HP tc1100- a viable alternative to the netbook
There is a lot of interest in the lowly netbook, and rightly so. They are full little laptops that often sell for less than $400 so the decision to pick one up is not as hard as it used to be, when laptops were a lot more expensive. My recent project to reincorporate the old but capable HP tc1100 Tablet PC back into my daily rotation has convinced me that these are viable alternatives to the netbook for some folks. Just hear me out on this and see if you agree.
A brief history is in order. The tc1100 was an innovative concept for a convertible notebook and was, in fact, one the first ones to hit the market. The hybrid design of the tc1100 is what made the device so portable, that and the 10-inch screen. This is the same screen size used in the most common netbooks today. What set the tc1100 apart then (and now) is the ability to take the screen totally off the keyboard and use it in the hands as a slate Tablet PC. The entire PC is in the screen and the keyboard is a thin, light module that provides a 95% keyboard that is easy to use. The slate screen swivels around and folds down over the keyboard for transport; tc1100 can be used as a slate either with or without the keyboard attached.
I used the tc1100 as my main computer for a couple of years and it served me well as both a notebook computer (when I needed it) and a slate Tablet PC with full digital ink capability. I carried it everywhere in my consulting work and it never let me down. When it was time to move on to a bigger Tablet PC I gave the tc1100 to my teen-aged step-daughter, who used it all through high school. It served her as well, as it did me, and still runs well even today.
I am just getting going with the tc1100 again and dealing with some minor issues. The main problem is battery-related; the two batteries look like they are too long in the tooth to be viable power sources. The tc1100 works fine while it’s plugged in but doesn’t last very long on the old batteries. This led me to undertake what I thought would be a futile search for a new battery, but instead took me into an entire ecosystem supporting these devices still dear to many.
I first did a search on Amazon and found numerous companies still selling new batteries for the tc1100. They range in price from $45 to $120 and I will check into it a bit more before plunking my money down, but it surprised me to find so many battery sources for a 4-year-old computer. This led me to do some additional searching for accessories for the tc1100.
Next I jumped on eBay — and what a surprise was waiting for me! Not only is there an ample supply of batteries but also power adapters, memory cards — even mother boards. Not just a few, either; there are dozens of sources for accessories like the dock and even replacement keyboard modules. Further searching showed me that there is a lively market for buying entire tc1100 systems both used and refurbished. There are systems consisting of just the slate and keyboard and full systems that even include a dock and other accessories.
This plethora of systems and accessories has me thinking that the tc1100 is a decent alternative to the netbook for some folks. In its notebook configuration with the keyboard attached, the tc1100 is as capable as most netbooks today, maybe even more so. Most of them have a full Pentium processor and up to 1 GB of memory, which is just as capable as netbooks.
At four pounds, the tc1100 with keyboard weighs marginally more than the average 10-inch netbook and is roughly the same size due to its thin form. There are some advantages to the tc1100 over netbooks, foremost the warm-swappable battery. You can get an extra battery and swap out a depleted one without shutting down the computer. Then there is the obvious advantage of taking the slate off the keyboard and using it as a sweet Internet tablet, complete with inking. It is a heady feeling that has to be experienced to understand.
What makes this a viable alternative to the netbook, in my view, is that most of the tc1100s I found on eBay can be had for roughly the same price as most netbooks. I found systems as cheap as $250 and up to $600 with lots of accessories. Of course, like all eBay deals you’d have to make sure of the product you are buying. To me the price is right, similar to the netbook yet far more capable. It’s worth thinking about if you’re in the market for a netbook.
Definitely. Older used ultraportable notebooks/tablets are fantastic alternatives to netbooks, provided you know what you are getting into.
A refurb Dell D420, for example, can be had on eBay for the same $450 as a Samsung NC10, and the tablet Latitude XT goes for approximately $600, which is less than the Gigabyte atom-based tablet, and likely the same price as the EEE tablets. Remember, both of these are ULV dual core machines with full 12″ screens and keyboards, and only weigh in the low 3 pound range, which is right there with the 6 cell netbooks. Great deals, really.
Hi.
I too own a TC110 with 3 batteries, a 5 bay recharger, 1.2ghz Pentium, 2GB of Ram, bluetooth, and a 7200 rpm 100GB HD. I also have a Samsung NC10 into which I have installed a mini-pci connector and a 3G Sprint card.
