All I want for Christmas is a 17" HD tablet laptop with 4 gigs of RAM!

Since I am going home for the holidays, I will need a laptop to work.  Simple enough right?  All I should need to do is get one from IT, load the appropriate software and go, right?

At work, I have a dual monitor display which works well for me.  I ask management for a laptop to work from home. The IT guy calls and says that he's removing my dual monitor setup and replacing it with a laptop docking station. If I want all my licensed software on my PC, I'll have to replace my PC workstation for the laptop and transfer the hard drive image. Red flags went off in my head. I would still have two displays on my desk& but they will be asymmetrical (a laptop monitor and a large CRT) and really, it would ruin my entire workstation setup.  Instead, I could take a new laptop and load what I needed. Since I can use any laptop and I need a new personal PC anyway, I thought I'd buy myself a laptop for Christmas.

I only need to load a few software tools, my debugger and my target simulator. I'm using the Green Hills MULTI debugger, which works very well but costs $8000. Then I need my hardware simulator made by Triakis. I can connect my debugger to my target simulator and I have my entire lab setup in my PC. I called the sales reps for free 30-day evaluation licenses and now I'm "good to go" for the holidays. All I need to do is buy a laptop, simple as that. So I set out to buy my new personal tablet PC with a 17" HD monitor. Cost will be no object because it's for business, I need a new PC, and frankly, I want a cool new toy for Christmas.

On my last trip, sitting next to me in business class (first class unless you're bumped), I noticed this person adroitly using a tablet. He demonstrated how to use the pen. When you hover the pen over the screen, the mouse follows it. When you want to click something, simply tap the screen. There is a button (recommended) on the pen for right-clicking or you can hold the pen in place for a second. You can lean your hand on the screen to write or type comfortably. There is handwriting and typing input. It looked fluid and intuitive. But I could sense that there would be obstacles to maneuvering the way that I am used to. Now, when I'm ready to buy one, I would like some more questions answered. For example, how can I automate frequently-used keystrokes? How can I type on that tiny keyboard? I'm going to need a more robust demonstration, so off I go to the nearest store.

Jingle all the way
My old PC, which has been in my trunk for as long as I can remember, boots up with the blue screen of death, so I'll have to deal with getting my data out of the hard drives of a dead system. I thought of Best Buy and the Geek Squad, which will do small techie work, so I went there on a weekday in the middle of the day. Well, of course, they're having a Christmas sale and the place is packed. I corner some of the teenage sales guys and ask for a tablet PC with a 17" HD monitor. After some puzzling looks, they said that they only have one tablet which is around 15", not HD, and the pen was stolen so they could not demonstrate it.

I escaped the mayhem and went across the street to Circuit City, which was empty, but their pen was also stolen. I returned to both stores over the last several weeks, waiting to see a demonstration, but the pens were always missing.

There were no other stores that sold laptops within a lunchtime driving distance and I was getting very frustrated. I thought why I should buy from a major electronics store if they can't even show me how it works. I can easily buy it for much less online and figure everything out for myself. After about an hour of searching online, I deduced that there are no 17" or HD tablets PCs. No problem, I can still get a 15" tablet PC and load it with RAM. But now, I'm a week away from the holiday break, so I have to make a move.

I did notice that the Toshiba tablets received high marks from various websites and the major outlets carried Toshiba. Upcoming blogs will address the comparative anatomies of competing tablet manufacturers. This is just a Christmas story about searching for the perfect present to buy yourself.

To avoid giving out my credit card for large purchases online, I called the main sales office of Toshiba and built my laptop with a salesperson while looking at their website online. The salesperson happened to know a lot about the product. They let him take one home with him so he was experienced at using it. He answered all of my questions and was helpful.

I asked for the best, most expensive tablet that they sold, but it turns out that the most expensive model has only a 12.1" screen at 4.5 lbs. The best model that has a 14.1" screen, is the "Tecra M7-S7331 Tablet PC " and it comes at a nice price of just under $2000.

So I said,"I'll take it and load it up with RAM". It has been my experience with Windows that additional RAM will make it respond much more quickly, especially when you operate with over 20 windows open concurrently as I do.  He said that if I load the system with the max of 4 GB of RAM, it will cost an extra $2000. $4000! That's double the price! The system comes with 1GB RAM in two 512MB sticks (there are only 2 slots). The 2GB sticks cost $1000 a piece. However, if I buy just one 1GB stick, I can make it a 2GB system. How much is that? It is only $167 extra. Whah-huh? I can get a 2GB system for an extra $167 but a 4GB system costs an extra $2000? The reason is because they won't charge me for the first 1GB, but they have to charge me for both 2GB sticks plus 2GB sticks are just plain expensive. I don't think I have to tell you what I decided. You have to pay attention to Moore 's law.

Add to that an extra battery for $167 (Toshiba's favorite number apparently) and an extra pen of course ($17). BTW, there is a reserve pen underneath tablet PCs that none of the personnel at either store knew about. He added some discounts and free Fedex air shipping. The whole system came in at $2400.

I taught myself how to use it using the built-in tutorials. To solve the problem of using quick keystrokes and inputting frequently-used text, I downloaded "Quick Buttons" which allows you to customize launchpad buttons. I immediately made buttons for ALT+TAB (previous window) and ALT+ESC (next window) among others. I can also create buttons to use as a clipboard. The buttons greatly improve the fluidity of inputting and navigating. I also activated all the predictive typing and autocorrect features of Windows and every app.

I loaded my evaluation software and all my work with 1.5 days to spare before my flight. I had to load a media player and a xvid codec to play my Seinfeld and Office videos. Then I went back to Best Buy and gave the Geek Squad $129 to put my old hard drives onto a new portable hard drive ($100) - all done. I can now relax on my last day of work this year. That lasted about an hour before management requested an end-of-year status before I leave.

Finally, my plane leaves tomorrow and I have a moment to write this story as I'm packing my pimped-out tablet in my friend's borrowed special rolling laptop luggage because I forgot to get a light-blue micro-suede collapsible carrying case throughout this whole journey. (breath) But I'm all set.

I didn't get my 17" display.

I didn't get my HD resolution.

I didn't get my 4 GB of RAM.

I didn't get exactly what I want, but I got what I need.

And that's a& very merry Christmas present...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!