Polaroid Photo

Thu
22
Jan '09

My new computer has arrived.

My new computer arrived yesterday.  Well, technically it arrived on Monday, but I was out of town, so our UPS guy left it with our next door neighbor.  I didn’t actually get to fondle the thing until noon yesterday.
As a reminder, I got the Lenovo X61 and so far it is everything I wanted. It’s got a very comfortable keyboard and is smaller than my Kowal Portable, but doesn’t feel smaller.   The best part though is the tablet function.  Oh. My. God. I may not be able to go back to a regular computer after this.  It’s so easy to just grab something and move it on the desktop.
And then there’s the handwriting recognition feature. It is amazing.  The interface is totally transparent and required no training. It can even read my cursive.  I let my neighbor play with it while I was working on some prop things and he said that it felt almost like writing  in a regular notebook.
I’m really impressed with it.  I can’t wait until I get to try drawing on the thing.

10 Comments »

  • http://charles-tan.blogspot.com Charles Tan

    Yay to new computer! Enjoy!

  • http://joeicarus.blogspot.com Joe Iriarte

    Very cool. I’m glad you’re liking it. :)

    I actually find that the handwriting recognition works *better* when I write in cursive. On the other hand, it has spurred me to improve my handwriting ever so slightly. I need to make sure my “b” looks like a “b” and not like an “f.” One change I’ve made that may or may not be useful or necessary for you is when I write the pronoun “I,” I don’t write it in cursive even if everything else is, because my capital cursive “I” looks too much like any number of other letters. So that one I print.

    You’re going to love drawing on it!

  • http://everythingsun.blogspot.com Mike F

    New toys are always fun! Glad you like it.

    The true test would be if it could read my writing. Especially since I can barely read it at times. :)

  • http://mmarques.livejournal.com Michele

    Sounds nice!

  • PJ

    Yay! Sounds excellent.

    Were you able to get all the In-N-Out Burger bags you needed? I really wanted to come to SF on the 16th, but I was at home taking care of people with food poisoning. :-(

  • http://jeffsoesbe.livejournal.com Jeff Soesbe (yeff)

    Hi Mary –

    Random question: Whatever happened with the ebay auction of the old portable typewriter? I remember looking for it not longer after you announced the auction and the auction seemed to not exist.

    I was curious to know the portable typewriter’s final fate, because it was very nifty.

    Best wishes,

    - yeff

  • http://www.puppetkaos.com Kelvin Kao

    Awesome!

    I am also in the market for a laptop recently, but after trying the tablet, I decided that it’s not for me. It’s a fun toy, but most of the time I prefer to see my keyboard at all times. It’s because I’m a computer programmer and I’m used to using keyboard shortcuts extensively.

  • http://joeicarus.blogspot.com Joe Iriarte

    To each their own, but have you seen the Lenovo tablet? Because I use mine as a laptop (i.e., with the keyboard out) at least 80% of the time. If you saw me sitting at my sofa right now, you totally would not be able to tell that this is a tablet, except perhaps for the stylus tucked behind my ear. This has a full-size keyboard with satisfying clackety-clack IBM keys. I’m a former programmer and I use keyboard shortcuts extensively as well. I just like the flexibility for when I use Illustrator or Photoshop, when I help students with their work (Here’s an example: http://tinyurl.com/bqf2x2 ), when I’m taking notes, or when I’m in cramped surroundings.

  • http://joeicarus.blogspot.com Joe Iriarte

    Well crud, tinyurl let me down, it looks like. Here’s a second attempt.

    (Er, I’m not sure how my previous comment triggered moderation, but if this seems like a total non sequitur, that’s because it’s a follow up to a post that’s not there yet.)

  • John Charny

    Enjoy!

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