Hi Ronald;

Thanks for the good input and words or encouragement. I think a Tablet PC will make a very suitable field data input device that will be a welcome change to those using the current devices. The only problems that I expect are durability issues and that there are some facilities or areas where the device may not be acceptable due to intrinsic safety listing requirements (tested and certified not to generate a spark for use in areas where flammable vapors may be present). But they allow cell phones, pagers, and PDA's in those areas and these devices are not listed as intrinsically safe so we'll see. Anyway, the application requires extensive field data entry and currently, the old data terminals and palm pilot size devices being used are a real PITA. I would expect that it will be very easy to create a useable data entry application for the tablet with easy integration to the main app that will be a great improvement over what we use now.

Elmer



>Elmer;
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>Our agency struggled for some time in developing a means for our providers to present and collect information in the field. After looking at Palms, Hand Helds etc. we almost made a decision to resort to a structured input forms designed for scanning. At the last minute, I purchased a Toshiba TabletPC 3500 to evaluate how practical it would be. In a matter of 2 days, all of our applications were ported over to the Tablet and we were quite surprised to find that with no modifications we were finding that they were approximately 80% functional with the use of the pen. Main frustrations were with the double click and right click functionality and form size that our apps were designed with.
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>With that success, we made a commitment to have our providers evaluate the possiblities of using the Tablet in the field and presented the Toshiba, Motion, Acer and HP for evaluation. The decision from the group was to go for the light-weight models with keyboard attached. They felt the smaller models (10" screen) would be the best so we purchased 5 Acers and 5 HP's and put them in the field. It has been interesting to get the users evaluation after 3-5 months of use. Our providers are limited in computer savey and those that were happy with their use were very happy and excited to proceed with the project. Those who were not in favor seem to be those who were basically afraid of change.
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>After the evaluation period, we brought everyone back to the table and wanted to get a concensus of which model we would go with. Our expectations are to have 150-180 out in the field by next year. I had purchased the Toshiba and was the only one using that model, I was very happy with performance and functionality (12" screen). In fact it was so good for me that I discarded my Dell 8100 and use the Toshiba exclusive for all development work etc. Other developers were using a HP and the other the Acer and found them to be much to slow, awkward using the keyboards and having nagging issues. The providers only having experience with the Acer and HP were satisfied, not knowing the difference in screen size and speed. We had a Gateway rep available and demonstrated the new Gateway with the 14" screen and we became impressed. So we purchased a Gateway to have the providers do a comparison for us. The intent was that the providers who were using the Acer and HP's rotate use with the
>Gateway to give us feel for the acceptance of the larger screen and weight of the Gateway compared to the Acer and HP. Well, we found very quickly that each provider was willing to lug around the extra weight because of the extra screen size and speed. In fact, we can not get the providers to share the Gateway with others!
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>As it stands right now, we are going to go with the Gateway as our TabletPC and it looks like the screen size is great, speed about the same as the Toshiba, the installed CD is a big plus. Negative would be the extra weight and even tho the screen is larger than the Toshiba, the resolution quality is not as good. The speaker is better as well.
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>Will have more to report on in the future when the rest of the Gateways start to arrive and we have more field testing underway.
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>Good luck on your selection, and I think you will be very satisfied with what you select
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>Ron
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>>I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced, convertable Notebook/Tablet PC. It doesn't have to be the fastest one on the block, but in the $1200 - $2000 range that is well built and will work well with VFP IDE and applications. I need a new laptop and want to experiment with building a VFP tablet application. Just thought I might be able to accomplish both with one package for the price of a laptop. Anyone have first hand experience willing to recommend one?