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Active Ink Approved Tablet PCs under $1500:
Recently Active Ink has been inundated with custom inquiries asking the same question, namely "Which inexpensive tablets will work with your software?". Or, "Will my Android or Ipad work with Active Ink?" We can hardly blame our customers for their confusion, since all manufacturers seem to be pumping out similarly-appearing products as if the
were all members of the same form factor. In order to clear up some of the confusion, we offer you the following chart of "approved", "marginally acceptable" and "not approved" tablet PCs, with brief descriptions of their limitations or handicaps. We have not reviewed rated the listed machines according to our preferences, we merely state whether they will
can successfully ink in an Active Ink form with their existing processors and digitizing screens. We hope this list will help you avoid making mistakes as you try to pair up hardware and software in your pursuit of an electronic forms solution.
APPROVED Tablet PCs under $1500
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Approximate Retail Price
Restrictions & Limitations
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Active Ink PenPad -
• 10.1" Windows 7 Home Premium slate-style tablet using an Intel Atom processor, wi-fi, uses the superior Wacom digitizer, capacitive multi-touch screen, innovative external slide bars and buttons cause less confusion when operating common controls and save battery life, Swappable batterys, pre-loaded with Active Ink software.
$899 with Form Filler, stylus & travel case.
not ruggedized.
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Active Ink Scribe -
• 10.1" Windows 7 Home Premium convertible tablet using an Intel Atom processor, wi-fi, attached keyboard, ruggedized construction, built-in handle, protective rubber shell, resistive touchscreen & stylus, adjustable webcam, loaded with Office Starter.
$899 with Form Filler
Somewhat heavier, but more durable than most slate-style tablets.
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Motion Computing LS800 -
• 8.9" Windows 7 active digitizing tablet, with the tried and true Wacom stylus. Wi-fi, no touch, also available with "mobility package" including bump case, docking station, & battery charger included.
$400 and up
Older machine, slower processor, shorter battery life, tendency to run hot.
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Motion Computing LE1600 & LE1700 -
• 12" Windows 7 or XP active digitizing tablet with Wacom stylus. Wi-fi, no touch. Flexdock and large display make this device ideal for reception desk signing stations or users who want a large screen.
$400 and up
Older heavier machine, slower processors, shorter battery life.
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Motion Computing C5/F5/F5v -
• These sibling 10.6" Windows 7 active digitizing tablets are very tough. They use the Wacom digitizer and most have built-in RFID & bar-code scanners, hermetically sealed, anti-bacterial surfaces, Wi-fi, no touch, docking stations are recommended as most have no external usb ports (except for the F5v). They used to cost over $2000 but excellent used and new-old-stock.
$650 to $1500
No external usb ports except in docking stations.
Motion Computing j3400 -
• 12" dual digitizing Windows 7 tablet, with magnetically-mated folding keyboard and Wacom stylus. The j3400 is last year's model and the j3500 is Motion's current "Cadillac" of tablets. Both use the smooth Wacom digitizing stylus
$850 and up
Not new, relatively heavy.
Fujitsu Lifebook Convertible Tablets -
• 12" Convertible tablets which are direct competitors to the HP convertibles. The Fujitsu convertibles use the Wacom digitizer, unlike the q550 slate, and have no quirks or undesirable traits.
$1100 and up
none
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Asus eeePC T101mt -
• 10" Dual digitizing tablet with a resistive screen and stylus that captures handwriting quite well. Wi-fi, camera, and attached keyboard, the base configuration sells with Windows Starter and it is inadequate for Active Ink's purposes, but it can be upgraded to become a satisfactory machine.