I think the Samsung is a bit faster. I like the long battery life, also. It seems a bit lighter.
I not crazy about the resolution of the TC1100 and I’d love to install 3G internally.
I’m not like you, though. I can’t justify 100 computers. I was going to sell all the TC100 stuff on Ebay, but now I’m thinking of returning the Samsung.
What do you think?
Wh
What do you think of the TC 1100 vs fujitsu P1610?
The TC 1100 was a great device, and I can’t believe there aren’t more manufacturers who haven’t used this form factor–who doesn’t want a device that’s as portable as you want it to be?
A couple of concerns as an alternative to a netbook, though. I think there’s a durability issue here. A used five year old tablet with a well used hard drive is simply not as dependable as a small frame clamshell with an ssd. Not to mention warranties. My crappy little eeePC 701 stood up to way more abuse than my Samsung Q1U.
My hope is that as components come down in price, we start seeing devices like the TC1100 in the netbook price range, as opposed to the $1500 or so it used to fetch.
You could easily buy the tc1100 and a brand new 2.5″ PATA SSD, and still be under the cost of a lot of netbooks. I got mine for $230 shipped as I mentioned in the other thread, and the average seems to be about $300-350. It does depend on how much space you need, but you can get a good SLC 100/80MB/sec 16GB SSD for another $250, which still leaves the combination under the price of the Gigabyte tablet.
Or, if that’s too expensive, but you’re still concerned about an old harddrive, you can buy a brand new 80GB hard drive for it for $55.
James Kendrick is single handedly reviving the tc1100.
I’m sure HP could squeeze the HP mini’s internals into this form factor. They already own the patent.
Thanks James,
In these economic times, reusing an old 2-4 year old computer makes alot of since. Windows XP Tablet is a great operating system. The netbook craze of low cost computing has me looking at the HP TC1100. I wanted one 4 years ago and I have followed your site when you blogged about the hp TC1100. I could not afford $2000.00 then or now for a computer. I used to read Pen Computing Magazine before it went away. I know you are a geek writer and are always looking at the latest and greatest, but I think some of your past posts on the TC1100 were so great. Onenote and print to Onenote was covered and the inkability of the tablet bring a usefulness that the current netbooks do not have. The eeepc with a swivel screen could be good and I believe windows 7 will bringing multitouch could be a killer feature if they don’t put the starter edition on netbooks.
P.S. Maybe you could repost some past blog posts on the TC1100 instead of just linking to them. I bet some new people could really benefit from your past hard work writing a really in depth and practical posts.
Thanks,
JHall – Joshua A. Hall
Of all the machines I ever used…I still miss my TC1100 the most, hands down.
Now that I am “living the dream” of being a full time performer/private teacher I can’t even afford to buy one off of ebay but I would love to have one again.
It would make a great central machine for my teaching/recording/etc. The thought of runnings Win 7 on it with the improved handwriting etc is cool too.
-Pavlos
I just installed Windows 7 on my ‘new’ used TC1100, and it’s a little hacky, but it works. You have to install XP drivers for things, like a specific older audio driver, an XP video driver (so no Aero even with transparency turned off, aka no preview windows when switching between tasks and no Direct3D/DirectDraw at all), BUT, if you don’t plan on using it for video and gaming, it’s great.
Though an updated model even with Atom would be nice.
And personally, I’ve got some good ink-related games on there anyway like Sudoku, and Ink Crosswords. A little disappointed Crayon Physics won’t work, but I can play that on my XT anyway.
I wanted to reply to Joe below. Why doesn’t Crayon Physics work on the tc1100? I was really disappointed when I got the trial of the delux version and it just disappears.
Had I known about these machines about a year ago when I was purchasing a eee 701, I would’ve most definitely gotten one of them instead. Sure it has a mechanical hard drive, but I could always use a 2.5″ SSD or CF card (if I’m low on funds)
I’ve got one sitting in a closet for about a year an a half…great machine, I just went Mac, and have been too lazy to put it on eBay… any buyers?
@Gary: How much are you asking for it? Included accessories? I am primarily a Mac user at home, but I used to love using my Tablet PCs and always wanted a TC1100. If I get one for use as a netbook and not my primary computer, I think it would be great.
