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I guess my first question is whether tablet PCs are even useful. We have a few PMs here in the office that have them, but I've never seem them using the PCs in "tablet" mode.

Also, are there tablet PCs that are powerful enough to run games?

Finally, what are the most important things to consider when picking a tablet PC?

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wow, i'd think it would be painful to run a game on a tablet. assuming, of course you're using the pen & on-screen keyboard as your input devices. – kpoehls Jul 16 '09 at 15:34
Tablet PC running modern games? Well, it all depends on how much you want to spend. A couple grand (probably around 4) and you could get a decent on that does everything. But, if you just want something to take notes, I would say ~2k. Personally I bought my Dell Latitude XT off ebay for $600, but it is really a gamble if you will get one that works or not. Mine worked fine, but YMMV. – Nathan Adams Nov 9 '09 at 4:26
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closed as off topic by studiohack♦ Nov 28 '11 at 4:36

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5 Answers

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I think tablet PCs are not ready for next-get games like Crysis.

But best is "waiting" for multi-touch tablet PCs, like HP TouchSmart tx2, and Windows7.

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Isn't multitouch just a driver thing? So any touchscreen with Windows 7 would work? – Ivo Flipse♦ Jul 16 '09 at 15:37
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@Ivo: Not all touchscreens are multi-touch capable... it requires specific hardware to detect multiple touches simultaneously. – jerryjvl Jul 17 '09 at 2:51
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The most important factor (in my opinion) would be how responsive the touch sensor is, that is, what method it uses to detect moment at certain coords.

The better this is, the more responsive the cursor would be and you'd have a much better experience with it, as tablet PCs aren't really designed to be heavy performance computers.

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I love using a Tablet PC. It very rarely gets the keyboard used. 99% of the time I'm writing on it with a stylus (it's not the touchscreen variety, which is good for how I use it). Currently looking for another one, but I need one that's waterproof (for outdoors use) and they're too expensive.

All the tablets I've looked at are relatively low power since they're designed to be light and easy to carry around. You're not going to play heavy games on them.

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Today, the most important aspect to check is multi-touch. Windows 7 will support multi-touch natively, and developers will start supporting this more and more.

I have an HP TouchSmart tx2 with Windows 7 RC and beta drivers from n-trig. I'm very happy. But avoid those beta drivers if you plan on dual booting with other OSes, since it updates the hardware's ROM and disables the pen on Vista/XP.

BTW, my Tablet PC has a perf. index of 4.4 (under "Graphics", it's 5.1 for "Gaming graphics")

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Another important factor is heat. I'm really disappointed with my HP tx1000: it runs so hot I can't even use it much in the summer.

Regarding games, as long as you're playing RTSs or other types of games that can be played with just the mouse, it's awesome! Nothing like selecting units and ordering them with your finger / pen :)

Look what I found :D

Edit: Another one

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