Looking for a sketching tablet

[KazeEnji]

General Questions.

1. What is your budget? ~$1500

2. Would you consider purchasing used/refurbished? yes

3. Do you prefer a Slate, Convertible or Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)? Slate

4. What size Tablet PC would you prefer? Mainstream or Large

* Small and light ~ 5" to 8.9"
* Compact ~ 10"
* Mainstream ~ 12.1"
* Large ~ 13.3"


5. Which country do you intent to purchase from? USA

6. Do you have any preferences to brand loyalty or dislikes? not really

7. How many hours battery life do you require? prefer 6 or higher

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

9. Do you have an OS preference? not really

10. What software and tasks do you intend to run? (Microsoft Office or other Word Processing Suite/Photoshop/3D Studio Max/Autocad etc) OpenOffice, Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, Maya (if it can handle Maya)

10. Do you intend on playing Games? If so please list. I'd like to but this is by far one of the lowest requirements. Games ranging from Starcraft to Supreme Commander



Screen Specifics

1. What resolution do you prefer? Probably WXGA

* XGA - 1024x768 ~ large and easy to read text and graphic icons but you fit less on the screen.
* SXGA - 1400x1050 ~ Small text and graphic icons which require good vision but the gain is a much larger screen. (no longer available new, must look for used or refurbished machines)
* WXGA - 1280x768 ~ has a wider usable area than XGA, ideal for viewing Spreadsheets and other programs that require desktop space. The mainly used resolution for new tablet PCs since 2008.


2. Do you require the screen to be readable in sunlight? It'd be nice but not necessary.

3. Do you prefer your display to be glossy or matte? Glossy

4. Do you require Touch? (without pressure sensitivity) (Which one: resistive or capacitive) Not really

5. Do you require a Pen? (with pressure sensitivity) (Which one: Wacom or N-Trig) Wacom always seems to be the way to go for art


Component Specifics

1. What size Hard Drive and Memory do you require? 4GB RAM min. HDD size doesn't matter too much but would prefer 7200 rpm or SSD

2. Do you require an Optical (CD/DVD) Drive to be built in? yes

3. Do you require ability to add a second Battery or Hard Drive (Modular Bay technology)? Nice to have but not necessary


Misc
1. Other non specific items ~ please add other items you require not covered above?

2. Additional requests ~ anything other you wish to take into consideration?
It'd be really cool if this could run Android with the Tegra 2 chipset but I think the Tegra platform is only for small mobile devices.

Side notes:
I'd been looking at the Modbook for a while now (about 1.5 years) and I finally placed my order for one a month ago. I have since canceled that order because Axiotron wasn't responding to the company I was going through and I got the same story from the other 5 companies I tried who could do a conversion service. So I'd like to stray away from Axiotron please and thank you.

[leaftye]

I'd sadly behind on current tablets, so I can't recommend any specific models. I do suggest looking for models with a bezel that's completely flush with the screen. I find any lip hard to write and sketch with near the edges.

Does Android handle XGA resolution yet? I don't believe it could before v2.2, and I'm not even sure 2.2 does yet. My brother seems to think Migo would be a better touch interface, but drivers are going to be an issue here as well.

[KazeEnji]

Yeah now that I think about it. Gingerbread should be the Android iteration that can handle higher res screens for larger devices...so don't worry about running Tegra or Android, just scratch that part