$550 and up
light and fragile
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Asus eeeSlate ep121 -
• This 12.1" Dual digitizing tablet has the high quality display and the most powerful processor of any tablet under $1500. It comes with the smooth Wacom screen & stylus, Wi-fi, dual cameras, a bluetooth keyboard & a leather folio case standard. Superior in almost all respects to the smaller, cheaper Fujitsu q550 and Motion Cl900 machines, it weighs only 7 ounces more. Enjoys many positive reviews and loyal fans. Its only drawbacks are that its large, bright display and powerful Core i5 processor make for short battery life (4 hrs) and it has no docking station or swappable battery.
$1200 to $1500
4 hr battery life.
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Samsung Xe700 Series 7 Slate -
• This 11.6" Dual digitizing tablet is very similar to the Asus machine in most of its spec's. It also uses the superior Wacom digitizing pen and the fast I5 processor. It differs from the Asus by having a slightly smaller screen, a swappable battery, a docking station, and its bluetooth keyboard is sold separately. We haven't tested this machine yet, but our customers who have tested it report that they prefer it to the Asus. Both sell for about $1200 to $1800.
$1200 to $1500
>$1200 price.
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Hewlett-Packard Touchsmart 310, 610, 520; Samsung, Asus, Fujitsu, Dell, and other touchscreen all-in-one desktops -
• These desktops are not tablets, but they are powerful Windows machines most of which utilizing NextWindows optical touchscreen technology that works very well with Active Ink for handwriting or drawing purposes on SOME of the Machines. While all look very similar, we've found that the HP machines's optical sensors have the best handwriting recognition. Many Active Ink users choose them as platforms to design forms using our Form Designer software. The Samsung all-in-ones use capacitive touchscreens and are NOT recommened.
$699 and up
not a tablet
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Hewlett-Packard Tm2 and Elitebook convertible tablets -
• HP has been making convertible tablets using Wacom's reliable digitizer for many years, and while they seem to have been plagued by quality control issues recently, they continue to be good Active Ink platforms.
$1000 to $1500
many reports of QC issues
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Lenovo x201/x220 Convertible tablets -
• 12" Windows 7 capacitive touchscreen convertible, uses the preferred Wacom digitizer. Powerful and well reviewed "laptop" style convertible tablet.
$1200-1500
Laptop in size and weight.
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MARGINALLY FUNCTIONAL Tablet PCs under $1500
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Approximate Retail Price
Restrictions & Limitations
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Motion Computing cl900 -
• Motion's latest and hottest 10" slate-style, dual digitizing touchscreen tablet. Very well built with a hi-resolution screen and the longest battery life in its class (6-8 hours), both Wi-fi & 3g models available. Hindered somewhat by the quirky N-Trig digitizing stylus, it is still a robust and
beautifully built machine.
$1100 w/stylus
N-trig stylus
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Fujitsu Stylistic q550 Slate Tablet -
• 10" slate-style tablets which aredirect competitor to the Dell Latitude and Motion CL-900 respectively. The Fujitsu q550 uses the same inferior N-Trig dual digitizing screen & stylus that its two competitors use. Unlike the CL-900, the q550 has a swappable battery and a price that starts about
$300 less. In spite of these differences, most reviewers have preferred the Motion machine, but in our opinion, the N-trig digitizer should be avoided no matter what machine it is mated with.
$729 and up
N-trig stylus on the q550
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Dell Latitude ST -
• 10" multi-touch slate-style tablet that is very similar to the Fujitsu and Motion slates in almost all respects -- including its use of the quirky, and (in our opinion) undesirable N-trig digitizer.
At least it is priced low, at around $750. We have not tested this machine, but we have no reason to believe that Dell can utilize the difficult N-trig pen any better than Fujitsu, Motion, or Lenovo has done.
$750 and up
undesirable N-trig stylus
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Hewlett-Packard Slate 500 -
• 8.9" Windows 7 dual digitizing capacitive touchscreen tablet with N-trig stylus, labcoat pocket sized. Active Ink compatible, but just barely. It will work with our software, but we cannot give this device a hearty endorsement due to well known problems with its glitchy N-trig stylus and other ergonomic issues.
