Laptop for meetings

[CheeseDog]

The head has got an idea for note taking in meetings.

It's to get a small laptop like the one below, and have staff take notes on that. As most of the time notes on paper tend to go missing and never get written up. The idea is that it's loaned out to staff whenever they go to one.

Other than it being a bit pricey I've not really got any opinion on it. Personally I tend to file my notes in a pocket and they rarely see the light of day again, so I supppose it's a valid point.

Just wondered what solutions other people were trying? We've got 2 PDA's but people tend to find them too fiddly.

For those of you who can't be bothered to follow the link it's basically an 11.1" widescreen Sony VAIO laptop that costs £1300


http://vaio.sony-europe.com/ShowProd...ony-europe.com

[Dos_Box]

My boss had one. They are too small and you hit 2 keys at once when typing. He now has a Dell 120L widescreen and is very happy.

[Norphy]

I'd suggest getting one of the thinkpads. They have the best laptop keyboards bar none (better than some desktop keyboards I've used) so people will probably find those more comfortable to type on than the average laptop. May something like a Thinkpad R51e which Probrand are selling for £505?

[StewartKnight]

how about a simple tape recorder, that someone could type up after!

[CheeseDog]

I'd suggest getting one of the thinkpads. They have the best laptop keyboards bar none (better than some desktop keyboards I've used) so people will probably find those more comfortable to type on than the average laptop. May something like a Thinkpad R51e which Probrand are selling for £505?

Think he's got his mind set on something small that doesn't look like you're playing on your laptop during the meeting.

As for the tape recorder I'm guessing you not serious for admin's sake. However the PDAs can record sound.

[Ric_]

Get a digital dictaphone and use speech-text software. Or give the tape to a secretary whose job it is to type things up

The Sony gear is also overpriced and hasn't been receiving a lot of praise of late WRT build quality and customer service.

[plexer]

Yeah get an Ergo Microlite 401 12" screen 1.5kg lovely build quality under a grand.

I have one

Ben

[StewartKnight]

The price of the laptop is probably the equivilent of a secretarys wage for a month (if not 2 months!)

That equates to 140 or 280 hours of typing!

[Sylv3r]

The head here has one of these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=541966

And she takes notes in the meetings she attends and is very happy with it.

[plexer]

Or how about one of those electronic pad things you write as normal but the pen records your handwriting and then you hook it up to a pc and analyze the files.

Ben

[Ric_]

Or how about one of those electronic pad things you write as normal but the pen records your handwriting and then you hook it up to a pc and analyze the files.

Ben

I think that this is what Ben means - I would interested to hear what they are like (perhaps a review for us?)

At £150 it's a lot cheaper than a notebook!

[plexer]

Yeah sorry just wanted to add to the thread that's the sort of thing but the one I've seen ain't a logitech one.

I can't remember what it is at the moment but will have a look tomorrow if I remember.

Ben

[john]

Tablet PCs are an option, you can write on them, and do magic later

[Ric_]

Tablet PCs are an option, you can write on them, and do magic later

You can't scribble quickly though which is what you would need to do in a meeting - you also pay a premium for the active screen. With the pen idea you get a tactile device for less money plus it gives a hard copy straight away... talking myself into getting one here!

[john]

If anybody has a tablet they want to rehome I am happy to accpet them