Coffee break: An old friend makes an appearance at Panera Bread
I am working in the local Panera Bread this afternoon for a change of scenery but that scenery is making it hard for me to concentrate on my work. I walked into the “computer” area and as I was setting up to get busy I looked back and what did I see?
Sitting in front of a guy in the middle of a meeting is an HP tc1100! I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these beauties in the wild, and it fired up feelings of nostalgia. I still believe that the hybrid design of the tc1100 with the detachable keyboard and full slate design has not been touched by any design before or since.
An under 2-pound slate of 10-inches is the perfect size for a slate, and the tc1100 gave up very few compromises to make that happen. The hardware components are still in use today; at least some of them are. What makes this rare sighting so appropriate is that I was thinking just this weekend that I needed to try and get my old friend going again.
I used the heck out of that tc1100 in my daily work for so long, and when it was time to move on I gave it to my step-daughter to use for schoolwork. She used that for a few years until we got her a big laptop for college but the tc1100 never faltered in all that time. I noticed it was sitting unused on a table this weekend and thought to myself I should get it going again. I mean, the form factor has not been touched by anyone else, not even close. That Linux-based netbook from Always Innovative comes closest. What a trip down memory lane. I wish I could have taken a photo of the tc1100 in use, but I couldn’t for privacy reasons.
Sometimes I feel like I want to buy one, but I think having a low-res screen would kind of drive me nuts. I got spoiled by my Toshiba M200 and my Fujitsu P1610 with their higher-res screens. But sometimes I still wish I had one for my gadget collection…
The res of the screen is the slightly better than that of netbooks so it doesn’t bother me much. The P1610 is awesome but a tad too small for that keyboard, plus I like dropping the keyboard for web surfing in the big chair.
I just checked the prices on eBay and they are significantly cheaper than I realized. Only a few years ago they were going for at least double that price. I’d consider buying one of these instead of a netbook. However, I’m waiting to see if/when Apple releases their own tablet, so I’ll have to pass on the TC1100, unless I come into some spare money that I won’t spend on more Nikon camera gear.
I wonder why this form factor hasn’t been ripped off by a netbook manufacturer? It would be a great differentiator.
With how cheap they are on eBay, I’ve actually been tempted to pick up one of these myself.
Does anyone know the general performance of the Pentium M compared to the Atom? (I know it’s not as efficient, but still).
mine has been running Vista Ultimate since its release and I’ve had nary a complaint that it’s too slow.
Though… I’ve been reading it’s 3.1 lbs, not 2 lbs.
Not without the keyboard which is why it’s so darn cool.
Absolutely loved my TC1100, got it cheap off ebay about a year after they were released. Used it non-stop until Vista came out, really liked Vistas Tablet stuff but the TC1100 never really got on with Vista. Got a M400 which never really worked as a TabletPC for me. Now use a MSI Wind clone which I love, but not as much as the TC1100.
I did fish my TC1100 out of it’s original box to try and install Windows 7 Beta on it, both the batteries are dead now though, and it seems (from what I’ve read) the bespoke nature of some of the TC1100s components mean it doesn’t work too well with 7.
I always live in hope that HP will release another modern version of the TC1100. Until then I can smile at its regular appearance in House as a portable life signs display
Yeah, I’ve been reading about it and it seems there’s a pretty big issue with its video chip in Windows 7. A more modern version even if it had a slow CPU like the Atom would be great.
I still have my TC 1100 and loved it/ love it still. I would love to see James get back into it and maybe we can get togther and work on the one issue that was a problem for me running VISTA Business and that was the SD Card Slot. If you stuck something in it (memory card of course) it would lock up. This was a well known and discussed issue and was never resolved, that I know of.
I have been wanting to get one of the Docks cheap since I got mine as well. Always a cool design I thought.
I guess I will be working on mine tonite
I have a dock for mine.
Now theres a HUGE Surprise!!
James,
I think the netbook craze is great, but you can buy a good used HPtc1100 on ebay for $350.00 and with windows tablet pc functionality would be be a great internet and notetaking device. I would like to get one for reading ebooks and zinio magazines. One of the reason I started reading jkontherun was the coverage of tablet pc’s and small portable devices.
It is a great buy for $350 for sure.
I have two of them, one with Vista Business and another with Win7. They still run perfect and work excellent as a bedside reader.
I’m currently a college student and still use a TC1100 daily. At ~$350 it’s at a great entry price point for students who are interested in exploring tablet PCs for notetaking and light computing. For day to day word processing and email the TC1100 is a great light weight but full featured alternative to a netbook with a higher resolution screen to boot.
I absolutely LOVE mine and I’m using it right now. The handwriting recognition is wonderful and it’s just a very natural device to use. I have a very “pen on paper” feel with this device and the technology doesn’t get in the way.
Over the last little while my battery has been terrible (about 25 minutes) and XP is slow to start so I guess it’s time to reinstall the OS. Can you still get batteries for these machines?
Yeah TC1100’s. I got one last year off eBay and was happy with it. Mostly this year I started using it on the go. Had also picked up an Acer Aspire One. That got sold last week and I turned around and bought another TC1100. Got tired of yanking the 1st one out of its dock every time I wanted to go to my favorite coffee shop that just got wifi. I love mine and wish you the best of luck getting yours going once again.