I picked up a used TC 1100 about a year ago and for several months used it instead of my EEEPC. I added some RAM and loaded Vista on it and it worked great.
The one thing I didn’t like was that I found the tip entry kind of buggy and the screen to keyboard was top heavy. Eventually I got an Aspire One and started using that instead. What I’d really like is a netbook with a flip screen and tablet capability but for the price of a netbook. But I’d like to be tall, skinny and 20 years old again too, instead of short, fat and over 55.
If anyone gets their SD Card Slot working on VISTA please let me know. Im hoping this new JKOTR Reincarnation will bring this too lite.
I picked up a tc1100 just before I bought my nc10. The tablet functionality is fantastic and for taking notes and surfing, it beat the nc10 hands down.
But the 2 hour battery life killed it, it just couldn’t last the day and I couldnt have the confidence for taking it out and about.
You’ve got me interested in one of these now, maybe to replace my HP 2133.
What’s the screen like on these? The 2133 is useless outside a dimly-lit room as the screen just reflects everything. Is is bright enough to use outside?
Is there anything to look for when digging through them on eBay, any optional bits that are really needed?
Thanks.
Alan.
I have used mine outdoors many times. It is not an outdoor screen but as long as it’s not in direct sunlight works OK.
I’d go for the 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of memory for sure.
Sounds interesting. I’m interested primarily in the true touchscreen with the Wacom stylus. Does this truly provide a drawing screen for use with tablet graphics programs? That’s the major limitation of my current P1610 which I mainly only use for patient notes. I’d love a screen I could sketch on though.
This is a Wacom active digitizer so yes, it’s a real drawing platform.
If anyone is looking for something a little smaller, I’d suggest the Motion LS 800. Has active digitizer on a 8in screen. However, you’d be paying for the smaller size with a 1 GB memory limit and a slow 1.8in (iPod size)hard drive. Nevertheless it is sufficiently fast that XP TabletPC runs well on it. Prices on ebay are comparable to the TC1100. Beware though that there are some issues with heat in those units but I personally have not had any problems with my unit.
No keyboard.
I used to own a tc1100, I thought it was fantastic. But sold it and went for a netbook – which is great just not as flexible. If I buy another and put Windows 7 on it will it play movies ok? I travel a lot so movies on the move are a must for me.
My research shows that Windows 7 on the tc1100 does not provide video acceleration so I doubt video is an option. WinXP and Vista handle it fine though, I just watched a HQ YouTube video on Vista.
Nice idea JK.
The TC1100 still has some unique features like the instant on pda functions, and the fact that the graphics are running of that old Nvidia chip which is still better than having an intel.
Great article. I’m reading it on my TC1100 at Starbucks. I still use my TC1100 as a daily production machine. When I need something faster, I use my MacBook, but my TC is never very far from me. I do a lot of PowerPoint presentations, and the ability to write on the PowerPoints, often while holding the unit in slate mode, is a killer. I braved opening the case to goose the memory to 2 gigs, and it made a dramatic difference. My only regret is that it doesn’t have a video camera, requiring me to fool with an external one. Otherwise, it’s a great travel machine!
Anyone find any Vista drivers for the video//audio? I’m tempted by one of these, but I’ll be running Windows 7 on it and hope there are some Vista compatible drivers out there.
There are none. NVidia doesn’t have Vista drivers for anything that old, so the only option is the out of the box driver (which doesn’t support rotation) or the XP driver.
I unfortunately missed the boat for TC1100 and that period when all the early tablet PCs came out. I’d really love inking, its the perfect Human Interface – the machine is to make work easier not the otherway round (learning to touchtype, mices, etc).
I eventually got my self a HP TX1220 while ago for that reason (a reversible touchscreen, but it was not portable enough), it is too heavy to carry around all day, and the standard battery only lasts about 2 hours – with on tap power, it pretty much does everything.
Then last autumn I got a EEEPC 900 (Using it now). it is highly portable, however its keyboard dependent (No inking, GRRR!!) and the keys are too small for my banana fingers.
Speed wise if its just surfing web and emails then it does not matter, even a PDA is bearable. Which kinda reminds me of the HTC Athena, similar hardware format guts behind the screen and removeable keyboard.
