Illustrator looking for a new tablet.

[Flyerfye]

General Questions.

1. What is your budget?

$1500, would prefer less expensive if it'll do what I need it to, or options for multiple price points. (~$500, ~$1000, ~$1500)

2. Would you consider purchasing used/refurbished?

Definitely. Prefer refurbished.

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

Convertible or Slate.

4. What size Tablet PC would you prefer?

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

Anywhere between Compact and Large, currently using Mainstream and it's been great.

5. Which country do you intend to purchase from?

In USA, probably ordering online.

6. Do you have any preferences to brand loyalty or dislikes?

No

7. How many hours battery life do you require?

2+

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

Drawing and digital painting. Probably with reasonably large Photoshop files.

9. Do you have an OS preference?

Windows 7 only please.

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

Photoshop. Lots of Photoshop. Support for 3D programs (3DSMax, Maya, Mudbox) would be a bonus, but not required.

10. Do you intend on playing Games? If so please list.

Yes, but what I play on it will depend on what tablet I get, not the other way around.

Screen Specifics

1. What resolution do you prefer?

• 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.

More real estate is always nice, prefer higher resolution for art. Used to WXGA on my current tablet pc.

2. Do you require the screen to be readable in sunlight?
See the above linked FAQ for guidance

Would be nice but not required.

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

No requirement.

4. Do you require Touch? (without pressure sensitivity) (Which one: resistive or capacitive)
See the above linked FAQ for guidance

Not required.

5. Do you require a Pen? (with pressure sensitivity) (Which one: Wacom or N-Trig)
See the above linked FAQ for guidance

Yes, Wacom.

Component Specifics

1. What size Hard Drive and Memory do you require?

Not much HD required, but more RAM is nice.

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

No.

3. Do you require ability to add a second Battery or Hard Drive (Modular Bay technology)?

No.

Misc

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

Bluetooth and USB required.

2. Additional requests ~ anything other you wish to take into consideration?

I currently own a HP tx2000 which I believe is on it's last legs. (I'm surprised it lasted this long, I bought it right when it came out. The wireless has died, the hinge is starting to pull away from the body, and the battery connection is getting loose.) I do illustration and the occasional digital painting work, and the tx2000 has been a Godsend. I'm essentially using it as a portable Cintiq, so it's functionality as an art tablet is my main feature request. It has to have enough power to not mess up my Photoshop workflow when working with larger files and big canvases. I mostly work at home (or at other people's homes), so outdoor functionality or very long battery life are more bonuses than requirements. I'd like to consider moving to a slate style tablet, as I haven't opened my tx2000 from tablet mode in about a year, and have just gotten a bluetooth keyboard to use with it, however I usually prefer power to portability to an extent. My tx2000 hasn't quite died yet, so I'm going to wait until it does to buy a new tablet, but I'd like to start considering my options (and getting money together). This also means any future releases worth waiting for are welcome suggestions. Thanks for your time!

EDIT: After further research I'm leaning towards the base model of the Samsung Series 7 Slate. Is there anything you guys can tell me about this particular tablet that I might not know, to convince me either way about it?

[DoctorBunsenHoneydew]

I'm in the same boat as you.

If you need one right now, the series 7 slate is probably your best bet.

However, if you can wait, there's going to be a pretty major refresh of these kind of devices starting in June for several manufacturers, including Lenovo, samsung, hp, and likely others as well. If you can stomach a wait, it'll probably be worth it.

[e-schreiber]

The Asus B121 is an alternative to the Series 7 Slate if you're concerned that you might get an S7S with a bad screen. The B121 can be made quite faster by installing the mod BIOS. If you need even more power, then you need to get convertibles like the EliteBook 2760p or ThinkPad X220t, which, I think, can be purchased with i7 CPUs.

[Flyerfye]

Thanks for the info and the alternatives, guys. June or so you say? I may just be able to wait that long, assuming my current one survives the next month.

I don't really have a good frame of reference for how much computing power is in an i5 or i7, and how that applies to application performance. Sort of a hard thing to put into words, is there any good way to help with that?

Also, anyone who has a Series 7 know how much heat it puts out when you're putting a heavy load on it? I've nearly cooked myself with many previous laptops / tablets.