Anyone taking just their tablet to class?

Software

No system is complete without the proper software installed. For starters, TabletPCPost has the most comprehensive listing of tablet software organized by category.

If you are looking for software to fit your individual needs, I invite you to look at our Tablet PC University series where we interview several students of different majors to see how they are using their tablet.

If you plan on using your tablet for musical purposes, HughSung details setting up your tablet for musical performance.

To get a first-hand look at popular software, GottaBeMobile has wonderful InkShows that use screen recording and audio to walk you through each program.

Our Student Aps Demo video walks you through some student uses of popular (and not so popular) software.

Note-Taking

One of your main goals for owning a Tablet PC may be to go paperless, or to reduce paper use. Eric Mack’s Paperless Challenge joined forces with the Student Tablet PC to document what it’s really like to attempt to go paperless in a paper-filled world. Other paperless topics can be found under our Going Paperless category.

It’s common for students to struggle on which notes program to use, so here is a short list of in-house reviews of several top notes programs:

• Gobinder Review (2005)
• Gobinder 2006 Beta Review
• Organizing with GoBinder
• Mind Mapping Overview
• MindManager - Part 2
• The Journal Spiral
• OneNote (this is simply a link to our entire OneNote post category)
• My Name is Tracy and I’m a TEO-aholic

If you need some tips or reminders on how to take notes, or best practices taking notes on a Tablet PC, some of our following articles may be helpful read:

• Basics: Note-Taking
• Notes the Easy Way
• Note Strategies in Tablet Terms
• Study Smart With Your Tablet PC

Also useful may be Archiving Your Notes and Sharing Your Notes.

Scanning Books

Tablet PCs are great for eBook reading. Inevitably that lead to students scanning in textbooks for easy access and mark-up. If this interests you, the following articles can get you started:

• OpticBook 3600 and Scanning
• Digital Camera Scanning (if you don’t have a scanner)
• How to PDF Your Books with Acrobat
• OCR Tips & Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI)
• MODI vs. Acrobat & a MODI How-To
• Scanning a Book Start to Finish With MODI

Conclusion

The Tablet PC world is ever growing and expanding in resources. We hope you explore beyond what this page has to offer you, but if not, we hope we were able to get you on your feet and a little less overwhelmed by all that is out there.

Please check back periodically as we’ll be updating and adding links as new resources arise. If you have a link you’d like to add, please email tracy at studenttabletpc dot com.

Enjoy!