If HP revisit the TC110 design, with modern internals (ie. 5hr battery, approx 2lbs weight, 10″ to 12″ slate), I’d gladly trade in my notebooks.
And … if I had gotten a TC110 back then, I’d probably be still using now too.
Personally, I’d argue that it has to be 9-10″, 12″ is too big for something like that.
And since Wacom doesn’t make a 9″ active digitizer (one of the key distinguishing features) that really limits you to 10″. (Though otherwise I’d prefer 9″.)
I think I’m going to NLite my TC1100 with XP Tablet Edition.
All of this recent TC1100 talk is tempting me to buy one! But the budget isn’t big enough for this *and* new camera gear… Stop torturing me!
I totally agree with reviving older ultra portables. Ive been using a DELL Latitude x300 that i got off ebay for $75 and love it, granted i had to install a hdd and it didnt come with a charger but i had that stuff laying around anyways. Its got decent specs and does everything i need it to do.
I have a tc4200 at home and love it. I really didn’t see the need for a netbook after I configured that device. I see the 1100 is even smaller. Can anyone comment on the battery life? Some modern netbooks can go 6 hours or more. Can the 1100 last forever (on a new battery, of course). Can someone post pics of the device with an extended battery? How about side-by-side comparisons with a larger laptop and/or a netbook?
There are no extended batteries for the tc1100. What I do is buy a second regular battery. The battery is warm-swappable so you can change it on on the fly without impact. The battery lasts about 2.5 hours, 3 if you tweak it for maximum life.
I have 6 Tablet PCs.
1 HP 2710p it works faster inside than a TC1100 and Vista runs well on it most of the time.
1 TC4400 The beast. Now used just for running my accounts (not quite true)
and 4 TC1100s One for me and two for my teenage children. They have been on netbooks for 3-4 years effectively. The final one is being canabilised!
Ergonomically the TC1100 is the best. It also has the best sound system either stand alone or plugged in to passive speakers. But the 2710p has better battery life, screen size and runs Vista.
All of these and a few others for “clients” have been bought on eBay.
I’m on my third TC1100 upgrade with 1.2ghz, 1.5 GB Ram on XP and using it as my main machine. I have two docking stations, one in my office and one at home with 17″ and 22″ LCD monitors and I have yet to find a better setup.
I upgraded to a HP TC 4200 and then HP TC 4400 full house but with no dedicated graphics card my trusty TC1100 flies past them! The docking stations for the TC4200 / TC4400 is so useless and backward not to mention the hideous bezel around the screen and horrible little pens…! Don’t get me started
The fact that you can use it in dock in portrait or landscape is great. I use dual screen with outlook open on the TC and my main desktop on large monitor.
I love grabbing it of the docking station and go into a meeting or onto my factory floor. It is so comfortable to carry and just screams WRITE ON ME.
I use Coreldraw and Solidworks with large assemblies daily and after some tweaking I only use my P4 desktop for rendering.
The TC1100 has the perfect form factor. (Been through Motion and Tabletkiosk tablet PC’s) I heard a rumor that the TC was designed by Apple for Compaq – any clue if this is true?
My ultimate tablet PC would be THE EXACT SAME SIZE, maybe thinner with upgraded hardware, internal 3G and a dedicated volume control – a glaring omission in my experience. Battery life is fine – I get 3.5 hours on average.
Capacitive multi-touch would also be great but DON”T MAKE IT BIGGER!!
If they can squeeze a 12″ screen in there fine but it’s not critical.
Oh and DON’T CHANGE THE DOCKING STATION!!!
Sheesh, I thought I would just give a small comment and it turned into a rant!!
I live in South Africa and it’s a real pain to try and buy or ship something from Ebay in the US.
If it wasn’t I would buy another two just as a back-up no kidding – I just love my TC1100!!
Ever notice that Candice Olson on “Divine Design” still uses the TC1100? It’s usually sitting on her desk to her left as she’s putting together her designs.
I’m running Windows 7 on mine, and haven’t had any problems so far (knocking wood). It’s just sitting on my desk now as my battery lasts about 10 seconds after unplugging.
Thanks for the tips, James, about getting batteries and upgrades from the web!
