Gateway E-295C / C-140 convertible tablet announced

Gateway's keeping on with the convertible tablets, now announcing its latest in the lineup: the E-295C / C-140. Options include:

• Core 2 Duo 1.8 - 2.4GHz options
• 14-inch WXGA (1280 x 768) display, 200 nit brightness
• Wacom digitzer / pen with 256 sensitivity levels (nice!)
• Intel GMA X3100 or ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 graphics
• Up to 4GB RAM, drive options up to 120GB
• Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0
• DVD±RW drive, SD / MS / xD media reader, 1394, three USB 2.0 ports, biometric scanner

Prices start at $1100, plus there's another shot after the break to whet that whistle.

[Daran @ Jun 28th 2007 12:18AM]

That thing is HOT.
Now only if it were cheaper...

[Fatima @ Jun 28th 2007 12:22AM]

psh, rather have an iPhone with Multi-touch than that PoS.

[Lev M. @ Jun 28th 2007 12:33AM]

Not everyone needs a hyped up keyboard-less phone thats usability is in question. Anyway, this is definitely a welcome upgrade to their last tablet. Now finger's crossed for a dell tablet of similar caliber.

[loci @ Jun 28th 2007 7:50AM]

"psh, rather have an iPhone with Multi-touch than that PoS."

congrats...you are the internets muppet of the week!

bubba want iphone...bubba like iphone

[fischju @ Jun 28th 2007 12:32AM]

I dislike trolls.

Wacom digitzer and DVD burner are very nice, but how is the line of graphics cards? I've never heard of it but Shader Model 3.0 support is very nice. Looks like a great machine.

[Paul @ Jun 28th 2007 12:52AM]

For the price, that is a good laptop. A C2D with a x2300 is pretty good @ $1100

[Zadillo @ Jun 28th 2007 1:01AM]

It sounds like $1100 is a starting price; I suspect that isn't going to include the highest specs (nor would one expect it to). Heck, HP's TX1120 costs a couple hundred more than that and only has a passive digitizer.

[Alan @ Jun 28th 2007 1:12AM]

Can't find the link for this on Gateway's site.

The pen looks a lot like the CX2724 Pen (just black instead of silver)- are you sure it's Wacom Penabled? This would make this probably the best TabletPC around (integrated graphics and a 14" screen).

My only real gripe is the 1280 resolution at the 14" size - 1440 is much better on a 14" screen (in my opinion). Also, not as big a deal, but the battery on this looks like the battery that causes it to raise up on an angle considerably. While this is fine when you're using it on a desk, finding a case or bag for this is a bit of a pain.

Looks pretty decent otherwise. Wicked to see the X2300 in a tablet Pc for a change!

[finchy @ Jun 28th 2007 1:39AM]

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529597319.php

there ya go. looks pretty good and the upgrades seem reasonably priced.

[Dustin Frazier @ Jun 28th 2007 3:04AM]

This is the exact same frame as the cx210 series, its direct predecessor. The battery hump didn't effect bag selection for me in the least. As far as I know this battery hump is unique to the tablet world. The hump is great for tablet functionality on a flat surface as it angles the writing surface perfectly for writing.I love that I can upgrade to this and use my older batteries and dvd burner. I'm also kinda glad they stayed pcmcia instead of express so I can continue to use my Mogo mouse. I'm not sure how much of an improvement Wacom is because Finepoint seems to work flawlessly.

[Alan @ Jun 28th 2007 3:17AM]

Hey Dustin,

I owned a CX2724 and returned it to BestBuy mainly due to its Finepoint digitizer. While it seems to be doing you fine, there were a lot of pressure sensitive drawing applications that did not respond at all the the finepoint digitizer (in terms of pressure sensitivity) - these were - photoshop (the photoshop shim did not work reliably), painter, flash, maya, flipbook, toon boom, and quite a few more. The only program that worked reliably with sensitivity was Alias Sketchbook Pro.

