Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

driven · Jul 30, 2006, 03:30 PM

Folks,

I need advice. I'm looking to get something tablet PC-ish.

Primary use: Combining notes with on-the-fly drawings and highlights. (Educational setting). OCR would be nice as well, but not a mandate.

Will the Wacom tablet combined with my Powerbook do the trick, or should I be considering changing platforms to the Tablet PC? (Considering either a Thinkpad X tablet or perhaps even a smallish Samsung Q1). Ideally if the Wacom tablet will do the job I'd rather do that as the investment is less.

OreoCookie · Jul 30, 2006, 03:36 PM

Wacom offers some tablets with an integrated lcd. Perhaps these will meet your needs?

stefanicotine · Jul 30, 2006, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Wacom offers some tablets with an integrated lcd. Perhaps these will meet your needs?

From the sounds of his post, he needs it for school or college. In which case, the LCD Wacom tablet would be very impractical. They aren't a portable item. In fact, they're a very bulky 21" LCD monitor.

For mere note taking, yes a Wacom tablet coupled with a Powerbook would be great. Even a Graphire would be fine for note taking. I used to have a Graphire3 and it was ok for writing. Horrible for art though. I have an 12x9 Intuos3 now and it's so incredible. But, I have used tablet PC as well and they are much more practical then even a Wacom tablet. The only downside with tablet PC's is that you end up paying an enormous wad of cash for a laptop with very mediocre specs and the ability to write notes with very limited touch sensitivity. Plus, it's Windows.

I'd go with the Wacom tablet if I were you. Either a Graphire 6x8 or an Intuos 4x5. Both are relatively cheap and do the job well (for note taking anyway). Not to mention the fact that OS X was practically designed for tablets. The prepackaged integration is phenomenal and unparalleled by Windows.

driven · Jul 30, 2006, 04:00 PM

Perfect. That's what I was looking for. Yes, it's a college setting. I'm the instructor and would like to be able to give students my notes that I write on the overhead after the class so that they can concentrate on the material rather than spend their time in "copy what's on the board" mode. (At least the ones that aren't wasting their time with Yahoo messenger).

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the feedback.

If anyone else has any experience with the Wacom vs. TabletPC please chime in.

driven · Jul 30, 2006, 05:15 PM

as I type this I am picking up an Intous 4x5. I was going to get the Graphire but they only had it in 4x5. the Intos was $50 more after rebate.

please let me know if I am overbuying for my needs here. I can still exchange for the graphire.

(pardon my ignorance, but I am unfamiliar with these products)

stefanicotine · Jul 31, 2006, 12:27 AM

The Intuos is great. You definitely won't regret it. And if your students need copies of your notes then yes, the Intuos is a good idea. Higher quality, your notes will look like notes, not scribbles.