I’d recommend the NEC Versa LitePad Tablet PC to anyone considering a Tablet PC.

As with all devices electronic, one can buy now or wait for prices to fall, bugs to be fixed or features to be added. In the case of TabletPCs in general and the NEC Versa LitePad in specific, the prudent buyer would do well to wait a year or so as this new breed of computer is undergoing some growing pains. If you must commit now, I like the NEC Versa LitePad.

I am told that most tablet PCs are sold to corporations where the form factor has advantages for medical record keeping and sales applications. In these environments the extra cost of the tablet PC form factor can be justified by increased worker productivity. I’m not an accountant, and I don’t work for a large corporation so I can’t help here.

I bought my NEC Versa LitePad last spring when they first came out because I like new toys, and I read a lot of technical material that is available in on-line form. The tablet PC allows me to read sitting in a comfortable chair taking notes if necessary. Since I’m also connected to the internet via WiFi, I can also scan my e-mails as they arrive without disturbing my reading. This may not justify the high cost of a tablet PC to an accountant, but I have enjoyed owning my LitePad.

I spend a lot of time reading documents in either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Reader format. If I have a long document in Word format, I convert it to Microsoft Reader format. Microsoft’s ClearType font technology makes reading easy on the eyes, and the portrait mode allows one to display pages in a format similar to the standard 8.5 x 11 or European “A” paper format. The “Up” “Down” buttons can be set to go forward and backwards a page at a time. This makes reading comfortable and convenient. I have bought a few e-books online, but the selection is slim. We have a ways to go before e-books become widespread, but the Tablet PC is a great platform for reading e-books or anything in HTML format.

All of this is common to any Tablet PC. Why did I choose the NEC Versa LitePad?

The primary reason is I didn’t want to carry a keyboard around. There are other “pure” Tablet PCs that don’t include keyboards, but the LitePad is the lightest and thinnest.

The first thing that caught my eye is that the LitePad has three USB 2.0 ports. NEC has been a leader in USB 2.0 development and was one of the first to adopt this high-speed standard. NEC provides a high speed CD drive that uses a proprietary cable based on USB 2.0. This cable provides extra power so the CD drive can support a more powerful motor that allows the CD to spin faster supporting high speed reading. Installing software from CD is a snap. I like having a detachable CD drive as I use it only for installing software, and I don’t want to carry a CD drive around with me when I’m not using it.

The Tablet PC is a great form factor for displaying high resolution digital photographs. I turn on “slide show” mode and can easily pass the LitePad to other people for viewing. It is much better than crowding around a laptop. The LitePad has a Compact Flash reader built in which will work with many cameras, but my camera uses Sony Memory Stick. I bought a LexarMedia USB 2.0 memory card reader that allows me to read Memory Stick and other formats. Downloading pictures is much faster than the older USB 1.1.

The real piece of genius in the NEC LitePad is the easel that allows you to prop up the screen on a table so you can attach the keyboard and mouse and use it is though it were a desktop PC. It is by no means obvious how to unfold and fold this stand. The manual devotes 15 pages to describing this, and I was doing it wrong for several days.

Once you have learned to setup the easel, the LitePad can be used like a desktop. I find a separate mouse and keyboard to be far more comfortable than a laptop keyboard and integrated pointing device. Again using standard USB connections makes life easier. I replaced the mouse with a Microsoft optical mouse as I like the larger size and have gotten used to the extra buttons on the Microsoft mouse.

My keyboard got crushed in my luggage, and I was able to replace it with a better keyboard for $19. I wish NEC had included a USB port on the keyboard as I find it much more convenient to plug the mouse into the keyboard.

I’m sorry NEC didn’t build Bluetooth into the LitePad. I’d much rather use a wireless keyboard and mouse. I hate cables, and I hope to see Bluetooth on a future version of the LitePad. I’d really love to be able to update my e-mail through my Bluetooth equipped cellphone, but I’m not holding my breath.

The wireless networking needs some work. NEC included both 802.11a and 802.11b. 802.11a is a form of networking that nobody has adopted. The 802.11b works well on my home router which is connected to my cable TV box, but NEC’s wireless implementation has a difficult time finding networks in public places. It sometimes takes 20 minutes to find a public network as the system spends too much time looking for 802.11a networks that don’t exist. Providing a software switch that turns off the 802.11a networking would be a big win.

The antenna is hinged and can be turned so that it gets better reception, but this looks like an accident waiting to happen. The antenna hasn’t fallen off yet, but it is looking slightly crooked.

