Are any of you using these while at the inspection?

The prices seem to have really come down over the last year or so. I have a laptop that I sometimes take with me but it's a larger one and I rarely ever bring it into the house. It's more just to hammer out some work between houses if I'm out for more than one.

The tablets seem to be very versitile and I could really see getting a lot done while at the house. I've always done reports off-site but this could make me change my routine. I've often throught the best of both worlds would be to give the client a choice. Basically, I can do your report now and will have it in 30-60 minutes. Or, I can email it to you by this afternoon.

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear some input from anyone using a tablet... thanks!

PC should not have an apostrophe. Since this is an abbreviation and not a contraction, when an "s" is added, an apostrophe is not used. The plural of PC is PCs, not PC's. When an apostrophe is inserted, it becomes possessive and begs the question "What belongs to the PC?"

Gunnar the spelling troll.

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What is the circumference of a moose?

Then the apostrophe is correct ...

The user "belongs to the PC", thus the apostrophe shows that ownership relationship.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )
EastWestData (www.EastWestData.com )

And all this time I thought the PC belonged to me.
The power cord "might" belong to the PC, but I paid for it, so I guess it belongs to me. It's Jack's PC and Jack's power cord, the PC doesn't own "jack".

Depending on how you do your reports, a tablet PC might work great for you. I had an ACER tablet which had some great features but didn't have an internal CD drive. The main reason I left the tablet is due to advertising. I also found it was easier to use a voice recorder than entering things in the tablet. Just get a tablet that is easier to see the screen when you are outside and have a second battery for backup.

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I say lets merge all the home inspection organizations into one.

Seepaluce

I bought an Averatec tablet about 3 years ago at $1800 when i did reports onsite. Never been real crazy about it, the plastic cracks everywhere like its been dropped several times. When it dies, since I dont do onsite reports anymore I will get the cheapest regular laptop with a large screen.

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Paul Kondzich
www.altitudehomeinspection.com

Does your PC ever not quite do things right? Bogs down, slows down, crashes? Yet you still keep using it.

Yeah, it "OWNS YOU".

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )
EastWestData (www.EastWestData.com )

..............

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Not to mention The Apostrophe Troll.

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It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

I've been using a TabletPC for three years now and would never go back to a regular lap top for this use. I use a Motion LE-1600 (new model is LE-1700) with an extended use battery. I can do two inspections on it before needing to plug in. Plus I can charge it in the truck in between inspections. I have a special mount in my vehicle for it from RAM that allows me to use it with my "puck" style GPS and view the screen while driving. Huge screen for this, no squinting at a tiny little screen that is too small to read the street names or only shows a 200 yard resolution if blown up to read the names. LOL Old eyes here!
This is a perfect use for Tablets. The handwriting recognition is fabulous! I use 3-D and can modify my comments on the fly or write new ones as needed. I use a Bluetooth keyboard for heavy data entry like setting up the report in the field on the fly.

I've done parallel inspections with others using laptops and I beat them every time, hands down. I don't have to take notes and then re-enter the data at the laptop later. Why do double work?
At night, I drop it in a docking station and use it as a second PC on my desk. There it has full connection to my laser printer, the internet, speakers, USB keyboard, backup 20 gig hard drive for storing the PDFs of reports and the related digital pics.

Sweet system! And time tested. Works for me very well.

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"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an mainstream media,which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Thanks for the info... the way you use it is exactly what I'm hoping for. I just find that I shy away from using my laptop because it's just too huge to lug around everyday.

I'm curious about Homeguage 4 on one of the "ultra mobile" size tablets - sorta' midway between a PDA and a normal "tablet", for example

http://notebookreview-cnet.com.com/laptops/samsung-q1-ultra-vista/4505-3121_7-32459191.html?subj=fdba∂=notebookreview-cnet&tag=_Laptops

Have not really investigated it, though.

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Michael Thomas
Paragon Property Services Inc., Chicago IL
http://paragoninspects.com

That's a pretty cool gadget.... Cnet doesn't seem too high on it though.

I'm thinking of looking for a used tablet for the cost and also so I can get Win XP. I have Vista on one of my machines and any software that is more than about a year old won't work with it. Also, I just like XP better.

The group I work with uses 3-D and several have laptops with Vista. Seems to work fine for the latest versions IE ver. 10.x.x

I've tried several platforms and IMHO it's all about the speed of data entry vs portability.

Laptop fast but too heavy to carry around unless it's a "micro" style.
PDA - very portable but crappy to enter data unless you are using pure check box style.
"Convertable tablet (like a laptop but the screen spins around and folds flat for use as a tablet) Better but still heavy.
The UMPCs or "ultra Portables" are fine but the screen is a bit small for my taste but I could be swayed if the price were right.
Slate form factor TabletPC Ideal compromise! Data entry is fast, it's light and you can plug in an optical drive or keyboard on the rare occasion that you need that. I use a bluetooth keyboard in the field and a docking station at home.
Dana

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"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an mainstream media,which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Dana,

That "Motion LE-1600 (new model is LE-1700)" is exactly what I've been looking for.

Where can I get one today?

YouTube - Motion Computing LE 1600 Review

Motion Computing Tablet PCs for Mobile Computing or check eBay etc. They have been out for a few years now. the current is the M-5 or the LE-1700
Dana

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"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an mainstream media,which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

I use an OtterBox waterproof case for my PDA and it hangs around my neck. I use the little keyboard built into the PDA (on the screen) and can input data pretty fast. My report has lots of built in action points in my library, so I usually just have to select to correct box and it loads the text I need into the report.

I don't think I would like to carry around a tablet. If I felt I needed a larger screen to input my report data, I think I would just park my laptop in the kitchen and go from there.

Had the chance to practice the other day when I left my Pocket PC at home. I used my little pocket note pad to take some notes, but pretty much just relied on the old noggin to remember stuff until I could input it into the laptop. I found I could do almost the entire inspection without going to the laptop.

JF

I was using a Fujitsu Stylistic for a while. Fairly light, battery life wasn't bad, worked great with my GPS and a map program. Had it mounted on a RAM mount, charger with spare battery also mounted on the rear of the RAM. Would have liked for the screen to be a little brighter, a different model Fujitsu has the "outdoor viewable" screen. Bought mine on Ebay cheap, but then I dropped it getting out of the truck one day.....
Paper forms for inspections that day (keep a couple in the truck for just this reason), off to Circuit City that evening for a laptop as a fast replacement, only planned on using it until I could have a replacement tablet shipped, still using the laptop. Haven't gotten around to ordering the replacement tablet yet. Started using my Palm pilot with the Inspect It handheld software & have had good results with that for now.
I probably will go back to a tablet, but I think I may go with a different brand, I've tried out several that I think would be better, but price is a big factor.
Alton

It sound like you don't thing the Palm pilot works the greatest. I have InspectIt also. I have the voice recorder which works out good but always looking for other ways.

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I say lets merge all the home inspection organizations into one.

Seepaluce