After checking out the latest Vista offerings at PDC I walked away with one conclusion: Time to get a Tablet together that can run Vista.
There’s only one problem: I don’t have a spare machine to try Vista on. So time for some Tablet shopping.
I’ve settled on a Toshiba M4 with the fastest processor I can get (Pentium M 770, 2.13GHz. This pretty much means I’m going to have to purchase it online. I really wanted to buy it locally. I can hear you laughing already. Locally, you ask?
Yep. On Saturday I dropped by the local Best Buy and waited in line (Yes, there was a line!–albeit only two people ahead of me) to check out the M4 on display. Unfortunately though, Best Buy only carries two models–both with slower processors.
I also want to make sure I get the 128MB video memory option so I can run glass in Vista.
So I’m pretty much left with ordering online and putting my order in the “queue” and waiting however long it takes to get the Tablet. Most sites mention a ten day or so wait before shipping. One catch: Since I have a couple trips scheduled in the near term I’m going to have to wait a week or so before placing the order. No way I want the Tablet arriving while I’m gone.
Oh well. Gotta do what I gotta do.
Loren,
Hopefully there will be Vista video drivers for the M4 Gforce 6600 Go mobile video processor. Currently there are no LDDM drivers for it and I know Robert Mclaws tried the ForceWare alpha with poor results. I would personally would wait until it is confirmed that Vista Aeroglass effects are confirmed for the M4. You can still install Vista on just about any Tablet, but you won’t get the nice glass effects. Multiple partitions work, but I suggest purchasing a second HD for testing, an 80GB goes for under $100 online that way you can switch-between the two when necessary if Vista crashes and is unrecoverable.
You can get the NVidia GeForce FX Go5200 to work with Aeroglass. I found how on this post on Neowin:
http://journals.tuxreports.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=2952
Start > run, type in devmgmt.msc
Display Adapters > right click on Geforce FX Go5200
goto drivers
update drivers
dont do win update
dont search
choose pick from list
uncheck show compatible hardware
Man: nVidia
Device: Geforce FX 5200 (LDDM)
You might try CDW or PCConnection — when I bought mine they were holding stock of popular “custom” models for the M4, including a maxed-out model. Even at that I still had to wait for mine since what I wanted still didn’t match any of their stock. 🙂
By the way — I’m really interested to see if Vista Glass runs on the M4, and how it performs. I went for the 128MB video memory too, and I’ve been holding my breath wondering if it is going to support all the Vista Glass features. I’m looking forward to hearing what you find out. Happy Shopping!
Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I’m going to hold off until more info comes out about which hardware works with Glass. If only I could snap my fingers and have a Vista Tablet running glass….oh, well. Time flies and it’ll be soon enough.