My TC1100...
My
machine was purchased from eBay for about $330. Why did I buy my
TC1100? Well, I found out about the design will doing some "Googling."
I've been interested in an iPad for some time now, but I saw the
hardware specifications of this machine and decided it was truly the
winner:
- Its not locked to any O.S.
- I can get one with the same hardware specs (Apart from Retina/Camera - Stuff I don't need) for about $700 LESS
- It runs any version of Windows from XP - 7 (Maybe 8)
- It comes with and can use a stylus-pen by default
Originally, my TC1100 came
with the 1.2GHz Pentium-M, 1GB of RAM, 30GB Hitachi 4200rpm, knackered battery and Windows XP Tablet Edition (2005).
Aware of its hardware "issues," I did some upgrading:
- Removed one of the 512mb modules and added 1GB of RAM
- Replaced the old Hitachi drive with a 32GB Kinspec IDE-SSD - it's faster and saves significant amounts of heat* and battery life
- Bought two extra batteries - It was only meant to be one, but issues with the first replaced required a second battery
- Installed Windows 7 Enterprise
All
this added to make the machine cost around $450 after it was all said
and done. Windows 7 Enterprise was just 'around,' so that's what I
used. I thought it was finally time to drag onwards and "upwards" from
Windows XP. So far, its been good. Performance with the extra RAM and
SSD is quite good, actually. Windows 7 actually performs quite nicely,
given the mediocre hardware, and I can only assume the SSD is
responsible for this.
The tablet itself, however, does its job, and is still quite
competent for any task requiring touch-capability (school-work, note-taking, reading PDF books/E-Bibles etc.).
Overall,
the experience on this tablet
has pretty good. The machine, being designed for ruggedness and
durability in the business-field environment apparently has strong
plastic or even some sort of aluminium/titanium casing. I haven't
cracked the machine open (yet) to find if there is any truth in this
claim. However, I would think it is true, given some of the nasty
battle scars this machine has attained without significant damage to
any other hardware!
Update - January 2016:
The tablet has proven very useful not only for personal reading, but also note-taking in the educational environment.
Quite
unfortunately, the aftermarket battery I use is not quite as good as it
once was, particularly after sitting severals weeks discharged.
Unusually, this battery does not seem capable of sustaining it's charge
in the long-term, although the OEM battery does, and immediate charges
if installed. This aftermarket battery often looses enough voltage as
to prevent the tablet's charging circuits from operating. The only way
to get it to charge is to leave the machine powered off
for several days, whilst connected to mains power. Eventually, stopping
and starting the powerflow will cause charging to begin. This is a
tedious process that I dislike - although it seems to work.
As
for the Kingspec SSD - I found this lost its appeal after just 6-8
months of use, and the usual "clutter" of Windows Updates on Windows 7.
Either this machine just isn't quite enough for Windows 7, or perhaps
the SSD was lacking the necessary quality to run normal computing
tasks. Its transfer rates were quite abysmal when I removed it from
service a while back - sustaining far less than even the 4200rpm
Hitachi drive was capable of. I opted for a New-Old stock Hitachi
7200rpm drive to replace the OEM one and installed Windows XP. The
system has been far zippier, although I plan to restore Windows 7 from
backup to the new drive and see how it fares.
Otherwise,
the system is still working exceptionally despite its age. The CMOS
battery will need replacement oneday, although I have to keep the
battery charged constantly anyway, so I doubt this will be a major
issue for some time yet.
*Whilst
I cannot give any specific temperatures, as the SSD has no thermocouple
to measure temperature with, I have seen a reduction in CPU temperature
by a couple of degrees under normal usage circumstances
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