There are 4 manufactures who have deals with UofL to have discounted Tablet PCs available to students, these tablets are recommended to students entering Speed School.

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The Dell Latitude XT is a fairly new Tablet PC. Dell only recently started making Tablets. While this tablet has received several positive reviews, it is first generation hardware. Also, even with a discount the price is fairly high, about $2000. While this tablet is likely a good choice for some students, STUG is not recommending it at this time.

HP is offering the Compaq 2710p for the reasonable price of about $1,800. This is about the range that a Tablet PC will cost. The specs are good, but again STUG is not recommending this Tablet. Oddly, this tablet doesn't come with a touch pad. It is also important to note, that some HP/Compaq tablets found at stores such as BestBuy come with passive digitizers and should be avoided.

Next on the list is the Lenovo ThinkPad X61. This is STUGs top pick. This is by far one of the best choices to make at this point in time. It has all of the specs, the performance, and the reliability. Typically, this tablet is considered expensive, but with discounts it costs about $1,600, but you may spend as much as $1,800 to get some extra features. This is STUGs top pick for incoming students!

Last on Speed School's list are the Gateway models. The Gateway E-155C and the Gateway E-295C are both decent tablets but STUG is not going to recommend them. However, for students on a tight budget, these are probably the best choice. The biggest disadvantage with purchasing a more inexpensive computer is that it is more likely it will need to be replaced before graduating from Speed School. Five years is a long time to have a computer, and making the investment up front can save money in the long run. The Gateways range from $1,300 to $1,600 in price.

Toshiba doesn't have a discount deal with the university, and if you don't purchase a computer through the university, on campus tech support will not be available. However, the Toshiba M700 is too good of a tablet not to recommend. Specifically, the Portege M700-S7002 meets all of the minimum requirements of Speed School. This Tablet PC has every feature a modern computer can have, it is very fast, and reasonably priced. Costing about $1,800 it comes in at an average price. This is STUG's second pick behing the Lenovo ThinkPad X61 only because the Lenovo will have on campus support. The M700 is a great pick for students who don't think they will need on campus support and consider themselves a little more tech savvy.

(Addition by Travis: We've been recently recommending the Gateway models in the $1200 range, but today we got a chance to try HP's new Active Digitized Entertainment Tablet, the newest tx2000z. We haven't been able to confirm writeability until today, but we think it'll work fine to holdup to the rigors of Calculus. Just ensure you have the newest Active Digitizer model!)

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iTech Xpress provides information on Purchasing a Tablet PC through the University.

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