Seeking Nerdvana

If you dream of having computing power always at your fingertips, but with a screen you can actually read, you're probably dreaming of a slate PC.

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Sahara Slate PC i215 pen

If you dream of having computing power always at your fingertips, but with a screen you can actually read, you're probably dreaming of a slate PC.

Terminology varies, but generally a slate PC is considered to be a tablet PC with the keyboard ripped clean off rather than just folded behind the display. None seem to fit the futuristic vision many have of a tablet PC - namely a sub-1kg, A4 or A5 slim-line slate. The kind of thing a Star Trek ensign would hand to the captain, listing the week's duty roster.

The Sahara Slate PC i215 pen edges us closer to that dream device. Weighing in at 1.5kg, it packs a 1.5GHz Pentium-M and a 60GB HDD under the bonnet. It sports a 12.1 inch XGA display and a Wacom electro-magnetic pen which slots into the unit. There is also a touch screen version available.

The size of an A4 notepad and 25mm thick, the Sahara Slate PC has borrowed from the PDA with features such as the jog wheel on the right side (if you're using it in portrait mode) for scrolling. It also has four function buttons down the right side – rotate display, launch browser, launch custom menu and Secure Attention Sequence (the Vulcan nerve pinch - CTRL+ALT+DEL).

The launch browser button can be customised and the rotate button set for a left or right-handed user, but the interface still needs a little work. For example, the buttons and jog wheel are supposed to reduce your reliance on the Wacom pen, but after you launch the custom menu you need the pen to select an item. You should be able to navigate the custom menu using the jog wheel, and there are other areas where the jog wheel could be put to better use. This is only a minor issue, but slate and tablet PC makers should be looking to PDAs and smartphones for more such ideas on how to improve the user interface.

The Sahara Slate PC's spec sheet is comparable to medium-level notebook. It uses the old Intel 855GM/GME chipset along with 512MB of RAM (upgradeable to 1GB) an scores an acceptable 2515 using the PCMark04 benchmark. Ports include USB2.0, Firewire, 802.11a/b/g, 10/100 Ethernet, v9.0 modem and a CF I/II slot but no PC Card slot or infrared. Bluetooth is an optional extra, as is an external optical drive. It also has a built in microphone and speakers, plus headphone and microphone jacks along with VGA and mini-VGA outputs (supporting dual monitor mode). Unfortunately there's no bundled software - we would have liked to see OneNote, Microsoft's handwriting-based note-taking application.

Don't get too obsessed with the spec sheet, remember this machine is designed for convenience rather than performance.

While it lacks the grunt most people would look for in a primary computing device, the Sahara Slate PC is well placed to mimic a desktop workstation thanks to the $AU899
optional iDock. The iDock is similar to an all-in-one USB notebook charging/docking station - featuring an optical drive bay, Firewire, USB2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, 8-1 card reader, VGA out, audio out, two speakers and a Kensington lock. What really makes the iDock special is the adjustable monitor arm, just waiting for you to attach the Sahara Slate PC. With your computer now looking suspiciously like an iMac, you can raise the slate to your eye level so you can use it just like a desktop monitor. You can even rotate the slate to portrait, with the display automatically switching.

If you want to get out on the road, the Sahara Slate PC comes with a decent slimline case but it lacks pockets for accessories. The lack of a PC Card slot means you can't use it with citywide wireless networks such as iBurst. We'd also feel better if it had a protective casing when venturing outdoors, such as the optional Sahara ''Bump'' Case.

The battery offers around two and a half hours of steady use with wifi enabled, but stretches to around four hours in power conservation mode. Considering this still isn't enough for a day's work, the versatile iDock means perhaps the Sahara Slate PC is best suited to lurking in the home or office as a deskbound PC but ready to go mobile at a moments notice.

Weight and power are two key variables in the slate PC equation, but the third is price. The Sahara Slate PC costs as much as the most expensive XP Tablet Edition PCs - such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X41 and Toshiba Portege M200 tablets or the Fujitsu Stylistic ST5020 slate. The Sahara Slate PC's A4 size is a plus, but it's the iDock that makes it stand out from the crowd and that will set you back another $AU899.

This slate PC is certainly a thing of beauty. If money is no object and convenience more important than performance, the sleek and elegant Sahara Slate PC i125 pen could be the device of your dreams.

Adam Turner

CONTACT Tegatech Australia

PHONE 1800 615 617

ONLINE www.tegatech.com.au

PRICE $AU3995

INTENDED MARKET Everyone

PROS A4 size, iDock with monitor arm

CONS expensive, no PC Card slot

VERDICT 4 / 5

First published in APC Magazine (April 2006). This is the unedited copy, so it might vary slightly from what's in the magazine.