I wonder how many people here are using a tablet device like the iPad or Galaxy Tab? If you’re not using one: Are you considering to buy one next year when new devices are coming on the market? Or are you simply not interested in it?
I use the N900. And I am still trying to run Blender on it!
I like the idea of a tablet PC, like the one developed by HP, where you have standard hardware which can run real operating systems like Linux, with the added benefit of touch controls, and support for a stylus of sorts (for common drawing applications).
As for the whole “iPad” craze: I really don’t understand why anyone would want to spend money on such a lobotomized device, or any device that tries to compete with it on the already established terms (custom OS, custom software, etc).
well, I’m very curious as to what working in Blender is like when using something like a Wacom or similar… I’ve never used a tablet, but it’s something I plan on trying eventually 
well i never used a tablet but maybe after a few or more years i may get one
Same as Social’s viewpoint. I was never really interested in tablets, other than the one by HP and Modbook. Waste of money, if you ask me.
I’ve been on the same standpoint as you, agentmilo & Social. Lately I’ve been playing around with my sisters new iPad and I have to admit it is useful for some tasks. It is especially useful for reading e-books/PDFs. I recently downloaded a PDF book for learning purposes and reading it on the iPad is MUCH more comfortable than reading it on the PC. Also Adobe Ideas (color vector sketching, importable to Adobe Illustrator) is a fun application to paint whenever/wherever you want. I’m mostly interested about digital publishing when it comes to tablet devices.
yeah i imagine the 3d cursor gets placed in 1000 different places unintentionally every session, i’ll have to try it
I think a Wacom is only useful for sculpting or painting in Blender. For me precise work as simply clicking on a button or a link with a Wacom pen is a pain in the ass. But drawing inside of Photoshop or sculpting is much better with it. But I doubt it’s fun to use it for normal modeling and tweaking settings in the menus. At least I wouldn’t even consider it.
I believe that - as someone who reads quite a few e-books on his laptop, I often wished that I could instead do my reading (and writing) on some slick “pad-like” device (which doesn’t exactly describe the HP tablet PC - at least not yet)
However, in order to buy something for those specific purposes, the device would have to be < $100 to justify the purchase, and it would probably be something other than an iPad, which I consider to be a horribly restricted platform.
… Ultimately, I can’t see myself dishing out PC dollars for anything but generic, multipurpose hardware.
In reference to wacom: I have one of the low-end tablets, which was around $70, and I consider it a worthwhile purchase, even though I don’t use it for blender work (at least not yet).
I’m guessing the pressure sensitivity would be nice for sculpting, and the whole “hand-drawn” thing would probably feel better for things like texture projection painting; I use it mostly for outlines/brainstorming (for software projects) and studying math -> not having to waste stacks of paper is a big plus. 
I have a tablet and I don’t use it with Blender. Even sculpting I find the mouse works better for me. I do use the tablet for 2D work like with Alchemy and MyPaint, but that’s it. My kids use it more then I do.
where is the option “I have one but i don’t use it”?
come on guys the iPad is not a replacement for a tablet PC - Jesus …
I have a Wacom cintique but must say I would much more prefer a fully tablet laptop
sadly those do not come with very good Wacom displays.
everybody who likes to sketch by hand such a device is awesome and works well
if you have use for it, from painting to 3d sculpting.
I know quite many who do not use any mouse at all and 80% of our students are
those kinds since we have a strong focus on hand rendering.
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook that I got for $150, although I hear they usually go for much, much more(this one has no hdd, though. It currently runs Ubuntu Lucid off of an 8GB flash drive).
It’s not hugely different from the mouse, besides being somewhat faster. The only place it really shows is sculpting, where you can activate pressure sensitivity.
I don’t work in blender on it much, since it is currently under the impression that it can do GLSL shaders when it has no graphics card, a rather slow load time, and a 1.something GHz cpu(0.2 frames a second hooray).
No one said it was. We meant the iPad would be pretty pointless when compared to a tablet pc, so its better to shell out cash for a tablet than these ‘pads’.
I’ve never used the iPad or Tab, so I’m not saying much on the perfomance and usability side of it. Just from a window shopper’s standpoint.
The performance of the iPad already is amazing and I think with the new Tegra 2 chip coming this year the performance of other tablets will be even more amazing. I’d almost compare the graphic performance of the iPad with a XBox 360. I checked out the Epic Citadel Demo from Epic Games (Unreal Engine 3) and I was surprised how awesome it looks! If the gameplay would be more fluid I’d see a huge market for gaming on tablet devices.
I agree with social, and in my opinion; the reason behind the iPad’s ‘sucess’ is a combination of Apple’s brand, and the expense.
If any other no-name company produced the exact same hardware, it would not have taken such a grasp of the consumer market as the Apple device. Not to say it isn’t a good product, but the combination of locked hard/soft-ware and the lack of stylus support, it really does leave you with a larger ipod touch with 3g!
I have been looking on the internet and i saw an interesting blog entry, on how someone combined an intuos with an LCD to create a cheaper high quality cintiq!
i would love to try the build, but there is a small market of good quality Wacom intuos’ at the moment!
That’s true. Everything Apple does sells good ;). My dream tablet would be from Wacom - basically a Cintiq with great performance for sculpting. I’d be sculpting whenever I’m sitting in the bus :D. Happy new year guys!
Unfortunately I can’t add another option to the poll. Anybody knows how to do it?
well the iPad is for a special market and those who do not have already a laptop / pc and work with it.
it always amazes me when I read reviews and people complain about what it cannot do.
it would be like I complain about a car not being able to fly or BBQ.
there is a macbook mod which replaced the display and keypad with a tablet display. pretty nice because
it keeps the overall size slim - but you loose your keyboard.
for somebody who has the money to buy a bigger cintique those are a dream.
the smaller hand tablet version is not really that great to work with. it has also way to many cables…
too bad that those tablet PCs with a good pressure value and color accurate displays are so fricken
expensive.
I sometimes was toying with a simple b/w sketch pad since I cannot draw for sxxt with a tablet but render fine with it.
Well as someone who has an ipad, I’ll give my thoughts.
For a start it is an expensive luxury device, no doubt about it, but I can afford to buy one. I looked at the galaxy tab recently which would be better for mobility, though the interface was a little slow and clunky, mobile phones I find too small, but for my use I prefer the bigger screen of the ipad.
Is it a laptop replacement, no.
Is it pretty, yes (very shallow reason, but I’m a sucker for things like that)
Is it a closed ecosystem, of course, but the apps available do what I suspect 90% of the users want it to do, me included. After going through the ‘keeping up to date with the PC hardware/latest and greatest process’ in the past, I just can’t be bothered anymore. I want something that is quick to start/always there and just work piece of hardware.
As a book/magazine/comic reader, its fine, browsing the web, reading email, play casual games in front of the TV or in bed it works just what is designed for.
It plays video great (not just video from iTunes, drop in a video and watch with vlc).
I was very sceptical at first an put off buying one, trying to justify to myself it was worth it. After having it for a few months I’m happy with it at it fits into what I want such a device to do.