I have an old TC1000 that is still my favorite piece of technology I’ve ever owned. However, my self-definition of “fast enough” has changed over time, and it just feels so pokey to use these days. I’ve added the max amount of RAM to it and have tuned the OS as much as I can.
So, two questions:
1) Is there any notable performance difference from the TC1000 to the TC1100? Would it be enough to make it worth the hassle to switch?
2) Any viable way to swap out the processor to something faster?
It realy is the ultimate form factor for what I want. I’d love to figure out a way to make it perform better.
Thanks in advance!
The tc1100 was totally reworked from the 1000 and is a much more capable device. The tc1000 had a Transmeta Crusoe processor which is nothing compared to the Pentium M.
And no way to swap processors, they are not even compatible.
I was afraid that there was no way to upgrade processors (though not at all surprised–that was what I expected).
Usable speed is what I am looking for. I find the TC1000 lags fairly often–i.e., I move the pen, and the TC1000 is half a second behind. I can definitely write faster with the pen than it can keep up with.
How big will that change, by going from the TC1000 with its Crusoe and to the TC1100 and the Pentium M? I’m fine wth subjective commentary–”a little”, “a lot”, etc… I don’t expect anyone to have a suite of stress test numbers handy! Thanks again.
The TC1100 goes a lot faster than a TC1000. It turned a hardly usable Tablet PC format into a very comfortable to use Tablet PC. You begin to feel you are actually using ink with a TC1100. The ink to text recoginition improves as well. Make sure if you can you get the latest TC1100 with 1.2GHz processor and install 2 gb of RAM. If you get an older version avoid the narrow viewing angle versions.
Happily typing this out on the TC1100 keyboard. Definitely appreciate real keys for anything more than surfing…
Got an NC10 for the teenager, and while nice, esp. with its multi-touch touchpad and fuhgeddaboutit battery life, something between the NC10, the iphone, and the TC1100 would be perfect. If it isn’t out already, it’s right around the corner. These are good times for computers fitting humans, instead of us adapting to them.
I picked up a TC1100 the other day not knowing anything about it. Wow, this is a great machine for how old it is. My primary work loptop is a very large dual core x64 HP laptop with 4 gigs of ram. Not a bad machine, but I hate lugging it around everywhere.
Anyway, for the past few days I’ve been using the TC1100 as my primary machine and it works great. I have only 1gb ram and a 60gb hard drive, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to upgrade it. When I need more power, I simply remote into my other laptop and do my heavy processing from there (Visual Studio for example) I have it plugged in and sitting on the floor in my office. I upgraded to Win 7 Beta last night and I’m shocked how well it runs. Ya, trying to watch video sucks and when you plug in headphones it doesn’t mute the internal speaker… but other than that, it runs great. I’d say even better than XP. Once the video driver issue is resolved I think this will be the perfect machine.
Damnit James. I’ve just gone and bought one now after having one in the past, mainly thanks to this discussion!
I’ve grown to love the Macbook Pro I’m using at the moment but miss the slate for reading and inking docs and pdfs. Plus it’s much easier to lounge on the sofa with slate in hand. Mind you, £170 for a 1GHz model with bluetooth, including keyboard and case was a pretty sweet deal! It always reminds me of a giant iPaq!
I just bought one with all the recent new interest in the device.
Got myself the 1.2ghz model, 1gb ram, 80gb hard drive, keyboard, 2 batteries and case for £250, all of which costs less than the HP2140 or Dell mini 10 that I’d looked at.
Should arrive today, very excited to see what all the fuss is about!
So I bought a TC1100 on ebay a few weeks ago because of this article.
I’m VERY happy, it came with 1.5GB ram and a 40Gb HD 1.2Mhz, and the battery lasts close to 4 hours (no radio, dimmed screen).
The only problem I had was the hard drive started failing after about a week, but I replaced that 4200rpm drive with a 5400 60gb, and am even happier, it performs extremely well.
Note taking during meetings and conferences has become fun again, it’s great!
Thanks JK for this awesome recommendation.
I have used the TC1000 and the TC1100 since they came out as my daily machine. I have docking stations at home and work.
I sincerely can say these are the best computing devices I have ever owned. I have searched for many years to find something that could come close to replacing the TC1100 but I have always gone back to it. It is by far the most productive computer I have ever owned. I wish someone would develop something similar.
