MathOverflow will be down for maintenance for approximately 3 hours, starting Monday evening (06/24/2013) at approximately 9:00 PM Eastern time (UTC-4).
show/hide this revision's text 3 slight update

Taking handwritten notes without pressure sensitive touch technology is not pretty, i.e., not very readable; I would recommend digitizer/pen technologies like wacom or n-trig (as compared to iPad/android-tablets capacitive touch screens). These also automatically ignore other touch input (like wrists) when the digitizer/pen is used.

I have been using a graphics tablet to take notes and communicate via online whiteboards for a couple of years, but a real tablet pc takes it to a different level.

I recently got an HP tm2 ( -- very affordable (compared to Thinkpads, Latitudes and motion computing slates), good specs, wacom digitizer+multitouch, 5h+ regular battery life)life. I am very happy with productivity, running

Productivity is great using Xournal under linux (kubuntu, almost flawless hardware support) and using the amazing Xournal for handwritten notes and pdf annotation -- the best solution I have found so farsupport). Xournal runs on windows, too, btw.

I was very happy using the tm2 during

During a conference recently to take notes with Xournal was brilliant -- infinite paper with infinite zoom, free rearranging, shape recognition and what not etc. makes it very easy to keep good notes (except that, well, it's still my handwriting)handwriting...). The battery life of the tm2 lasted an entire conference day (with dimmed screen and wifi off).

The only thing I sometimes miss is windows7's impressive handwriting recognition -- but then again, it never helped with mathematical writing.If only there was a linux handwriting OCR

You might want to better search my notes for regular language...

To keep it balanced, check out the gottabemobile blog. It is an good source on mobile computing, with a lot of reviews on note taking software for tablet pcs and the iPad.

Generally speaking, pressure sensitive touch technology (like wacom or n-trig) gives better results for handwriting. But some iPad apps have features to compensate for that.

Being on a budget, a graphics tablet is a very good alternative for taking notes. I used to use one extensively before, especially for online whiteboards (like scriblink and dabbelboard) during phone conversations.
show/hide this revision's text 2 added links

Taking handwritten notes without pressure sensitive touch technology is not pretty, i.e., not very readable; I would recommend proper digitizer pen digitizer/pen technologies like wacom or ntrig n-trig (as compared to iPad/android-tablets capacitive touch screens). These also automatically ignore other touch input (like wrists) when the digitizer/pen is used. I have been using a graphics tablet to take notes and communicate via online whiteboards for a couple of years, but a real tablet pc takes it to a different level.

I recently got an HP tm2 (very affordable, good specs, wacom digitizer+multitouch, 5h+ regular battery life). I am very happy with productivity, running linux (kubuntu, kubuntu, almost flawless hardware support) and using the amazing Xournal for handwritten notes and pdf annotation -- the best solution I have found so far. Xournal runs on windows, too, btw.

I was very happy using the tm2 during a conference recently to take notes with Xournal -- infinite paper with infinite zoom, free rearranging, shape recognition and what not makes it very easy to keep good notes (except that, well, it's still my handwriting). The battery life lasted an entire conference day (with dimmed screen and wifi off).

The only thing I sometimes miss is windows7's impressive handwriting recognition -- but then again, it never helped with mathematical writing. If only there was a linux handwriting OCR to better search my notes for regular language...

To keep it balanced, the gottabemobile blog is an good source on mobile computing, with a lot of reviews on note taking software for tablet pcs and the iPad.
show/hide this revision's text 1 [made Community Wiki]

Taking handwritten notes without pressure sensitive touch technology is not pretty, i.e., not very readable; I would recommend proper digitizer pen technologies like wacom or ntrig (as compared to iPad/android-tablets capacitive touch screens). These also automatically ignore other touch input (like wrists) when the digitizer/pen is used. I have been using a graphics tablet to take notes and communicate via online whiteboards for a couple of years, but a real tablet pc takes it to a different level.

I recently got an HP tm2 (very affordable, good specs, wacom digitizer+multitouch, 5h+ regular battery life). I am very happy with productivity, running linux (kubuntu, almost flawless hardware support) and using the amazing Xournal for handwritten notes and pdf annotation -- the best solution I have found so far. Xournal runs on windows, too, btw.

I was very happy using the tm2 during a conference recently to take notes with Xournal -- infinite paper with infinite zoom, free rearranging, shape recognition and what not makes it very easy to keep good notes (except that, well, it's still my handwriting). The battery life lasted an entire conference day (with dimmed screen and wifi off).

The only thing I sometimes miss is windows7's impressive handwriting recognition -- but then again, it never helped with mathematical writing. If only there was a linux handwriting OCR to better search my notes for regular language...

To keep it balanced, the gottabemobile blog is an good source on mobile computing, with a lot of reviews on note taking software for tablet pcs and the iPad.