Upgrading my Tablet PC, What are the best options right now?

[Snowdon]

Hello all!

I currently use a Toshiba M700 Portege tablet PC with a 64bit 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM.

For those not familiar, the M700 has a Wacom screen, meaning I can draw with a stylus and it's pressure sensitive. I use it with Photoshop for professional work in both animation and comics.

But it is getting a bit long in the tooth so I'm looking to maybe upgrade and want to know the best options.

For my needs a stylus-based pressure sensitive screen is a must. If it has touch screen capabilities I need to be able to block that or turn it off because my hand rests against the screen as I work.

It has to run Photoshop. So, no android or iDevices. I'm looking for a tablet PC or a slate that runs Windows.

It needs to be at least as portable as my M700, better battery life would be nice (I currently only get like 3 hours on a full charge).

It does not need to be a super computer, but if I can enable the 3D functions in CS5 extended to paint textures on models, that would be totally wizard.

Not setting my lap on fire or leaving me sterile after extended use would be a nice bonus.

Having a keyboard attached isn't necessary if I can use a wireless or USB keyboard with it, but I imagine it would need buttons on it I could bind to basic keys (like delete, ctrl, alt, shift, etcetera).

I've been looking at more recent tablet PCs as well as the slates I've seen at http://www.motioncomputing.com/

Any suggestions, advice, or first hand impressions would be much appreciated. Thanks much!

[Snowdon]

A friend of mine also pointed me at these Lenovo ThinkPad tablets. Anyone have any experience with them?

[darkmagistric]

Most any Current Convertible tablet from Lenovo, HP, or Fujitsu would more then be adequate.

I've already jumped ship to Slate Tablet PCs since they are thinner and more like using an actual sketchbook.

As far as Slates go, the Samsung Series 7 is phenomenal. Runs photoshop great, it has a 400 Nit Amoled screen...which means its bright, has an excellent color gamut, and great viewing angles. At full screen brightness running Photoshop CS5...you'll average at best 2-3 hours of battery life. But given its only slightly thicker then an ipad and running a 2nd gen Core i5...complete forgivable in my book.

However, if you can wait till Windows 8 comes out this fall.....there will be a slew of great Windows tablets coming out.

Asus just revealed 3 new tablets coming out, Samsung is prepping the successor for the Series 7 Slate, and Microsoft has the new Surface Pro coming out.

The Samsung and at least one of the Asus Tablets (the 810) is guaranteed to have Wacom.

The new Mircrosoft Surface Pro will have a digitizer...but its unknown if its wacom or not. The current theory is that Microsoft is developing it owns inhouse pen digitizer.

[Snowdon]

Thanks, much appreciated! I might hold off a bit to see what's coming. A slate with better battery life would be ideal for me. Otherwise I might be tempted to stick with a tablet PC just for that.

Dunno. I'm not in a huge rush so I can weigh all the options!