Jim Lipsey

I’ve spent the last six months coveting a Tablet PC, and spending an inordinate amount of time scrutinizing the specifications for every single model available. Fortunately, they’ve all had at least one fundamental shortcoming that prevented me from whipping out the credit card and plonking down two gees on a new piece of kit.

Toshiba may have just released the big hurt (financially speaking) in the Tecra M7, however. Fast hardware, a widescreen WXGA display and a dedicated, workstation-class video processor that should hum along happily with both SolidWorks and Aero-ized Windows Vista. Gamers are already grumbling about the last one. Two things that might save me: Toshiba’s reputation for pre-installing tons of hard-to-remove, system-bogging software, and its 6.2 lb weight. I can probably cope with both of these, though.

I’m still holding out hope for a Mac Tablet, for which I’d gladly sacrifice mobile SolidWorks modeling. Apple doesn’t have much longer to claim me as a convert, though.