$799
Problems with N-trig stylus, HP appears to be dropping the device less than a year after its introduction.
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The following tablets are NOT APPROVED for use with Active Ink
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Approximate Retail Price
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Ipad/Ipad2 -
• The Ipad's lack of handwriting recognition software, the Apple OS, and an imprecise capacitive touchscreen all hinder this device as an Active Ink platform. No Ipad stylus currently on the market can render natural handwriting in a normal font size.
$300 to $900
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Acer Iconia A500/Archos tablets/Asus Transformer & Slider/Blackberry Playbook/Cisco Cius/Dell Streak/Lenovo Ideapad/LG G-slate/Motorola Xoom/Samsung Galaxy/Sony SGPT/Toshiba Thrive/Viewsonic & Vizio tablets/ALL ANDROID TABLETS -
• Active Ink does not run on any of the versions of the Android operating system and even if it did, none of these devices have handwriting recognition or active digitizing screens & stylus. All use crude capacitive touchscreens which do not render handwriting well.
 
$400 and up
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Panasonic Toughpad -
• Panasonic's rugged, but pricey Toughbooks have always made good Active Ink platforms, but their new Toughpad has a capacitive touchscreen only and it runs Android, so in spite of its Toughbook heritage and great build quality, it can't run Active Ink. It also has no digitizing stylus.
$999 and up
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HP Touchpad -
• The Touchpad has a capacitive touchscreen only and it runs WebOS, HP's now obsolete operating system.
$99 and up
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Dell Duo -
• This convertible, netbook style device runs Windows 7, but it is armed with only a capacitive touchscreen and it does not ship with a stylus. Aftermarket styluses for the Duo's capacitive touchscreen cannot generate accurate handwriting, making this device an unsatisfactory
platform for Active Ink even though it possesses the requisite Windows software to work. Unfortunately, the Duo's hardware shortcomings are its downfall.
$699 and up
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Acer Iconia W500/501 -
• This Windows 7 OS tablet is a twin to Acer's Android powered A500, but like the Dell Duo, it is hampered by the same imprecise capacitive touchscreen that cannot generate the type of smooth handwriting that Windows's tablet software can recognize.
$500 and up
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Acer Iconia Dual Screen -
• This unique dual screen Windows tablet possess two capacitive touchsceens but no stylus. It will load Active Ink and recognize handwriting, but if you use your finger or an aftermarket capacitive stylus your handwritten input is so poor that Windows will struggle to recognize what you've written and you'll give up in frustration.
$1200
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HTC EVO & FLYER/Lenovo THINKPAD -
• These Android 3.1 tablets incorporate the N-trig digitizing stylus to perform some limited pen functions. While not they cannot run Active Ink's software, they will be able to perform more signing, drawing, and annotating functions on Active Ink's web-enabled forms than their pen-less Android counterparts can manage.
 
$550 and up w/stylus
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ExoPC Slate/M&A ePad/RM Slate/Equus Nobi Slate/ & Clones -
• Like the Acer W500, these 10" slate-style tablets runs Windows 7 and the Windows handwriting recognition engine, that means they will load Active Ink. But they possess only capacitive touchscreens and ship with no included stylus, rendering most of Active Ink's features useless.
$650 and up
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Wacom Bamboo (all models) -
• Since we love the Wacom active digitizing technology when mated to a tablet, many folks have asked us why Wacom's peripheral tablets are not recommended when mated to a regular PC or laptop. The reason is because these peripheral devices don't allow you to write directly on the screen, so it becomes very tough to align your handwriting to the lines on an e-form. They also work more like a mouse. 1" of hand movement is not 1" of screen/cursor movement (unless you change the settings). The end result is a very frustrating and tedious experience if you try to write with these drawing devices. Try it yourself if you don't believe us.
$129 and up
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Amazon Kindle (all models) -
• These book readers are getting more sophisticated, but none come close to running Active Ink.
$50 to $199
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