Tablet PC Comparison - Fujitsu T2010, T4220, Lenovo X61T & HP2710P
[11 September]
Discussion of the Week
The following Tablet PC comparison from our contribution writer Emmanuel Jouanne. What are your thoughts? Leave your views under the comments section.
All config include 2GB RAM
(1) With power saving settings
(2) http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=918
(3) http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=868
(4) SXGA model too expensive for this comparison
(5) Provided the SXGA screen is available again
[Updated: 4 October] From Emmanuel,
I am a little bit confused now as the following article (http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=963) says that the T2010 has 1,707 PCMarks vs 2,453 PCMarks for the HP 2710p! (difficult to explain why that would be the case)
And in the following article (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/silverman/5180111.html), the journalist explains that the HP 2710p is the “best Windows Vista notebook I’ve tried this year”.
Only one advantage for the X61T: the 2710p is “not quite as fast as the X61″.
Many advantages of the 2710p:
The X61T has a battery life of “more than four hours per charge” with the 8-cell
The X61T has a “dim screen”
The 2710p has handwriting recognition “noticeably better than even that on the X61. I’m not sure why there would be such a difference — both use Vista’s recognition engine — but it was striking.”
The 2710p is a little lighter and has a 12.1-inch widescreen display, which means when it’s in tablet mode; it’s perfect for reading Web pages or other documents.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for posting this table, Hong Kong Phooey. I thought this comparison could be useful to others.
I am trying to decide between those models. My main question would be about the performance difference. If the HP 2710p and the Fujitsu T2010 have enough power, I would go for one of those.
Some of those figures might need revision. Especially real life battery life.
Emmanuel
Emmanuel,
I am also considering these 3. In my opinion, any of these machines will be fine for office apps, email, web and even video playback unless you have some high bitrate HD video in mind in which case maybe only the T4220 would cut it. I say this on the basis of having used lower spec single-core machines for this purpose for some time now.
I currently run:
- IBM X31 1.5GHz Pentium M (XP) - my workhorse laptop with great keyboard and good weight/ size balance. Average battery life and screen (resolution, brightness) are tempting me to upgrade.
- a Samsung Q1U 800Mhz (2GB RAM Vista) - an experiment that was justified as a photo storage device and lighter weight but fully-fledged PC for holidays/ trips… but that became my main web, email and light office task machine around the home until the touch screen went wrong 2 weeks ago. It is a bit under-powered but fine for the tasks described - the screen (when it works) is awesome.
- a 1.5Ghz Core Solo Mac Mini (2GB) feeding a plasma and projector used mostly as a media centre in the lounge. Plays everything except very high bitrate video. A 2.0GHz mini is likely to arrive once OS X Leopard is with us.
The Core 2 Duo 1.2Ghz chip outperforms all of the above single core CPUs despite the clock speed differences. With 2GB and a few ‘tweaks’, Vista runs nicely too (I find Vista is ok on my 800MHz single core Q1U - 2GB ram was the major factor here - performance was terrible with 1GB and the 4200 disk).
The important factors for my X31 replacement are:
1. Weight - ideally I want something around the 1.2-1.5kg point, (but I love Thinkpad ergonomics and build quality hence am still considering the X60/X61 tablets)
2. Tablet or Laptop? - The Q1U has tempted me to get a tablet as my main device but I’m still not sure I really need one (hence the Toshiba R500, IBM X61s and Sony TZ are all still possibilities for me as they are much closer to or even under the 1.2kg sweet-spot).
3. Power (CPU) vs Power (consumption) vs Weight (battery) - it is a tough call to decide which compromise of these three is most important to you. The T2010 seems to strike an exceptional balance though.
4. Physical HDD size is also important. With 2.5″ disks you have the option of 4200, 5400 or 7200 disks or SSD and of course have access to larger capacities. With 1.8″ you are stuck at 4200 or a very expensive SSD upgrade. Upgrading from a 4200rpm 40GB disk in my X31 to a 5400 120GB drive made a big difference at minimal cost - particularly noticeable in boot and application launch times.
5. Screen - my Q1U in portrait mode is frustrating as it is only 600 pixels wide which isn’t enough when web browsing. I think 800 pixels (as in WXGA) should be much better but there’s no doubt my ideal machine would be SXGA - not an option on the X61 in Hong Kong though. The LED screen on the T2010 is stunning and I’ve heard the 2710p is similar. The X61 tablet is meant to be OK.
6. Touch as well as pen? The Q1U has it and the non-SXGA Thinkpad has it. I certainly like it on the Q1U - as a ‘casual’ tablet user anyway.
A few more considerations:
- I do quite a lot of my work in low light levels so the Thinkpad keyboard light is something I use a lot. The HP has something similar which is a plus over the T2010, but not enough to out-weigh that 4200rpm disk. Obviously in tablet mode the light is not important but I do get annoyed at the eye-searing brightness of the on-bezel LED indicators on the Q1U at night! I wonder if HKPhooey can comment on whether this is an issue with the LEDs on the T2010?
- Build quality - the bezel issue on the X61t aside, my experience of Thinkpads is that they tolerate substantial abuse. I regularly pick the X31 up with one hand from the corner which exerts a lot of strain on the screen and internals. After 3 years and daily use the screen hinges are still robust and the black casing has absorbed a lot of knocks and general wear and tear. The keyboard is also still near perfect.
