Looking for a note-taking tablet PC with a stylus - but without the capacitive touchscreen

General Questions.

1. What is your budget?
$300-1000
Something towards the lower end of the budget would be nice.

2. Would you consider purchasing used/refurbished?
Yes.

3. Do you prefer a media/mobile tablet like the iPad, Windows tablet PC, or notebook convertible?
Windows preferred.

4. What size Tablet PC would you prefer?

• 5 to7-inches
• 7.1 to 10-inches
• 10 to 13-inches
• Above 13-inches

Around 10 inches.

5. Which country do you intent to purchase from [where do you live]?
The United States.

6. Do you have any preferences to brand loyalty or dislikes?
No.

7. How many hours battery life do you require?
I need enough to last a full day - 15 hours, 8 hours notes.

8. What will be the primary usage scenario of this tablet? (Email/Web Surfing/Drawing/Word Processing/Entertainment/Notetaking etc)
Primarily note taking.

9. Do you have an OS preference? For example, do you own an iPhone and a Mac, or are you a Windows fan? Do you own an Android device and use Google services frequently?
Windows preferred.

10. What software and tasks do you intend to run? (Microsoft Office or other Word Processing Suite/Photoshop/3D Studio Max/Autocad etc)
Microsoft Office and OneNote preferred.

11. Do you intend on playing Games? If so please list.
No.

12. Would you like to stream content through your home theater system?
No.

Screen Specifics

1. Any preference on screen resolution?
No.

2. Will you be using the tablet outdoors? Do you need to be able to see it through glare from the sun?
See the above linked FAQ for guidance
No.

3. Do you require a pen? With or without pressure sensitivity? Do you prefer Wacom or N-trig?
See the above linked FAQ for guidance
Yes, pressure sensitivity is important. Wacom.

Here is my special request: I would like a up to date tablet that has a goodW̶a̶c̶o̶m̶ ̶p̶e̶n̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶c̶a̶p̶a̶c̶i̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶u̶c̶h̶s̶c̶r̶e̶e̶n̶ EMR (not AES) stylus. I've searched high and low on the internet and have found nothing.

This is because earlier this year I obtained a Fujitsu Stylistic 5111 tablet that had one of those old-school pen-only touchscreens. It had a Wacom stylus; the pressure sensitivity and the stylus in general worked wonderfully. The feeling of the pen on the soft-ish screen was nice. Unfortunately, this tablet was outdated, bulky, and too heavy for day to day use.

I bought a Dell Venue 11 Pro 7139 with a "Dell Venue Active Stylus" (AES) - this is the revised stylus without all the problems - however, the experience was still horrendous. Pressure sensitivity seems to be nonexistent. The pen is jumpy and overall, a terrible experience. The writing experience on the Stylistic 5111 is far superior.



Component Specifics

1. What size Hard Drive and Memory do you require? Would you like expandable memory?
Just enough to store some notes locally.

2. What sort of inputs do you require, if any? Would you like full-sized USB and SD card slots? Are microUSB and microSD ok? Do you require HDMI inputs?
Full size

Misc
1. Other non specific items ~ please add other items you require not covered above?
No.

2. Additional requests ~ anything other you wish to take into consideration?
See the pen section.

Thank you all for the help and advice. I really appreciate it!
Sam

 

I doubt you will find what you are looking for in a modern package. I would suggest trying out a new wacom model at the store, like the ThinkPad Yoga model with a pen and you maybe surprised how nice it is.
As for what you are looking for the ThinkPad tablet 10(the latest model) may fit your needs, minus the battery life(which is at around 8 hours), and only using a microSD slot vs a full size one(won't really find full size SD anymore).

 

I do not know of any pen tablet PC that does not have a touch screen by default. Good news is that you can disable the touch HID from Device Manager. It'll have no touch response whatsoever, and the good thing is that you'll be able to turn it back on when you want it on to play a game or surf the Web (surfing and reading is more natural and comfortable with touch interface than pen maneuvering)

For just note taking your budget is very handsome for a 10 incher with Wacom. You can look at the Fujitsu Q584, Surface Pro 2, the Lenovo Thinkpad 10.

If you consider new tech. Wacom has a new digitizer tech we refer to as AES. EMR pens from Wacom will not work on it. But AES is more accurate (not precise) than Wacom EMR, and you'll welcome it on a 10 inch tablet. You can look at the new Encore 2 Write 10" Tablet.

Although my personal preference for note taking would be the new Surface 3, which is N-Trig, if I wanted a 10 inch. Otherwise you can look at the Surface Pro 3 with core i3. They cost around 800 bucks and the size of the screen will reassemble a letter size writing pad. The size of a 10 inch screen is like a letter size page folded in half.

The mushy soft feeling on screen can be accommodated by changing the nib to a felt, stroke or flex nib provided you're using a standard Wacom pen. A diffrent texture on the screen can simulate pen on paper if you use an anti glare screen protector.

Swiped from my Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk
Edit reasons: grammar and stuff...

 

Hi there, thanks for the replies and suggestions. Sorry I took so long to reply- I was out checking out tablets. I did try the Surface 3 at the store the other day, and the writing experience was pretty similar to the Dell.

Please check out the pictures --- the two "Capture.png" are from the Dell Venue - clearly the pressure sensitivity is kicking in at the wrong points. The edges of letters don't get thinner. However, as you can see on the "IMG_3744.jpg" from the Stylistic, the edges of the letters are lighter and overall, it just looks more crisp and more readable. It's even more evident when you zoom out on the Dell - it just looks terrible and unreadable.

Can something similar to what I get from the Stylistic be obtained by any newer tablets? --- Do you guys know of any newer tablet that has a similar stylus (what's it called, anyways)? It might not have to be today's latest and newest - something that's 'new enough' (from a few years back) could suffice.

Just curious, but have any of you ever tried one of those older style tablets? It just seems superior...

Thanks!
Sam

 

Yeah, I get the same sort of thing. The problem seems to be the whole accuracy / precision tradeoffs and there’s an anti-jitter algorithm which runs on the EMR pens which smooths strokes out, but if the AES and other active pens have the same sort of adjustment, it’s either tuned differently, or functions differently ’cause it has more / different data.

EMR works better for me too, but I’m learning to adapt to AES — cutting back on coffee and tea and trying to focus on writing more smoothly.

 

Wacom EMR is still the gold standard for note-taking IMO. I particularly liked my EMR pen with a softer tip, feeling a lot like a felt tipped pen. My handwriting is not as good with N-Trig technology and I have to concentrate more to keep my handwriting legible. My M80TA was a great note-taker. You can always change the feel of the display by adding an anti-glare screen protector.

I would watch the Fujitsu outlet on EBay. You can pick up a Q584 for a few hundred refurbished if you don't mind a white tablet.

 

Yeah, I definitely agree with you guys.

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for those Q584s. However in the meantime, do any of you know of a list of EMR tablets? Or do you know any other EMR tablets similar to the Q584? (I don't feel that spending $400+ on a refurb/used tablet on eBay is worth it)

Thanks!

 

I gave you other options on my post above. But if you want to snoop at the entire lot:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/thr...t-tablets-and-convertibles-with-stylus.52592/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I am looking for a list of EMR tablets - not just any tablet with a stylus.

Please let me know if there is one of those out there. I wasn't able to find one.

Thanks!

 

Filter is Exal Spreadsheet under Digitizer Type to Wacom.....