Just passing day 500 of Tablet PC ownership, it occured to me that I could get more creative without the use of the USB ports. Even though the slate tablet is 90% operational without the USB ports, it’s really drained my excitement for the platform. Like about 30-40% of excitement simply because the USB ports no longer function. The amount of excitement one can have about a platform when the hardware isn’t working right is directly proportionate — at least in my case — to how good their machine is working.

I still haven’t completely wiped the system clean and tried a reboot/reinstall but not very hopeful that will work anyway. Since I can’t hook up the CD drive I wonder: can the OS be reinstalled/booted through a network drive? I will soon find out.

Guess I could try, but I wouldn’t want to do so until after backing up the existing drive. I suspect that sometime between now and my next update, I’ll have made the backup and attempted to recover to factory condition and fix the USB driver without sending it in for repair. I’m hoping by my next update to have the M1400 drive backed up and then attempt to reinstall the OS. If it goes haywire in that state, then my only choice will be to mail it to Motion Computing for repair.

Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about something I’ve hardly used on the M1400: Bluetooth. As a temporary workaround for being without USB keyboard when mobile I could try using a Bluetooth keyboard. This got me thinking is there such an animal as a Bluetooth device that accepts USB input? So I could plug my CD drive into the bluetooth and then use it that way? I’m 99% certain this wouldn’t work but it would be cool if something like that existed. It would be one way to route around bad I/O board problems like this.

I also tried buying a PCMIA to USB card but that wouldn’t work either.

I still have the sinking suspicion that a trip into the Motion shop is in the future for my Tablet. This disturbs me considering the price paid for the hardware. A $300 repair bill would push the price over $3,000 (after tax). Ouch. That won’t endear me to spending this much on a tablet from Motion Computing again. I was already not happy with their decision to discontinue making batteries at the end of 2007.

I haven’t been inking much since the hardware problems rolled in. There’s nothing wrong with the ink, but the USB ports are vital for the CD drive. I found early that the one thing in the slate tablet I couldn’t be without was a CD drive. Virtual CD drive is ok, but it’s not a complete replacement. I’ve been getting by with using a network CD drive, but some programs won’t install over a network drive.

Bottom line is I’m pretty disappointed with my tablet pc. Not all Tablet PCs of course but when you pay over $2,500 and you take care of it as I have, you don’t expect it to have I/O board problems after a little over one year. Should I have bought some sort of extended warranty? Yes. My bad there. I won’t buy anything computer related over $1,500 without an extended warranty ever again. That is, unless the warranty is more than 25% the cost of the item. I’m not paying $500 for a warranty for a $1500 item. I’ll roll the dice on those situations.

So moral of the story is buy the warranty on the more expensive purchases. An extended warranty would have only meant I’d be without the machine for awhile. If my last ditch attempt to reset to factory condition doesn’t work then I’ll not only be out the machine, but out a couple hundred dollars too.

In this case, I rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. My entire Tablet PC ownership history is below. Sidenote: I was originally a tablet skeptic complaining about the high price of admission. Then I actually bought one and became a tablet believer. Now I’m sort of a disillusioned Tablet owner with a 10% broken machine. Still use it, but not every day like I once did. My inking frequency is down. Broken hardware, broken spirit.

With the UMPC coming out I was looking forward to getting one of those, but can’t see paying over $1,000. Here we go again? Boy, it sure seems like de ja vus all over again, Yogi.

History of Tablet PC Ownership
December 19, 2004: First full week of ownership complete
February 13, 2005: 60 days after buying a Tablet PC, was it worth it?
March 3, 2005: Day 78 bought external CD-RW drive
May 3, 2005: Day 140
June 27, 2005: Day 196 incompatibility of EVDO Kyocera cards
August 12, 2005: 241 days of Tablet PC Ownership
September 1, 2005: Day 261: Tablet PC sales projections being downshifted by market researchers
September 15, 2005: Day 276 Current office main configuration includes Tablet PC, 3 PCs, Mac
October 12, 2005: Day 302 as Tablet PC owner: email, chat and gaming
December 13, 2005: Day 365: looking back at one year with a Tablet PC
January 22, 2006: Day 405: Dual monitor on Tablet PC alert!
Hardware problems begin
March 4, 2006: Day 445: Tablet I/O board problems
Day 508: 10% broken and easy to forget about Bluetooth

Did this post make you go hmm?

Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)

• Day 445: Tablet I/O board problems
• Day 577: New Tablet PC purchase handcuffed by Vista waiting game
• Oooo that wire smell, the smell of tablet burning
• Day 472: All tablet 5th grade and 2nd year tablet hardware woes
• Tablet PC stolen for drug money, police believe
• How to surf the net with Bluetooth integrated Pocket PC via LAN