With respect to the hump, I found it limited my options for cases - most sleeves are out of the question, and smaller laptop bags require you to force it in there. It's not a huge deal but it does indeed limit the bag options. As for angle, It is an advantage for heat, but I fold up my tablet pc (a toshiba) and instead angle my desk (a drafting table or animation desk) to my desired angle. The angle that the hump is on is too shallow to provide a great angle on a flat desk with it folded up in tablet mode, in my opinion.

One thing I noticed as well was they way that the CFIL backlight worked on the Gateway made viewing the display on one angle (secondary landscape) considerably less bright than the other (the backlight seems to shoot upwards from the bottom of the screen when in laptop mode). This was annoying because if you swivel the display 180 degrees and lie it flat down, relying on the angle of the 'hump' to have the laptop face you, the backlight seems to not work nearly as well.

Dont know if this is the case with the CX210, but this was my experience with the CX2724.

[Dustin Frazier @ Jun 28th 2007 3:34AM]

Yeah we definitely had different experiences. I agree about not being able to use a sleeve or a tight bag with the hump. When I need to do either I just pop in the modular 6 cell and remove the back (hump) battery. As far as finepoint, it sounds like you are way more into graphical work than I am. I saw no problem because I only do simple diagram sketching, note taking, and navigating with mine. I can see your point about it not being good for a real digital artist. The screen res alone should kill that idea. I really didn't want any gateway tablet, but it was the only one to offer discrete graphics besides the acer tablet. Having that graphics card has made owning this tablet way more fun and useful than if I had gone with a integrated graphics Toshiba or Fujitsu. I gotta game. I started out like many other people, hating the cow box company, but I have had a very good experience so far (6 months) and I would recommend a gateway tablet to anyone.

[Aaron @ Jun 28th 2007 1:25AM]

"Wacom digitzer / pen with 256 sensitivity levels (nice!)"

Nice? Why? That's pretty standard for a tablet PC. Perhaps it's because the last Gateway was some horrible non-Wacom pen thing..

Not trying to be snarky, just curious.

[Alan @ Jun 28th 2007 2:28AM]

Yes, the older Gateway tablets used a Finepoint innovations digitizer pen, which reportedly had a battery inside the pen, and was not pressure sensitive. Finepoint released a patch for Photoshop CS2 that allowed sensitivity, but it was hardly a great experience after that. Alias Sketchbook worked fine with this tablet, but everything else (painter, flash, maya, etc) didn't receive the same pressure sensitive loving that you'd expect from a wacom with system wide pressure sensitivity in programs that could take advantage of it.

[Dustin Frazier @ Jun 28th 2007 3:24AM]

Wrong, just about everything worked with pressure except most Adobe products. Alias, onenote, office, journal, Gobinder, etc all had pressure sensitivity with the finepoint digitizer.

[Alan @ Jun 30th 2007 10:29PM]

@Dustin

I guess it just so happens to be that almost everything that I use a tablet PC for did not have pressure sensitivity, and everything you did does. Note that this is not just Adobe Programs not getting the pressure sensitivity - Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, Mudbox, Flash, Flipbook, Corel Photopaint and Corel Painter, Toon Boom, Moho, TVPaint (Mirage), as well as the Adobe Apps, which those alone are very widely used apps and their non compatibility is nothing to scoff at. I found the only program I use day-to-day that had sensitivity was Alias Sketchbook Pro (as I don't really use OneNote, GoBinder, or Journal at all, and don't use the ink options with Office).

I guess we can agree to disagree there.

But I think something to note is that a Wacom Digitizer would have pressure sensitivity in all of the programs you cited, AND all the programs that I use. That just plain makes it a more versatile product that can be used for more things. As far as I can see, there is no drawback to have a wacom digitizer, but there are drawbacks for using a finepoint digitizer, as far as program compatibility is concerned. To say 'just about' everything works means that there is still something that doesn't work - and to me, that something is a lot.

[XSportSeeker @ Jun 28th 2007 1:26AM]

Wow, nice! Small form factor + wacom tablet + discreet graphics = win.
Now I don't know if I'm getting my Dell XPS m1330 anymore.

