I haven't seen any current topics on the Tablet PC market, so I thought I'd start a new thread and maybe a spot for Table PC enthusiasts.

My main vocation is a business consultant (well, technically a business strategist but we won't get into semantics here). I do a lot of on-site training as well as seminar type work. CRM is a huge deal for me, so I needed something where I could track all contact info on a moment's notice via a program like Outlook with Business Contact Manager. I've tried PDA in the past but it just doesn't work for handwriting quickly.

I needed something portable but substantial. I also have found that Tablet PCs, while starting to re-surge, are an item that are best bought slightly used, as they take a huge dive in value if you buy them new.

After doing a lot of research, I decided for a lightly used Motion/Gateway M1300 that still has two years warranty and accidental damage coverage. It is on it's way this week. I wanted to start this thread now to see if anyone else out there has a tablet, and, if so, what your experiences are in getting it/keeping it silent and cool.

Thanks!

Well, here's my new silent PC. It's an M1300 tablet PC by Motion. Not only is it silent (I would say pretty much literally silent) but it's also "stealth". I zip it up in the planner I purchased just for this purchase. No one can even guess I've got a 1 Ghz Centrino Processor wiuth 1 GB ram running Windows XP Pro (Tablet) inside.



I know the market has been slow to adopt, but I'm preaching the gospel about this gem. This PC rocks! It's taken a bit getting used to the screnn, but now that I am, I'm becoming less and less comfortable with my desktop!

One thing I'd like to do is dissipate the heat just a bit more. It's not bad, but I'm wondering if there's some way to get a sheet of the same kind of metal used for heatsinks? ANyone know of/heard of that? (or should I say, anyone even reading this obsure post??)

Been away awhile myself. But back and ready for action! I'm usually hanging now over at tabletPCbuzz. (They been down for a day for maintenance)

Anyway -- I just jerry-rigged some folder aluminum foil under the planner area. You couldn't even see it. I was suprised at how much of a difference it made! Someday I'll get off my lazy butt and actually buy some real metal. On another thread I found some good suggestions.

I have a Hitachi TravelStar 7200 RPM Drive. It can make a little "clicking" noise when the Hard Drive is accessed, but other than that, it's very quiet. The Motion Tablets have a passive cooling system with vents. Honestly, at times I wish Tablets were a bit more "moddable", because I'd like to get a little more cooling. On more than one occasion I've said, "Does it feel hot in here?" and she's pointed out that my Tablet is in my lap.

But, back to your question: yes, it's very quiet. No one else ever hears it. Most people think I'm just doodling in my planner until they see the Tablet. "What is that? That's cool." I can't tell you how many new poepl I've met and conversations have been started just because of this little beauty.

I have to say I'm a Motion die-hard fan now. In fact, I just listed my M1300 on ebay, because my budget increased and I did a major upgrade to a M1400 VA (View Anywhere). I transfered over my Travelstar (I'm still a looong way away from maxing the 40GB drive). I'm also bumping my RAM up to 2GB. Combine this

FYI:
I've gained SERIOUS performance increases by using Tweaking tools such as TweakUI (free), but the best I've used is Ashampoo's Win XP Powerup...or whatever it's called. IF you have a lot of RAM, you can tell it to adjust for speed and it will change XP's settings to make the most of your RAM. On a Tablet, when you don't run games but just use Outlook, OneNote and a browser as extensively as I do, this translates into lightning fast performance. ... then it truly becomes a virtual notepad!

[b]Other sidenote:
In the beginning, I used to want to hook up the keyboard a lot. Now... man I don't think I've plugged a keyboard in for a good month.
[/b]

Just another happy Tablet PC user and TabletPCBuzz person...

Our household has three:
Motion 1300 (Great form factor!!)
Wife's Gateway 275 (for med school)
My new work Toshiba M4 (For consulting work and gaming in the hotel room)

The Motion is of course, fanless.

The gateway is mostly fanless.

The toshiba is a monster that can be tweaked to run fanless at the cost of underclocking/undervolting. I have a single platter Fujitsu SATA in the M4, btw, and it is by far the quietest notebook drive I've ever used.

see
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=18788

I have a M1400 with a MHT2040AT HD and it might be quiet but is NOT silent.
Two exciting news:
the LE1600 have 1.8" HD which could be silent, but they have a fan.
And Samsung will produce flash 16GB HDs! I'll probably upgrade to one of these alternatives.

I haven't heard about this! Is it a 1.8 drive?