Back and forth. That’s my story on whether or not to purchase a Tablet PC, and I thought it might be interesting, especially since it’s the gift/shopping time of year to explore exactly what has happened to me with this purchase decision which I believe lasted longer than any other purchase decision I’ve ever made (of comparable value anyway). Below, I’ve documented my waxing and waning and nearly total indecision over this Tablet PC purchase which lasted over two years before it culminated in a final decision. I’m absolutely positive there are others who have gone through — or are going through — similar mental buying exercises. Please use the comment/trackback section to tell me about your tale of indecision with Tablet PC (or how you will never buy one like Mike Wendland said and then had to eat some virtual crow, etc).

BTW, I was contemplating buying a Tablet PC before this blog was started. Since that time, I’ve blogged here quite a bit mentioning the Tablet PC with my very first mention on July 26, 2003, almost 17 months ago. Here’s the complete makeyougohmm.com blog Tablet PC chronology along with the blog entry number showing how/when it appeared. When there was a more significant amount of commentary I’ve added notes and linked the title instead of the date:

July 26 2003 #86 (my first blog mention):

I still have this on my wish list

Aug 16, 2003 #192:

I’d also like to get a Tablet PC and an Apple Mac.

Aug 30, 2003 #234 “Tablet PC to overtake laptop market, says Riley”

Well yes, according to Christopher Riley and you know what? I totally agree! Damn him, feeding my geekish desire to own a tablet PC! At first I was not down with the idea either, but after demoing a tablet PC at a recent trip to Best Buy, I’ve got the fever!

Oct 16, 2003 #334:

A Tablet PC is #1 on my wishlist at the time of this writing.

Oct 23, 2003 #350:

Tablet PC? Promising for business users, but it’s a niche segment and of questionable profitability at this time (I still want one!).

Nov 10, 2003 #377 “Tablet Pcs not selling to expectation”

Tablet PCs might not be selling to expectation, but I still would like to buy one someday. After reading this article I must admit that I’m starting to waiver more between thoughts of getting an Apple G5 before a tablet PC. Just a far-off wish though.

Dec 12, 2003 #419:

Linux Tablet PC for under $1,000

Dec 18, 2003 #442 “Tablet PC with Linux OS under $1000 but not without concerns”

[more] … I have set a budget between $1500 and $2500 for this Tablet PC purchase, but have found myself no closer to purchasing one than I was before reviewing the Helium2100 or the various brands I’ve seen at stores like Best Buy. I really like the price and look of the Helium2100, and maybe I just need to exercise some patience and try back when they have more fully developed the handwriting recognition. I also like the fact that by buying this Tablet PC it would be supporting the open source community. It looks like I’m going to go past Christmas 2003 and still be using legal pads for notes.

Mar 13, 2004 #626:

HP Tablet PCs will be used in the stores

June 13, 2004 #829:

5 Tips for improving Tablet PC handwriting recognition

Aug 18, 2004 #964:

Now when will the prices of the tablet PCs come into reasonable range?

Sep 15, 2004 #1032:

Tablet PC development is something I’d like to get more into, but I don’t get a whole lot of calls for that type of work currently.

Oct 24, 2004 #1113:

Bottom line is I’d like to have a Media Center PC and/or a Tablet PC someday but I very likely won’t pay more than $900 after taxes for the experience and with this criteria, it looks like we’ll be waiting at least another 6 months to year. Maybe Santa will come through with a sizzling retail deal.

Nov 4, 2004 #1141 “Robert’s touch screen monitor and Russert’s Tablet PC were cool on TV”

Tim Russert over on NBC was sporting a $2,000 Tablet PC made by Fujitsu. I still have a tablet PC on my wish list, but I’m thinking now of waiting until after the CES to see what is coming out. Scoble gave me an open invitation to come up to Microsoft HQ and see the tablet PC hardware the guys up there are using since you can’t find that many Tablet PC’s in local retail stores:

Nov 16, 2004 #1166 “Wendland on Tablet PCs: ‘I like it. But I’d never buy one.’”

Though originally, I really wanted to believe people like Chris Riley, and posted as much here about my geekish desires over the Tablet PC future, however I’m starting to join the ranks of the Tablet PC doubters. Yes, I still have that open invite out there to check out some Tablet PC gear from Microsofties and I’m still not closing the door on buying one, but I’m starting to think more and more this sale will be the one that got away; the one that never happened. I’ve said this repeatedly though: I think the price is the killer for the Tablet PC. Why should — or would — small business owners want to shell out more money for a less powerful machine just because it’s a Tablet?

Dec 10, 2004 #1240:

I’d like to ask Scoble this serious question: how is a business owner who is already blogging supposed to budget for a Tablet PC if they use their business budget to attend events like this?

It’s interesting looking back seeing that originally I set a budget for $1500-2500 then as Xmas 2003 passed and no longer could I find Tablet PCs in the retail stores my budget shifted downward. I mentioned a couple times that if I couldn’t touch it, I wasn’t going to pay more for it. I even flirted with the idea of buying the Linux based Tablet PC that was priced under $1000 but when I found there was no handwriting recognition built-in I shelved that idea. Ultimately as Xmas 2004 rolled around I started getting serious about it again and even called Robert Scoble about it and he invited me up to Microsoft to see some Tablet PCs in action up there. Before making that connection though, I attended some other meetings and decided I’d had it with yellow legal pads and was ready, really ready, to make the plunge and reinstated my original budget. The serious search was on and for a little bit I was thinking about waiting to CES 2005 but I thought: wait, I’ll probably need to use the Tablet PC at CES 2005, so why wait to buy it? Meanwhile, Mike Wendland said he’d never buy one and then he bought one. Or at least he got one (was it delivered to him as promo gift because he made a big stink about it or did he actually pay for it? I never saw the answer to this one). One huge criticism for Tablet PCs I’ve read is that primarily the people you see using them are Microsofties.

On December 6, 2004 the waiting was over. I finally made the call to Dell and purchased the Motion Computing M1400 Tablet PC. I started writing about tracking the delivery on my MSN Spaces blog:

December 11, 2004: “Good enough for an artist, good enough for me”

I assume an artist would have probably the best use for a Tablet PC but I’m intrigued by the notetaking aspect of the Tablet PC as well as some other creative business-related uses. It’s these uses, in fact, that propelled me to finally make the purchase.

This Monday, December 13, 2004 my M1400 Tablet PC arrived! and I unpacked it in the evening and put it into live business use yesterday at the MSDN event in Tacoma where I used OneNote 2003 to record the audio of the event while I took notes from the presentation (I was the only one there I saw with a Tablet PC, BTW). At the end of the presentation there were giveaways and I won the Visual Studio .NET Professional Special edition — woohoo! Maybe the Microsoft karma was with me for buying a Tablet PC? Scoble, did you rub your Tablet PC screen to give me good luck or what?!?!

Seriously, there will continue to be Tablet PC coverage in this blog (and bonus coverage at my MSN Spaces blog) though not any more will there be snippets of my own business indecision over whether or not to buy one (I’m sure at least some readers were like: “just shut up and buy one already”) – and let the record reflect that yes, I did actually buy one. I did indeed receive a corporate discount via our company through Dell which made it less expensive than buying through Motion Computing direct, but now I’ve officially joined the ranks of the non-Microsoft Tablet PC business owners.

The wait is over. Let the business use testing begin!

Did this post make you go hmm?

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