Microsoft Tribe
Let your Microsoft flag fly
4 postsThe Verge
scribbins
On The Verge since Mar 13, 2012
-
Comment
Trackpad on my ThinkPad Carbon Touch was great. And I like the one on my Helix even better…integrated buttons, never though I would say that as a TrackPoint die-hard.
My mom had a Yoga…that trackpad was junk. The cursor would jump around the screed and the Win 8 gestures were hit or miss. Gave her the Carbon when I got the Helix…she loves it.
She just sent me this…
Just wanted to tell you that I LOVE this computer!!!! The cursor stays where it should and isn’t jumping all over the page and the touch on the keyboard is SO much better.
Guess the key is you have to spend some money to get good quality hardware and software support…similar to the MacBook.
-
Comment
I completely agree. Microsoft has to be much more agile, the mobile space moves much faster than their desktop comfort zone. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that screen resolutions will increase each year, but we’ll have to wait until the end of this 2013 for HD support…just one example.
If they want to break 10%, they need to change the cadence at which the OS is developed.
-
Comment
vwvortex, a vbulletin based forum, running on my Lumia 920.
-
Comment
Woops!
-
Comment
You can get the Helix now, if you look around.
Got mine over a week ago, and love it.
You can read more about my experiences with it here…
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/2/4295060/thinkpad-helix-is-coming-may-8th
-
Comment
Hi h4rm0ny,
No issues with the sensitivity. I think the issue is that some apps don’t yet support the drivers, like Photoshop.
Here are a few quick examples I did…
OneNote:
Fresh Paint:
Photoshop CS6:
You can see the trailing edges and changes in weight in both OneNote and Fresh Paint, but none of that is present in Photoshop…the lines pretty much end abruptly.
For handwriting recognition…I personally prefer to keep my notes hand written, but I did a test…
I wrote out a sentence, then duped it and ran the Ink to Text function on it. My penmanship isn’t anything to write home about, and it still did an awesome job.
Ink to Text:
-
Comment
Hey uditrana,
The Helix is really well made, on par with the quality of X1 Carbon…actually the Helix replaced my Carbon Touch. The Helix uses the same rubberized plastic which feels nice in your hand and provides a little additional grip.
The tablet portion is noticeably thinner and lighter than the Surface Pro. I was really surprised at just how light it feels. My wife, an iPad user, was surprised as well.
The screen is clear and bright. Using Photoshop on my Carbon Touch was difficult because of the resolution, not a problem with the Helix. The unit shipped with the zoom set to 125%, but my eyes are good, so turned that down to 100% as soon as I started it up!
Metro was also zoomed, only provided 3 rows of tiles. The only way I could get that to change was through a registry hack…the screen size hack. I set the screen size to 15", now I have 5 rows of tiles. Much better.
The keyboard doc is classic ThinkPad, you can’t get any better…love this keyboard. It is a little heavier than I though it would be, but I don’t mind the extra weight because of how solid it is and the added benefit of the additional battery.
The doc features the new integrated TrackPoint buttons in the TrackPad. After having ThinkPads for years, I wasn’t looking forward to this change…but they did an amazing job, it really is just as functional and easy to use as the old dedicated 3-button setup. The machine shipped with both the TrackPad and TrackPoint enabled…so when you would use the TrackPoint and click the integrated buttons the cursor would move down making you miss the target you were trying to click on. Think it was designed for TrackPoint or TrackPad, not both. I turned off the TrackPad, world of difference. Even with the TrackPad off, you can still use gestures to navigate webpages or Metro.
The dock hinge is very solid. Once the tablet is docked it doesn’t move, just as robust as any other ThinkPad screen. If you forcibly wiggle the tablet from the top, there is some slight movement…but none in normal operation of the machine.
The hinge doesn’t allow for the traditional ThinkPad 180 degree angle…so using the Helix docked on your lap, you might not get the perfect angle. Using it docked on my lap right now…and if it would go back another 5 degrees it would be perfect…but not that big a deal.
Digitizer works great. I take the tablet portion to work every day to take meeting notes in OneNote. The only complaint I have is with the pen. The button on the pen isn’t indented or distinguished in any way, so as you write the pen will naturally twist and you can lose track of the button…have hold it up to try to find the button. I’ll probably get a different pen.
I haven’t let the battery run down to zero, so I don’t have an accurate run time…I also run the screen pretty bright, so I’m prematurely killing the battery. I would guess I’m in the 4-5hr range for the tablet, and 7-8 docked. I’m also running Adobe CS6 for the most part, so I’m sure that taxes the processor.
Love it so far, really the perfect computer for me.
-
Comment
For the 2g model you get…
Core i7
8GB RAM
180GB or 256GB SSD
1920×1080
Wacom Digitizer
ThinkPad Keyboard Doc w/ additional battery (+4hrs)Thinner and lighter than Surface, and with the doc a true laptop.
ThinkPad are traditionally a little more expensive, as they are designed for enterprise.
I absolutely love mine, much nicer than the Surface. Glad I waited.
-
Comment
If you look around, you can get them now.
Got mine last week. Love it!