On the other hand the plastic screen is remarkably rugged and remains scratch free despite much abuse. Somebody put a lot of thought into designing a scratch resistant plastic.

The LitePad comes with 256MB of memory installed. If you want to upgrade to 512MB, you must throw away the 256MB card and replace it with a 512MB card. 256MB seems sufficient for my uses.

For the first few months I never used the handwriting aspects of the Tablet PC. I can’t read my own handwriting, and I wouldn’t expect a computer to be able to either, but I have found it can recognize handwriting from people who can write. I have become addicted to Microsoft’s OneNote. This is a program for taking notes using handwriting. I took a conversational Italian language class where typing on a keyboard would have been awkward. OneNote worked well for taking notes, and my handwriting started to come back. The Tablet PC with OneNote is great for taking class notes.

I understand the Tablet PC software is a great advance for Chinese and Japanese handwriting recognition. This has profound implications for how the global economy will evolve, but I have no first hand experience in handwriting recognition for oriental languages.

I use my LitePad for looking at a web based program guide for my cable TV. I’m connected to the internet through a WiFi bridge connected to the cable box. The web based guide is so much better than what is available on the TV screen via the remote control. I can also go to www.imdb.com to read about movies as I am watching them. I’d like to be able to watch TV on the LitePad, but Microsoft hasn’t gotten their software together, and I’d want to triple the processor speed to exploit digital TV over a wireless link.

The audio system on the LitePad is an embarrassment. There is a single tinny speaker on the back of the screen. It is possible today to use signal processing to get good sound out of tiny speakers, but nobody at Microsoft seems to be home in the audio department. Similarly a microphone array would allow the LitePad to be used as a phone or exploit speech recognition. NEC seems to acknowledge this lack in that they ship a web link to both www.soundmax.com and www.AndreaElectronics.com, but it is hard fighting Microsoft who has made no innovations in audio since the original Sound Blaster. It is very difficult building innovation when you have to fight Microsoft. I can’t really blame NEC as nobody seems able to build decent audio into any Microsoft operating system.

NEC could improve the audio hardware. The built in amplifier doesn’t have enough strength to power my full sized Sennheiser headphones. This rules out using the media player to listen to music or using the LitePad to access a music connection through the home wireless network. This is a pity because the full sized display would be great for browsing a music library.

I bought a communications headset at Radio Shack for $17. The quality isn’t good enough for music, and the headphones aren’t comfortable enough for extended listening, but I can use the LitePad for my Net2Phone phone calls, and I can access the speech recognition.

The speech recognition is quite useful for editing documents without a keypad. The combination of a pen and speech recognition is better than either alone, and useful work can get done. If I’m doing extensive writing, I prefer to set up the system on a table (in portrait mode) using the keyboard and mouse.

The LitePad is rated to run two hours on a battery. There is a switch that allows you to turn off the wireless networking. This can help save battery power. I get two hours of life if I’m not doing any heavy computing. Unfortunately reading a large document in Word 2003 stresses the CPU. This means the fan comes on using more power. I find that converting the document to reader format and using the reader program saves power. On the other hand hooking up the power cord isn’t that big a deal particularly when sitting in a chair reading. It doesn’t get in the way. The whole package is so light and convenient that I don’t mind the power cable. NEC made a good tradeoff between size of battery and battery life. The two hour figure is honest, and it is a reasonable compromise.

The LitePad comes with two pens. One is the size of a normal pen. I’m amazed I haven’t lost it as there is no place to store it. The pocket clip on this pen broke the first week. It was molded plastic with no strain relief. It was certain to break. The second pen is just larger than a toothpick. It matches the undersized keyboard and mouse. Very Japanese. The only problem with the small pen is if it gets dirty, it sticks in its slot built into the LitePad and becomes difficult to remove. I like the two pen solution because the “toothpick pen” is a good backup whenever I misplace the primary pen.

The Tablet PC is the wave of the future. The handwriting recognition is amazing technology as is the speech recognition. ClearType is another significant original Microsoft technology. The ability to switch between portrait and landscape mode was useful when Radius invented it on the Apple in 1989, and it is useful today. Microsoft is accused of using others technology, and there is some justification for this accusation, but the Tablet PC represents a lot of original technology invented at Microsoft. Similarly NEC has done a lot of good work in display technology, packaging, CD drives and USB 2.0. This is an area where processor evolution and software innovation will be combined. I expect this form factor will become something better than both desktop and laptop computers. While I haven’t owned other Tablet PCs, I think the NEC Versa LitePad is the best available today, and I expect it will get better over time.

Recommended: Yes