Mike
James – I just miss you being into tablets period. It seems as soon as you moved out of the “real” workforce, you lost the value of tablets. Your site is all about netbooks and macs now – I still follow, but don’t get nearly the value I use to. I personally had a TC1100 and have since moved on to the 2730p and love it. I’m not sure why you miss the TC1100 with the 2730p. Sure the 2710p left some to be desired, but I’m happier than ever with my 2730. The TC1100 always irritated me with the balance being a bit off when trying to use the keyboard in my lap. The tablet was a bit heavy for that flimsy keyboard – all fixed with a lightweight convertable that is the best of both worlds.
PLEASE – remember where you came from more often – more tablet talk!
still a subscriber…
-don
I installed a fresh copy of XP on mine on friday. I havent used it in a long time. I have been so happy with my Wind, but want to learn a few new skills for work and need something to take quick notes on. So who was I gonna call? The ghost busters weren’t around so I called on the TC1100. Its working great. I have been looking at a few ways to hack my Wind into the TC1100. I figured that it would be kind of cool.
Just a couple of weeks ago I finally got my wife to upgrade from her TC1100. She upgraded to a Sony TZ Vaio. By the way we still have a TC1000 laying around the house and a M205, not that they get used anymore.
How weird, that was my upgrade path too: tc1100 to VAIO TZ. My switch was prompted by the graphics card in the tc1100 failing: it would overheat, I think, and then I’d get odd glitches or colored patches all over the display.
I still miss it though, and was only tweeting the other day about looking at eBay for them.
I picked up a TC1100 off e-bay to supplement my X61 tablet. It is an integral part of my day and is actually used as a tablet far more often than my X61 due to its superior slate form factor. I’ve loaded the public beta of Windows 7 and aside from the lack of a functioning driver for the SD slot it works perfectly. With its 10″ screen and its low (second hand) price its the perfect “netbook”.
I still use a TC1100 as my main pc in my work environment, installed windows 7 and It’s going great since then, even if I’m experiencing some CPU related issues with the -ahem- latest release. Then there’s mr X61 waiting at home.
I’ve instaled windows 7 in my tc1100, but I can not make the wiereless work, aside of that it works fine. Anyone could give a hint of how to get the wireless work? I have try to instal the xp drives in xp compatibility mode but it did not worked out.
The tc1100 is an excelent notepad, and in most of the cases, the guys that ask me about it, think that the device is a very advanced model of a computer. Sadly, very few people knows about the tablet pc form factor.
Try to go online using LAN, then start windows update. It should install the proper drivers automatically!
I had a TC1000 when I went back to college to complete my degree in 2003. Sold the tablet afterwards, and have always regretted it (although I got a good price for it).
I’ve seen various and sundry TC1100 packages on the Bay for $250-450 with varying levels of accessories, and have frequently thought about getting one again to play with.
A few questions before I potentially send good money down the drain though:
1. Isn’t the processor pretty anemic by today’s standards?
2. What is maximum RAM on the 1100?
3. I remember my TC1000 having absolutely HORRIBLE hard drive performance, using a slow 4200rpm drive. What swap-in options are there? Is SSD doable (presumably PATA)?
4. What kind of battery life can one expect?
(sorry to hijack the discussion, but the article is right: it really is a unique form factor.)
P.S. My laptop/netbook of choice for primary usage right now is also a Vaio TZ. For a while there, Sony had some upper-end configurations at blow-out clearance prices. I picked up a TZ290 (U7700, 64GB SSD + 250GB HDD) with external DVDRW and extended battery for $1,400 (as compared to an original price of $3,600). I swapped out the 250GB HDD and put in a SATA 64GB SLC SSD and made it the boot drive. Nice little speed demon that is as silent as the grave.
The TC1100 I have has been going great since I got it in 2007 on ebay. It’s been my main business computer and personal computer. Just bought a dock and wireless keyboard to extend it’s functionality. Would love to get another off of ebay.
Just last month I upgraded my TC1100 to a 120GB HDD. I stayed with Windows XP, but would love to get Windows 7 running on it.
To answer someone’s question, I the TC1100 can support 2GB of RAM, BUT you have to open the case and upgrade the internal 512MB. Otherwise, its the 512MB internal and 1GB in the easy to get to external memory slot for 1.5GB RAM.
Check out http://www.memorystock.com/memory/HewlettPackardTabletPCTC1100.html
and http://81.5.185.34/tc-one-thousand/upgrades.html.
Copying my entry from the other post on the TC1100:
I’ve installed Windows 7 Ultimate beta on a TC1000 (not a typo) and it runs quite well — as a laptop. I can’t get the Finepoint driver to work, so no tablet use, yet (Every so often I try to find a work around). The performance is decent, I’ve turned off all the aero stuff (which did work with the default VGA Win7 driver, not with the TC1000’s NVidia driver), to improve performance. If I can’t get the tablet functionality by the time the beta expires — I’ll probably replace with Ubuntu.
What did you just say? Aero worked with the generic drivers??? o_o”