Nibs and Screen Protectors

Based on an entry by Tracey Hooten at the The Student Tablet PC site, I ordered some felt nibs for my stylus (I've been using a Cross Executive). The plastic nib seemed way to hard for my tastes. I also ordered a WriteShield screen protector.

The nib came in first. I placed it in the stylus and started writing. A very nice experience. Softer that the plastic nib and less noise. I usually use fountain pens (I am lucky in that Levenger is within 30 minutes of my house) so this was more to my liking than the hard plastic.

The WriteShield came in next. I procrastinated for a few days before installing it. The install was easier than I expected, but I still have lint/dust under the protector.

The writing experience is like using a number 2 pencil on paper. Same feel, same sound. I've been enjoying it very much.

More on the Acer TMC204TMI

I've had it almost two weeks now and I'm very pleased. Of course right after I bought it, there was a $200 or so price drop. Oh well, that always seems to happen with tech stuff.

Likes:

• I love the flip up to laptop, flip down to tablet. Not that the twist for tablet is bad, this is just a little easier. I am concerned about the screen being protected. Tom Bihn has some laptop cases for in a backpack that look fairly sturdy. I'll have to check them out. I also purchased the Acer Total Notebook Protection.
• The quality of the pen interaction. It seemed I was always fighting with the pen on the Averatec. Not so here. The bulk of my time has been in OneNote 2007, but the pen works nicely.
• The trackpoint. I am not a touchpad guy at all. This works nicely except for dragging something, I still don't have the hang of that. I didn't get it on the touchpad either.
• The angle of the screen in laptop mode. I was concerned about this but it works nicely.
• The lack of non-Acer crapware on the machine. There was a trial of Norton Anti-Virus but that was it.
• The fingerprint reader (when it works, about 50% of the time) is cool.
• Cross Executive Stylus (not included with the Acer). I'm a pen guy. I love fountain pens. This is much nicer than the included pen. The included pen works well, I have no complaints about it. It is miles beyond the cheesy one with the Averatec.
• Weight with the 3 cell battery. It is nice and light. Very usable. The 6 cell isn't bad, but I can feel the difference between the two.

Dislikes:

• There is so much Acer stuff installed on here ethis and ethat. I'm not sure what is necessary and what isn't.
• The drive partitioning. It came in 2 50 gig partitions and one little puker recovery partition. I had to convert everything to NTFS to be able to repartition. I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with the PQService partition.
• The 4200 RPM drive seems slow, I'm not sure how much a 5400 or 7200 will improve that.

Not so sure about yet:

• Battery life. I haven't really run the machine on battery enough to get a feel.