| Pros: Very fast. Excellent video support. Just the right size.
Cons: Very poor wireless reception. Sub-par Bluetooth support. Overheating and excessive power consumption issues. Expensive.
I disagree with the other reviewer that the lack of a keyboard is necessarily a bad thing. The slate form factor is perfect for my needs and for a lot of other people. I specifically avoided products with keyboards because the only time I need a keyboard is when I am at a desk, and I don’t like typing on a regular laptop with the keyboard so close to the screen.
It’s really amazing what you can do with this little thing. I selected the Motion because I am working (application and BI development) and going to school. I selected basically all of the options with maximum memory and hard drive.
When I get to work I prop up my tablet on a cheap document holder I got from an office supply store, plug in to my big 1920 X 1200 monitor, and use the tablet screen as an extended monitor. The display is just amazing. I always have several projects, documents, and remote desktops open and the tablet handles everything flawlessly.
When it is time for class, I unplug the monitor, put the tablet in it’s case and go. All of my notes and textbooks are on the hard drive, so the tablet is all I need to carry around. Sometimes I’ll take a keyboard with me if I want to do some typing.
When it’s time to relax, I just plug the tablet into another big wide-screen monitor and watch iTunes videos (I don’t have a CD or DVD drive). Movies play better if there isn’t a lot of other stuff open, but the playback is pretty good.
A couple of times per week, the tablet will display a message saying “Your computer is consuming too much power…” and then dim the monitor. Occasionally it will also shut down to prevent it from overheating (only with the extended battery plugged in). But the really really really frustrating thing is the wireless connectivity. The Bluetooth drivers the tablet comes with are even worse than Microsoft’s drivers. The only thing I have been able to get to work without problems is my mouse (I sent a support message to Motion about this several weeks ago but got no response). Fortunately I had an old Bluetooth dongle sitting around but, due to the positioning of the USB ports, it tends to get in the way.
The wireless reception is unbelievably bad. I have a big antenna that blasts over a hundred feet and everything everywhere in the house gets an excellent signal. The Motion, however, is constantly getting slow, “very low” reception and losing connectivity, even though it is less than 20 feet from the router. It is on another floor right now but I can’t get decent reception anywhere.
In summary, the Motion Computing LE 1600 is a very impressive machine – even for the price. It is sad that they did not pay more attention to the wireless issues on a product like this. However, if you don’t need Bluetooth, and you can live with the wireless, this is a great product. |