Tablet Review: Toshiba M200

Darcy Finden, Finden Appraisals

I've been using a tablet computer for about the past three years and have to admit I don't know how I could continue without it now knowing what the potentials are. I didn't quite know how to start and actually wrote four pages before I realized what I was doing. I finally decided on this format for ease of reading.

INTERESTING NOTE: I "wrote" or spoke most of this letter between appraisals one morning. It's easy to lay down pages and pages of text just by speaking. As always; I do have to manually come back and edit some text and add photos but approximately 90% of the letter was already completed.

The following is a list of things that I can do with my tablet computer. At the end of the letter are the things I cannot do which I wish I could.

I CAN: Use speech to text recognition

This is probably the single biggest advantage of a tablet computer. In a typical day I will inspect four to five properties. This will take approximately four hours due to the distance traveled between each property. The travel time can account for one to two hours of this inspection time. You can alter your process for measuring the home or gathering your inspection data of the interior and exterior to shave only minutes here or there. However I find the driving time to be an absolute loss of productivity. That was until I got a tablet PC. I am able to now lay in the text comments for each property immediately after the inspection while I drive to the next home. When people first hear of this they imagine my eyes are fixed on the computer. If you have changed the stations on the radio while you drive you have taken your eyes off the road probably more than I do. I am simply speaking into a headset while staring straight ahead, driving down the road. I am well aware that this activity would never be encouraged as many people need to pull to the side of the road just to speak into a cell phone.

The data is extremely fresh in my mind and I find my new narratives to be extremely detailed and customized because I can speak at a much faster rate than I could ever type. When I arrive back at the office I will have four to five appraisals that have been approximately 75% completed. During the inspection all of the drop down boxes or check boxes will have been completed, photographs will be inserted with narrative comments if necessary, and finally all narrative boxes will have been completely filled in, many times overflowing into the addendum. Most appraisers come back to the office with either blank appraisals or with a minor percentage completed.

I CAN: Connect to the Internet wirelessly

At least, in about 95% of my area of coverage. This is done using a blue tooth connection to my cell phone. The phone must be within 20 feet of my computer and the phone must be web enabled. With this feature I can complete reports such as progress building inspections, drive-bys or rush appraisals while in the field and send out directly from my tablet. I am truly a "mobile" office.

I CAN: Configure my tablet PC to be very similar to my desktop PC

This creates an almost seamless transition between each unit. Desktop icons are in the same place, I have the same programs installed and configured, and data has been synchronized between applications such as MS Outlook.

I CAN: Use the digital ink pen

This allows me to poke a box and make a check mark or select from a drop down menu an appropriate response. I use this a lot differently than I had imagined when I originally got the computer. I thought that I would be handwriting items that get converted into text for each one of the cells. I soon realized that I'm really slow with handwriting. But I also realized there are only so many responses that can be made for any given item. For example, under the category of roofing. If you can think of fifteen different roofing material types that you might encounter in your area you can spend three minutes creating fifteenQuickList items and never have to manually input these responses again.

I CAN: Use Journal to make shorthand notes or draw little sketches

This program offers me plain white or ruled paper and a pen of any color to make digital notes for myself. At the end of the inspection I select all, copy, and paste into my Digital Workfile. Believe me this is a lot faster than writing on paper and scanning into a file that gets dropped onto the desktop that gets dropped into the work file.

I CAN: Use my tablet computer as an offsite storage backup

I have battery backup systems that in an emergency will power the server and our telephone system. I like our business to be prepared for anything. We recently had our server replaced however an unfortunate incident caused the switch to take more than four hours to complete. I was able to continue to work without any interruption including my secondary Internet connection.

I CANNOT: View my tablet screen outside

Especially in moderate to bright sunlight. Unfortunately this means that I must switch to paper and pencil for the exterior. The new IBM computer has fixed this problem with a new outdoor viewable screen. I would buy this unit on my next purchase if I could configure it with a 7600 RPM hard drive. I still have one little problem to contend with even after that. Our Canadian winters and weather. I'm sure I could develop a work around but have not spent the time developing this aspect.

My buying tips:

1. The faster the hard drive is (RPMs), the faster it will come out of hibernation and perform in general. Believe me you want quick get up and go time.
2. Load up on RAM (Memory) too.
3. SD card for photo transfer. I have not used any wireless photo transfer such as blue tooth camera etc. Make sure the set up process does not take longer than it takes to do it manually.
4. Bluetooth. If you want to hook to the Internet wirelessly using your data cell phone.
5. Outdoor viewable screen. This is a big help even in difficult indoor lighting conditions. I do not have one but would like to develop a process from collecting exterior data. This will be presented with some problems such as extreme weather and tethering. My tablet is in a case over the shoulder. As long as it is tucked away it has been safe in all weather and bumps.
6. Keyboard is still important.
7. Windows Vista is said to have improved voice to text recognition.