Looking to buy a tablet PC for Research

[calvmari]

Hi!

I'm looking to buy a tablet PC for my research in graduate school. The actual topic of my research itself is touch screen interfaces. Right now my research is limited to single input touch screens since that's the hardware I'm given, but soon I'm going to get my hands on a multiple touch interface (so the user can use several fingers at the same time). I bought a used HP tc4200 for my single touch research, but now I'd like to buy a multiple touch input laptop to supplement my new research.

Sorry if that's a mouthful , but I wanted to be clear since I'm seeing a lot of single touch input laptops that call themselves multitouch. Any input is appreciated, thank you!

[SimsHsia]

Hi calvmari,

There are several Tablet PCs that have dual inputs, or MultiTouch-like technologies.

The Lenovo X60 Tablet PC, Gateway S-7150/E-155C/C120X (they are all the same Tablet PC, just different model numbers), Motion Computing LE1700WT, and TabletKiosk's Sahara i440D have both active and passive (touchscreen) digitizers. With the exception of the Motion Computing LE1700WT, all the rest of the Tablet PCs use the Wacom active digitizer.

[Sebastian]

I believe Calvmari is asking if you know of a tablet that lets you use multiple fingers AT THE SAME TIME on the screen (i.e., the screen can sense simultaneous inputs from multiple different locations on the screen).

[SimsHsia]

Aha, thanks for the clarification Sebastian.

At the moment, I don't believe there are any Tablet PCs that are currently being sold to consumers that have multiple input digitizers. The technology known as "MultiTouch" refers to two different technologies: Active (Wacom or proprietary) and Passive (touchscreen) digitizers.

[calvmari]

Thanks to you both for your input!

Sebastion is correct, I am looking for an interface that would allow you multiple fingers at the same time. I'm going to get my hands on a large screen that will allow me the multiple finger functionality, but I'd like a laptop that would give me the ability to work on it from home.

I guess I'll keep my money in my pockets for now, thanks for the feedback!

[vdox]

PaceBlade tablets boast with this feature: http://www.paceblade.com/site/deskto...ex=0&tabid=155

I was just wondering if you need the specific on-screen keyboard or would just using multiple fingers with ANY on-screen keyboard work? Mainly asking 'cause I use Linux.

[SimsHsia]

Ah, if calvmari does revisit the site, the Dell Latitude XT has since been released with capacitive touch (which means multitouch). Oh, the PaceBlade looks nice too.

[quantum]

The Latitude XT has the hardware capable of multitouch, but it still hasn't been fully developed and integrated, therefore is disabled on machines until N-Trig can get their act together...