Eric Mack On-Line

I've been occupied with a number of eProductivity projects for clients, but I've not stopped capturing notes about my tablet adventure. In fact, I'm preparing a 30-day paperless/tablet challenge. If there's interest, I'll invite you to join me in this adventure to see if it's possible to live paper-free, with only a tablet, for a full 30 days. More on that soon.

I continue to work with the M4 - both as my most recent venture into the Tablet PC platform and as my first non-IBM laptop in 10 years.

Many people have written to tell me that they have purchased an M4 based on my blog. I've also heard that several people have decided not to purchase an M4 for the same reason. I hope that my posts, based on my own experience, were helpful either way. I plan to continue posting and podcasting on this and other eProductivity-related topics, sooon.

Meanwhile, now that I'm fully migrated to a Tablet, what do I think of the M4 and Tablet PC's in general?

The short answer is that both are growing on me. Most of the hardware features of the M4 that I found curiously placed (i.e. indicators, buttons, etc) now make sense to me.  It's obvious that Toshiba's put a lot of thought into this machine. (Except, perhaps, for the lack of a way to permanently shut off the CD drive. I continue to eject mine at the worst possible times. Recommendation: how about a switch to lock the drive: Closed, Locked on/Locked off)

As for the Tablet PC Platform, I'm close to sold on that, so I guess you might say I'm getting closer to YABHTU. I've now used the TPC in several meetings and I find it preferable to the traditional laptop. I'm still working to get used to the Toshiba Keyboad Layout, but that's improving. (FYI: I did take a look at the new IBM Tablet and I'm still pleased with my decision to choose the M4. I like the large screen. Worth the $.)

Some of you have written to ask about the problems I've experienced with my M4. I'm pleased to say that I've found solutions to most of them. I'm still trying to find the cause of the heavy CPU Utilization. This remains the biggest challenge, but I don't have the time to start fresh at this time. For now, I run in high-power mode, which means the battery life is not as good as it used to be and the fan runs all the time. In fairness to Toshiba, this may not be a hardware issue, though it still "feels" like a speed-step or tablet pen driver  issue to me - I'll work on this when I have more time.

For those of you who are wondering if I'll ever get to be YABHTU ...  I expect that I will. I want to be. I'm in the process of defining exactly what YABHTU will look like for me. When I have a benchmark, I'll share it.

Perhaps you'd like to share your thoughts on this?

What benchmarks define when a Tablet PC user has crossed into significant productivity gains with a Tablet that were previously unavailable by conventional means?