Bummer: tx2000 Out of the Running

Tablet PC Review's Tiffany Boggs has reviewed the HP tx2000 tablet PC and she likes it:

The tx2000 is going to be a hit with all the mainstream users. HP gave this model just what it needed. The active digitizer and touchscreen make this a true Tablet PC now, but it still maintains the entertainment notebook status unlike any other model on the market at this time.

I would agree with her completely: it sounds like a really cool machine. And yet...and yet, it is out of the running as the tablet PC that I will buy [1]. Why? Because it meets one of my deal-breaker conditions: no Page Up and Page Down keys on the bottom right hand side of the keyboard:

 Photo from Tablet PC Review

(Picture from the Tablet PC Review, er, review mentioned above)

And this from a wide screen laptop!

Why is this a deal-breaker for me? Because working with text documents (i.e. doing lots of typing) is one of my primary activities on my laptop and I simply cannot work without the Page Up and Page Down keys on the bottom right hand side of the keyboard (or even in a vertical line along right hand side). I know I can't because I tried, with little success, for about a year on a laptop that I got from work. And so there it is: one more tablet PC eliminated from the running.

By the way, the other keyboard problem that has always irritated me, but I've found that I can adjust to, is having the Function key as the bottom leftmost key. I much prefer having the Control key in that corner, with the Function key immediately to its right -- the way it is in the tx2000 keyboard, in fact -- but I can live with it not being that way.

I'm also worried about having to use a track stick (like in the Lenovo X61t) instead of a track pad -- since I've never used a track stick for an extended period of time before -- but I'm sure I'll get used to it. As it is, I generally use a separate optical mouse most of the time anyway. The issue only comes up now because I expect to be a lot more mobile with my tablet PC and so I won't have space to use the separate mouse (and I can't use my finger or the pen all the time either).

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[1] I'm nearing the end of my MBA (I graduate exactly four months from today) and, assuming I get a job within a month of graduating, it is highly likely that I will be seriously researching and preparing to purchase a tablet PC for myself about six months from now! :)