Dominic when it acts up it scrambles the screen so bad that you can’t read it. The factory rep. has told me it has a bad mother board. They are common to go bad on this model. I have never even bumped it or droped it. I treat it like my livelyhood depends on it. Which it does. I am going to back it up this time. I have purchased a stand alone hard drive. I am just disappointed that this time it didn’t even last 18 months. I know it gets pretty hot when it is running so i put it on standby when i can. Any suggestions on a better model to buy?
Lawrence,
Yeah sounds like a bad video card which is integrated into the MB, not much you can do. I’ve had a TC1100 for 3 years now, but now matter what you buy there’s going to be things that go bad. Does the problem only happen when it’s not connected to the keyboard by any chance?
Fujitsu and HP both have really nice models right now. Anything you buy is going to be plenty for running your inspection software and internet,word,etc. I’d make sure you have at least 1 gig of ram though. Check out the links I posted earlier in the thread, and check out Costco/Sam’s club.
Thank You Dominic, The problem would just show up. Sometimes during a inspection, Most of the time when first starting the computer up. The only way to get it to come up right was to force it down. Restarting wouldn’t work. I would have to hold the power button on until it shut down, not a good thing. As time would go by and it gets worst I found that if I put it into the refrigerator freezer for a few minutes it would start up clean again. After having to do this a few times and keep a fan blowing on it while driving to a job It was apparent it had to go to HP for repairs screwed up screen and all. They would keep it three weeks until I would call them then wipe it clean and send it back. I know electronics fail. I am just trying to find one that will last longer before it does. I know I dont need supper speed but the 1 or 2 gigs seem to make them run a little faster and a little cooler. I dont use it for nothing but work. I run palm tech 5, inserts pictures into the report and send a PDF to my SD card to insert in the desktop to sent to the agents. No games played on this machine, Just fours of work a day. I now find myself reading reviews from people that have only had their tablet a few days and they are praising all of them. Which way do i go. Help
Got Dell Notebooks & Acer Tablets. Like Both. Found I keep the Tablet in Laptop mode 90% of time. Too time consuming flipping it back and forth.
My partner uses it in Tablet mode 90% of time. He does it cause its quicker for him. Once I spend an hour correcting his spelling errors done on the Tablet it figures out the same.
Anchor it - then walk, talk and look.
Dell just came out with their first tablet. If anyone gets one I’d love to hear how it works for you. I haven’t had a chance to check one out yet.
Aram, I’ve used a Toshiba Portege 3500 for over a year, & like it as a tablet / laptop. Paid $400. HIP is fantastic as a partner with it!
I can’t seem to find the “refurbished” option (which is usually a good deal with peace of mind), but look here:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Portege+3500
Lawrence:
I’ve been using a Fujitsu Life book for over a year (T4215 I think)
Walk around the house building the report as I go. Set up on the kitchen counter and print it out, and I’m done
It was a little bit pricey ($2,000)but I’ve never had a problem and it cuts about 1/2 hour from the inspection. Well worth the investment 
Cheers
I have used Fujitsu tablets since 2002. My wife gets them on ebay for a couple hundred dollars. They last about 2 years before I need to replace them. Fujitsu customer service is great even when buying the computer used. The tablets go forever, unfortunately mine get dropped occasionally or the printer port gets loose where you have to hold the cord while trying to print the report. My current tablet is the 4110. The 3500 series is still available and works great.
sams’ club has the tx1417 HP tablet for $999.00 12.1 screen.
Thank you Russell… just checked it out…almost fell off my seat looking at those prices…
Make sure you look carefully. Some of them have damaged screens and other issues. But at least their is a low investment cost!
I chose to forgo the tablet as I did not need one more thing to carry around and or drop during the inspection.