- DVI out from the docking station - not an option on the IBM and not sure about the HP. HKPhooey has confirmed good image quality over DVI from the T2010. This is a factor as I use Photoshop on my Dell 24″ to post-process and for larger spreadsheets and MS Project files.
- Webcam - only the HP has one. I do a lot of Skype with my family in the UK from Hong Kong but am not sure how much I’ll use it after I move back to the UK next year. Nice to have though and a shame more tablet manufacturers haven’t gone the same route as HP. Note that Skype with Video on the 800Mhz Q1U is pretty poor to be honest - it needs more CPU to keep the audio quality and video frame-rate up.
Its a tough choice and one I haven’t made yet because, if I’m honest, the X31 still does almost everything I need of it.
I’m also waiting to see what the market makes of the new Dell Latitude XT tablet due out in October. Dell is not a brand I really rate from a laptop build quality perspective, but it measures up against a lot of the above criteria - ~1.5kgs, 2.5″ disk with SSD options, LED (or OLED) WXGA screen, passive and active digitizer (touch and pen) input, dedicated ATI graphics. The price should be very competitive too. Only a few more weeks until we find out… I think I’ll wait.
Phil
I’m also torn, primarily between the T2010 and the X61. (The T4220 is too bulky and expensive for me, and the 2710p just isn’t my style).
Keep in mind that the 7 hour real battery life listed for the X61 is with the extended battery, which adds quite a bit of weight and bulk (size), while the 6 hour real battery life with the T2010 is with the 6-cell standard battery that doesn’t stick out. In my opinion, that’s a huge advantage. (I hate extended batteries because of the bulk they add).
Right now I’m leaning toward the T2010 because of its size, weight, and battery life. I really want the higher resolution of the X61, but I don’t need the extra horsepower, and I don’t want to sacrifice mobility to get the resolution. (I had a chance to play with both a T2010 and an X61 last night, and even though there is only a 0,5kg difference between the two, it felt like a huge difference. In tablet mode my arm got tired after holding the X61 for just a few minutes, and in comparison the T2010 was like a feather. I didn’t really stress either machine, but the T2010 seemed plenty fast when I fired up OneNote and a web browser. As long as you have enough RAM, I think performance should be fine, though it depends on what all you want to do). I’m also concerned about when the bezel and sxga+ screen supply issues with the X61 are going to be resolved, particularly since the other machines are all available now.
One question I had was regarding the T2010 screen: has anyone seen one with the indoor screen, or better yet, compared the indoor screen against the indoor/outdoor? Everyone says the indoor/outdoor is great, but I don’t plan on using the tablet much outdoors (if at all), and $150 seems like a lot to pay for what (if my understanding is correct) is just a coating.
Too bad we only have the indoor/outdoor screen config. here in Hong Kong, hope someone can shed some light on the indoor screen.
Thanks a lot for your great pieces of advice.
Indeed, I compared the 8-cell x61T (which shows in the weight of the X61T) with the regular 6-cell T2010, even though it didn’t show in the footnotes. very interesting to know that the X61T (with the 8-cell) feels much heavier. It’s like the weight difference between my old Treo 650 and my new Treo 680: minimal on paper, but the feeling is really different. I also believe 145 DPI (dots per inch, corresponding to SXGA on a 12”) will make characters too small, and rescaling might make things blurry. Thinkpad used to be exceptional machines. I just cannot avoid thinking of the Mattel case when I hear about the recent quality issues with the ThinkPad. Those 3 points would tend to reduce my attraction towards the X61T
Great insights on the 4200rpm, which basically eliminates the HP 2710p
I am more and more leaning towards the T2010 to replace my good Tecra M4.
Do you know if it supports external 1680×1050 resolution (it is said 1600×1200 max in the PDF manual, but not clear about the 1680×1050) ?
The following coupons might be working on the US website: -10% with code FCSSMBUS10. 50$ less with FPC5067EP and free shipping with FPCFS67EP
There’s a thread over at TabletPCReview’s forum on the indoor and indoor/outdoor screen, check it out, link here -> http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=10264 and also from this link, http://jamon.name/view/18.
That’s exactly the sort of comparison I was looking for — thanks for the link!
I am a little bit confused now as the following article (http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=963) says that the T2010 has 1,707 PCMarks vs 2,453 PCMarks for the HP 2710p! (difficult to explain why that would be the case)
And in the following article (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/silverman/5180111.html), the journalist explains that the HP 2710p is the “best Windows Vista notebook I’ve tried this year”.
Only one advantage for the X61T: the 2710p is “not quite as fast as the X61”
Many advantages of the 2710p:
The X61T has a battery life of “more than four hours per charge” with the 8-cell
The X61T has a “dim screen”
The 2710p has handwriting recognition “noticeably better than even that on the X61. I’m not sure why there would be such a difference — both use Vista’s recognition engine — but it was striking.”
The 2710p is a little lighter and has a 12.1-inch widescreen display, which means when it’s in tablet mode; it’s perfect for reading Web pages or other documents.
Any thoughts?
[...] Hong Kong Phooey made a really nice comparison table that shows each tablet’s strengths and weaknesses graphically. That might help. The [...]