[finchy @ Jun 28th 2007 1:42AM]

Actually there might be a bug regarding the processor. it starts out with:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7100 (1.80GHz, 800MHz, 2MB L2 Cache) [Included in price]

but u can select:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7300 (2.00GHz, 800MHz, 4MB L2 Cache) [-$150.00]

which is $150 less. take advantage now and use that $150 to upgrade to 2GB of RAM hah

[Alan @ Jun 28th 2007 2:20AM]

@Finchy

Thanks for pointing this out.

I still don't really see any proof that it's actually a Wacom (and not Finepoint) - based digitizer, though.

[Darak @ Jun 28th 2007 4:47AM]

"Writing accuracy has been improved with the pressure-sensitive Wacom® digital pen, a tried-and-tested leader in its industry."

-Under product info

[finchy @ Jun 28th 2007 3:03AM]

and actually, gateway just changed their pricing. It starts out at $949.99 now and they fixed the processor price glitch :/

[trev @ Jun 28th 2007 5:39AM]

Almost but not quite :(

256 levels of pressure sensitivity? Most tablets should be using wacoms newsensor boards with 512 by now.

No option for vista 64 bit, so even if you install the full 4 gigs of ram the system can only use roughly 3 gigs of it. Not that I would order it from Gateway with 4 gigs - I could buy another laptop for the price they expect you to pay ($1500!)

VGA - how hard is it to put DVI in a laptop.

No option for a higher res screen.

[p-diddy @ Jun 28th 2007 9:09AM]

I love my M275 tablet PC but I hate that it is a Gateway - worst customer service ever.

I sent my tablet to their repair center because the screen stopped registering presses on the bottom 20% of it (in landscape mode). Despite the fact that I had paid for the 3-year on-site warranty specifically so I wouldn't have to send it in, I also I had to pay for shipping when the tech service rep insisted that this wasn't an on-site repair. I've never had to pay for shipping when getting my laptop repaired by another major manufacturer I won't name here for fear of being labeled a fanboy.

When I got it back, the case was cracked. It took them 3 months to repair the case that their tech service person broke during the repair. I had to wait 2 months to receive the part and then their service department lost my service request and had to wait another month to schedule the actual service (the guy that did the actual on-site repair was actually very nice - about the only part of the process that was).

I will never buy another gateway product.

-p-

[Sean @ Jun 28th 2007 11:47AM]

Why does this not have the same 512 levels of pressure sensitivity that the Wacom digitizer in the Modbook has? I hope that spec is inaccurate or will be upgraded before release.

More on the Modbook specs:
http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook

I've got the Gateway m275 and I love it, but the one place it lacks is in the digitizer department- 256 levels is fine for sketching, but not so great for painting. The base price is nice though.

[trev @ Jun 28th 2007 2:18PM]

I think it probably boils down to Gateway still having a pile of the older spec boards lying around. I would imagine once these are used they will start using the new boards.

[Seth @ Jun 28th 2007 9:45PM]

NICE! This is, finally, the tablet I've been waiting 3 years for! A very nice proc, Wacom digitizer, and most of all, discreet graphics that are worth a crap! So I can play games AND draw on the same machine...

Finally time to retire the old Toshiba M200...

And I can get it WITH the ATI chip for just about $1200! Woot!

[Victor E Matson @ Jul 20th 2007 4:28AM]

$1459 beans for the E-295C! Hers is a link for it.

http://www.gateway.com/product_spec.php?product_recid=529666093

[Cody A Vore @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:33AM]

Currently the C-140 has the largest screen/resolution for tablets on the market. It is also offers a dedicated GPU, WACOM technology, and the rest is fairly common. The only thing that sets this model apart from models in its same class is--there are no models in its same class, most are 12.1" (smaller than an 8"x12" piece of paper) which is great for professionals in need of a mobile (light) computer for digital note-taking and computing. However, this convertible tablet is by far the only choice for digital artists and those interested in a gaming machine with the functionability of a tablet. I purchased mine: 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, ATI X2300 (X1300...with a new name) for $1308 after taxes. Maybe not the best deal in the world, but it will meet my needs/wants/hobbies.