Tablet Review: Gateway M275

Pete Deatherage, Pacific Appraisals, inc.

This was my first Tablet PC purchase and I did everything wrong. I had read several reviews from other appraisers as to what I should look for and also had a list of Tablet PC's that other appraisers were happy with, but in the end I ignored all the advice. I bought my Tablet From Best Buy, primarily because it was one of the few models they had in stock. I really wanted something that I could try out and could take home. Now, I should say that this is an excellent Tablet PC/laptop, just not for appraisers.

Once I got home I loaded all my appraiser software on it and started taking it with me on inspections. I almost immediately realized that I had made a mistake.  Here are the problems I encountered:

1. Too Heavy. I had never truly considered this an issue, as I figured "what difference does it make between 2 pounds and 5 pounds, I can bench press 175!" Wrong! Carrying a 5.8 pound brick around with you, carefully balanced on your outstretched palm gets heavy VERY fast. Its not even so much the weight as it is the way you have to carry it (on your outstretched palm). My next purchase will be MUCH lighter.
2. Too Big. I really wanted a big screen and this tablet has a 14.1'' screen. This is a great feature if you are using internet explorer, playing video games, etc, but is way overkill and not at all relevent when using a sketch program or filling out an appraisal form package.
3. Poor Outside Visibility. I work in Sunny California, so others may not have the same problem, but I found the screen was almost unusable even on cloudy days. It is a major pain when you have to find someplace under a ledge or deck to draw a line or check a box. This can really slow you down and starts to erode time savings.
4. No Quick Boot/Sleep Mode. This PC takes about 4 minutes to boot up. That means when I get to a house I have to turn it on the minute I leave the car. Typically by the time I've spoken with the homeowner and I'm just about to start it is completing its boot up. Then i need to launch my programs (i.e. wintotal, davinci or nexus and Windows Journal). This does not seem like a long time, but it is time consuming and again cuts into the time savings I'm supposed to be achieving by using a tablet. Then when I'm done with my inspection I have 2 choices" 1) Leave it on until the next inspection, which chews up battery time or 2) Turn it off and go through the whole boot up process at the next house, which also chews up battery time. I found it was not possible to do more than 3 large home inspections before the battery ran down.

I plan on buying a new tablet PC in the near future. When I do, I will purchase one that is light, small, with an outdoor screen and a hibernate mode. I will also make sure I purchase one that has been used by other appraisers and/or has been tested by alamode to work with there software.