Over the years I have upgraded the RAM to 1.5GB and the hard drive to 160GB and the machine is very fast – faster than a dual core Thinkpad X41 tablet I purchased to replace it (I ended up giving it to my brother and going back to the TC1100).
Mitesh Gala:
I have upgraded my TC1100 to 26B ram and a Hitachi 100GB 7200 rpm HDD. Does your BIOS address the entire 160GB? If so, how? Which HDD do you have?
Mitesh,
The bios limits the Hdd to (I think) 120 GB. If you can get your hand on a USB CD/DVD drive you could use it boot a tool like GpartD and assign the space to another partition and reclaim the space. The setup that is imposed by doing this suggests a data partition and an OS partiton.
I also have a TC1100 and recently did a clean install of W7 RC1 on it. It runs perfectly well, and I don’t even have more than 512+256 MB of RAM in it! However, I am extremely disappointed Crayon Physics Deluxe is not running on it and can’t really figure out why. CPD runs fine in Vista on my other laptop and the original demo version worked fine on the TC1100 with XP when I tested that about a year ago… Does anyone have an idea of how to get CPD to run in Win7?
Cheers,
Felix
P.S. CPD does launch and the music plays, but screen freezes to black and I can only get out using a complete shut-down…
I’ve wanted a TC1100 for several years now like you wouldn’t believe, and followed up on blogs like this one long before this article was written-only it was about three weeks ago before I could actually afford one.
1.1 GHz Dothan, 1×512 MB original RAM (since upgraded to the full 2 GB to give Web browsers and eventually Windows 7 more breathing room), 40 GB 4,200 RPM Hitachi TravelStar drive, Intel 2200BG wireless (I can do without 802.11a), and the BOE Hydis screen (which, aside from a small bright spot, a stuck red pixel, and an aged CCFL backlight that shows white with a yellow tint, is easily the best LCD I’ve seen on a portable computer of this size yet). It came with clear signs of use with black marks on the front bezel edge and some irritating screen scratches, but it does what I want it to do. (Web browsing, basic Office tasks, sketching, reading .PDFs and e-books, and classic gaming that won’t stress the GeForce 4 Go 420 too much, basically.)
It’s also delightfully light, even with the keyboard attached (4 pounds total, 3.1 pounds in pure slate mode). I could keep this thing cradled in my arm all day. (Just try to use a laptop or netbook like that!)
Those that I show it to end up being impressed that something like this actually exists. (Some of them happen to be long-time Mac users who have actually considered buying a Windows PC for just once.) What it tells me is that tablets would probably catch on more if they were more affordable and had detachable keyboards so that nobody gets the notion that you have to do without one. I’d certainly like to see a modern TC1100 sold new in the netbook space for under 500 US$.
Also, having the TC1100 allows me to take a great burden off my existing HP iPAQ hx4700, which I always regarded as a pocket Tablet PC of sorts. I can whip out the hx4700 for PIM, multimedia, light Web browsing, minor Office editing, and e-book reading, but when I want .PDFs, Flash, classic Windows games, SketchBook Pro 2010, serious Office work, or just a bigger screen, among other things, the TC1100 comes out.
I’m looking forward to further leverage what I affectionately call the “James Kendrick Netbook Alternative”. These three weeks have only been the beginning of what I am sure is going to be a long-standing obsession with tablet computing. (Especially if it gets to the point where I never have to futz around with huge paper books or paper sheets!)
I have both a tc1000 and a tc1100. The 1000 is quite a bit slower than the 1100, but even so works well for word processing and email. I gave the 1000 to my HS age son and got the 1100 for myself.
I use it as a travel computer, as it’s lighter and gets better battery life than my laptop.
One problem I have is that the internal battery that allows hot swapping is dead. Anyone know where I can get instructions on changing that battery??
Being able to warm swap would give me up to 6-8 hours of battery life on the run.
I actually just sold mine recently, unfortunately.
I have to vouch for the awesomeness that is the tc1100, though.
This small tablet has a unique form factor, very portable, and has the features of a good tablet with the features of a netbook… and for an older computer, you can’t go wrong in picking one of these up.
