[Series] ~Chronicles of a Showa PC Geek~ Part 16: The "Tablet PC Swamp"

Once I encountered a junk Windows tablet, I was completely hooked.

Until then, I was more of a "desktop supremacist."
I believed that a real computer was a "heavy machine" that sat firmly on a desk, packed with a CPU and graphics card inside the case, with cooling fans roaring.

But Windows tablets were different.

They were small.
They were light.
And yet, they ran Windows properly.

This was a shock.

Back then, when people thought of tablets, iPads and Android tablets were the mainstream, but those were merely "extensions of smartphones."
However, Windows tablets were different.

They were full-fledged Windows PCs.

They could run Word and Excel.
They could manage files normally.
They could even connect to USB devices.

All of that was packed into a palm-sized machine.

For a Showa-era PC geek, this was nothing but pure romance.

Moreover, the one I got was a junk item.
In other words, it was cheap.

Truly cheap.

This "cheapness" would later cause a major problem.

Because people end up thinking like this:

"Wouldn't it be fine to buy just one more?"

And thus, the first step into the tablet swamp was taken.

Little Windows machines

Ever since I got my first one, I started looking for Windows tablets every time I saw a second-hand shop or an online auction.

Then, strangely enough, I kept finding them one after another.

"Cracked LCD"
"Weak battery"
"Faulty touch"
"BIOS locked"

There is a truly wide variety of junk lined up.

However, for a PC geek, that is not a "flaw."

Rather, it is a "pleasure."

Maybe I can fix it.
Maybe it will come back to life if I reinstall the OS.
Maybe it will be interesting if I take it apart.

Such expectations start to swell.

And before I know it, I've clicked the buy button.

Humans are terrifying creatures.

Reunion with Atom

Many of the Windows tablets from this era were equipped with Intel's Atom processor.

Atom.

A nostalgic name.

It is a power-saving CPU that played a major role during the heyday of netbooks.

To be honest, the Atom of that time had a strong image of being "slow."

In fact, when I used it in a netbook, it had quite a "sluggish" feel.

However, the Atom in tablets gave a slightly different impression.

Of course, it's not fast.
In fact, by today's standards, it is quite underpowered.

But, Windows 10 runs properly on it. If it's a 64-bit machine, even Windows 11 will run.

You can use a browser.
You can watch videos.

And above all, it is completely fanless.

It's quiet.
It also generates little heat.

I became fascinated by this "small and quiet Windows".

Before I knew it, they had multiplied.

It was supposed to be just one Windows tablet at first.

But before I knew it, many of them were lined up on my desk.

8-inch
10-inch
With keyboard
2-in-1 type

The manufacturers vary as well.

Dospara
HP
Lenovo
ASUS

Let me introduce some of the collection I have gathered. First, the Dospara Diginnos DG-D08IWB, which was the catalyst for collecting Windows tablets; this is number one. It was a junk item purchased with the claim of having a faulty touch screen, but no matter what I did, I couldn't normalize the touch, so I finally bought a normal unit of the same model. Cloning the storage didn't work either. I tried various things while consulting with three AIs, but it was no use, and I finally concluded that the touch function itself was broken.
Taking this as an opportunity, I started collecting the Dospara DG series and almost completed it as follows.
DG-D08IWB x 2 units
DG-D08IW2L
DG-D08IW2SL
DG-D09IW2
DG-D10IW2
DG-D10IW3SLI

Next, while collecting the Dospara DG series, what caught my eye was the
HP Elite x2 1012 G1. When I actually saw the real machine, I was shocked by how cool it was and became a fan of the HP Elite series. I diligently collected these as well and completed all models as follows.
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 x 2 units
HP Elite x2 1012 G2
HP Elite x2 1013 G3
HP Elite x2 G4
HP Elite x2 G8
HP Pro x2 612 G2

In addition,
Lenovo Yogabook YB1-X91L x 2 units
ASCON AT-08
ASCON AT-11 x 2 units
ACER Aspire P3-171
ASUS Eee Slate B121
Lenovo MIIX 320-10ICR
Surface PRO3
and many others collected.

Here, I'd like to introduce a slightly interesting PC. It is the Lenovo Yogabook YB1-X91L mentioned above. This model is an innovative, thin, and lightweight "2-in-1 tablet" equipped with Windows 10. Instead of a keyboard, it has a touch panel called a "Halo keyboard," so it is not a physical keyboard. And it is thin and light anyway. When closed, it is only about 9.6mm thick and weighs about 690g.

Each one has its own personality.

Some have good LCD color reproduction.
Some have keyboards that are easy to type on.
Some are strangely light.

And naturally,some have strong quirksas well.

The touch is misaligned.
The driver doesn't work.
It malfunctions after a Windows Update.

However, that is also part of the fun.

If anything, having trouble is more interesting.

To a normal person, this would be completely incomprehensible, but that is just the kind of creature a PC geek is.

The Romance of Small PCs

While tinkering with tablet PCs, I felt something.

That is,

"Small PCs are interesting"

is what I felt.

Since long ago, small PCs have had a unique charm.

For example,
UMPCs,
netbooks,
small laptops.

None of them are particularly high-performance.

However, there is the surprise of "a PC running in something this small."

This might be a romance that has continued since the dawn of the PC era.

It is different from the fun of building a massive desktop PC.

The smallness itself is the charm.

And so, the swamp gets deeper

Thus, I began collecting Windows tablets one after another.

Finding them in second-hand shops.
Clicking to buy them online.
Fixing junk units.

Before I knew it, I was completely stuck in the "tablet swamp."

However, I did not know it yet at the time.

That this swamp continued into an even deeper world.

It doesn't end with just Windows tablets.

Beyond that,

an encounter with an incredible small PC

was waiting for me.

It was, in a sense, a "palm-sized computer."

Next time, I will learn of its existence.

🔔 Part 17 Preview

"Windows in the Palm of Your Hand"
~The world of small PCs is still very deep~

Having stepped into the world of tablet PCs, I would go on to encounter even more mysterious computers.
They were, surprisingly,palm-sized computers.

Windows running inside a tiny box.
Ultra-small PCs with screens.
And small computers loved by electronics hobbyists around the world.

The world of small PCs is still very deep.

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