The Sahara Slate i440D

[vander]

Has anybody used or use one of the beauties. I've almost decided that this is the Tablet for me but would love a bit of feedback and personal experience if it's out there. They are criminally expensive in Australia, but with the passive/active sreen, 7200rpm drive option, and a reasonably fast cpu it seems to fit my needs almost perfectly.. but is it worth the bloated price?

[Tiffany Boggs]

We actually reviewed on of TabletKiosk's i440D tablets. Check out our full review and video for some more information.

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=915

It is more of a niche market tablet, but very solid and nice design.

[quantum]

Any info on who supplies the dual mode digitizer to tabletkiosk? I'm asking because I had high hopes form the Dell Latitude XT, but so far the specs have been disappointing to say the least. I was hoping that the N-Trig digitizer could ratify some of those faults, and if the TK (which seems to have a very good digitizer) uses N-Trig as well, perhaps the XT could come back on my shopping list...

[vander]

Well my Sahara Slate i440D finally arrived and I have been messing around with it for about 3 weeks now. I have to say I'm so so glad I ended up with a Slate design Tablet instead of a Convertable, I haven't needed (or felt the loss of for that matter) an external mouse and keyboard yet, of course I've plugged them in for sh!ts n giggles but really, was not that necessary a thing. I do admit that I haven't been using the device to type any long documents and If i were I would most certainly plug one in, but I have other PC's for that.

Anyway, to stop this from being a 'review' per se I will just point out a few of the things I'm using it for and explain why this unit is perfect for my needs. Portability wise it is a dream at just over 1 and a half kg it is soo light, and carying it in my new Crumpler Breakfast Buffet shoulder bag is a dream. It sits so easily on my knees or lap and i can just tap away on the screen with my finger or any blunt (soft) object to access all the windows functions I require.

Music wise (which is primarily why I bought the unit) it works almost perfectly, It will take a little customising in Ableton Live to get the screen setupo just right for passive input, but my first few mixes have been quite promising. I have to say the most surprising thing about this unit though is the internal audio drivers and A/D converters. I haven't needed my Echo PCMCIA soundcard card yet and doubt i will as the sound from the Realtek HD outputs is crystal clear. This has greatly improverd its portablility and gigging status as I will be able to simply whip it out, turn it on, connect my Evolution UC16 MIDI controller and away I go.

So yeah overall I'm extremely happy and I have to thank these forums for helping to make my decision based on intelligence rather than possum eyes :P

oh: PS it really is one sexy looking piece of technology too, everyone who has seen it and touched it just goes gaga! nice..

[Medicalquack]

I also use the Sahara i440D and promote their use for physicians as well. Also, don't forget the contest that is going on now, runs until Friday. If you have a little artistic ability, design a new log for TabletPC2. Anyway, doesn't hurt to enter and possibly win a tablet either. I use Vista dictation on mine and it works great with the dual array microphones, no headset required. I don't miss my keyboard at all either. I found I use the touch screen ever more than I thought I would. Over all a very stable unit and I have used it for running flash presentations with some of the training I do. It does get a lot of attention, even at the local Microsoft Office where I attend meetings here and there...they like the unit too!

I have a healthcare blog, but on there you can find a number of links related to tablets that are good reading for anyone and there's a couple on You Tube with me showing Vista dictation as well under the MedicalQuack name. Here's a link to my site and there's a lot on there about using One Note as well. Some of it is medically directed and some is very generic and hopefully useful for anyone.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/

[mathiasm]

How do you type in URL in your browser ? Do you use a virtual keyboard or is there any handwriting-to-text pad you could scratch in ?

[SimsHsia]

You use the TIP to: a.) ink in the address; or b.) use the keyboard (in the TIP) and insert each character.

It's pretty much doing the same for a convertible Tablet PC in slate mode, minus the included keyboard.

[mathiasm]

You use the TIP to: a.) ink in the address; or b.) use the keyboard (in the TIP) and insert each character.

It's pretty much doing the same for a convertible Tablet PC in slate mode, minus the included keyboard.

Actually, it's even easier with ritePen :-)