I can also vouch for the durability of the machine itself, as I’ve taken it to Reserves annual training, where it survived lots of dust, being thrown around, and being very scratch-resistant. It’s pretty light and very functional, and I would recommend it to anyone who required decent computing power and portability. It dual-boots Windows XP and Ubuntu 9.04 very well, and even runs games like Unreal Tournament 2003 and Command and Conquer: Generals Zero Hour.
I had to sell it, however, because I needed cash. Hopefully the next guy enjoys it as much as I have.
Looks like HP threw out a replacement for the tc1100: the TouchSmart TX2z.
@Ray – Reasons I believe the tc1100 is still superior:
Weight 3.8 lbs vs 5.8 lbs. If you want to use as a tablet, the tc1100 will fit in 1 arm easier than the tx2z. Perhaps I should have been able to up my reps by now, but I think 3.8 lbs is still nearly too heavy for convenience.
Components behind the monitor. This design necessity in the tc1100 allows someone to keep the laptop on their lap for a longer time without being burnt.
I stumbled upon this site by accident tonight. Just bought my 3rd unit on Ebay. I bought the first one several years ago for myself and “upgraded” and let my son have it. Bought a second for my daughter for school and eventually got an HP 1030 mini netbook. I am sorely disappointed and can’t wait for my new “used” TC1100 to arrive. Plans are to take it to 2 gig ram, upgrade the hard drive to 160g spinning 7200 or a 32g ssd. Anybody have advise on the better approach on the hard drive (fast hdd or sdd?) Also curious about RAM – I’ve added 1g to the second slot on both my kids machines, but the primary is only 512 and doesn’t look easily replaced as it has wires soldered to it. Does this mean 1.5g is as high as I can go? Glad to have found others who appreciate these tablets as much as I do.
PS: Keyword search eBay and Craiglist with a space between TC and 1100. You can often find a really good deal that others aren’t aware of.
Shawn
Further research suggests the fast hdd might be the better way to go. See attached:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/conversation.aspx?messageid=32893153&threadid=32893153
There is also much out there about the two different kinds of ssd and the quality of the more commonly available being little to no better than a typical hdd. Leaning toward a regular spinning hdd unless someone else has a different perspective. Thanks.
I’ve since upgraded the hard drive in my own TC1100 with a Samsung HM160HC-160 GB (149 GB actual), 5,400 RPM. Very quiet (not quite silent, but you’d be hard-pressed to hear it), fairly responsive, and it only cost me US$50 with an extra dollar for shipping, though Newegg raised it to US$60.
Only problem is that the TC1100 has some stupid limitation in the BIOS with hard drive addressing that you can’t change, so you’ll usually hit a wall at 128 GB with Windows. I managed to get around it on XP Tablet with a registry edit for 48-bit LBA; not sure if it also works on Windows 7. (Ubuntu, however, doesn’t have that issue at all.)
Before that, though, I upgraded mine to 2 GB, which really gave it a kick in the pants and made running Windows 7 a viable option (if not for the SketchBook Pro pressure sensitivity issues, anyway). However, neither of my DIMM slots had any wires soldered to them.
(Which slots do you mean by “primary” and “secondary”, anyway? All I know is that one’s easily user-accessible and the other requires significant disassembly, practically separating the tablet in half.)
Finally, since you have three units, I’d guess that you have significant TC1100 experience. In that case, do you know how much battery life I could get out of a new battery? (My current one lasts about 1 hour and 45 minutes based on my estimates, which isn’t bad for my type of usage given the abundance of AC power, but it doesn’t exactly provide peace of mind if I need to go for long periods without any AC outlets nearby.)
I think the memory card with wires soldered to it is the wireless card! Take a closer look.
Because of JKontherun a few years ago I purchased a tc1000, and I’m having the netbook versus upgrade to tc1100 debate with myself. I really like the form factor of the hptc1100, but I’m tired of the battery life. I also need a tablet to run mysqlexpress32, which in theory the tc1100 could do. I really think compaq was inventive with the tc model design- it still is cool. I still see it on TV shows once in a while! HA!
Are there benchmarks anywhere that compare the 1ghz or 1.2ghz Pentium M to the current Atom N270 or N280?
I am at loss as to why this far into the netbook game no one has come up with a Wacom enabled one. Given current netbook’s battery life we would finally get a tablet fit for day long note taking. Only reason I can think of is Wacom somehow being opposed to it and forbidding it.