NEC Versa LitePad Tablet PC (933-MHz Pentium III-M, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive, CD-ROM Drive)

by NEC

Product Details

Product Manual [1.84mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 11.7 x 0.6 inches ; 2.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00008MNDW
• Item model number: VL-PAD-933
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,101 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 18, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

NEC claims its Versa LitePad Tablet PC is the industry's thinnest and lightest tablet PC solution, and one would have a hard time arguing otherwise. Indeed, at just 11.68 by 8.82 by .59 inches and a mere 2.24 pounds (with external drive detached), the Versa LitePad is as comfortably portable as a conventional paper-based notepad. It's also exceptionally convenient, because it accepts two distinct forms of input. Users who favor traditional data entry may utilize the unit's compact QWERTY keyboard and function keys. The Tablet PC also lets users input data through "handwriting" with the included stylus, which they can use freehand sketch their ideas on the system's 10.4-inch XGA TFT LCD screen (1024 by 768 resolution).

As is the case with most ultra-lightweight tablets, the LitePad Tablet PC is not as powerful as a comparably priced notebook. However, featuring a 933 MHz Mobile Intel Pentium III processor and 256 MB RAM (expandable to 512 MB), the unit will easily handle most day-to-day mobile computing tasks. In fact, its 16 MB video controller is more powerful than that of most tablets, thus allowing you to better work with graphic-based applications. The system also sports a 20 GB hard drive for application and file storage and an external 24x-speed CD-ROM drive.

NEC has fitted the LitePad Tablet PC with a variety of useful amenities, including a mini 3-button USB optical wheel mouse, an internal mono speaker and microphone, three USB 1.1 ports for plug and play peripherals, a VGA-out for external monitors, and a Compact Flash card slot for Type I or Type II Compact Flash Cards. To help you keep you connected wherever you go, NEC has also included wireless LAN 802.11a and 802.11b connections. Pre-installed software includes Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC edition, Alias/Wavefront SketchBook Pro, Colligo Networks Personal Edition, and Corel Grafigo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pricey but worth it..., November 4, 2003

By 

Jazzspielen (ER, AK United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NEC Versa LitePad Tablet PC (933-MHz Pentium III-M, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive, CD-ROM Drive) (Personal Computers)

I've been using the NEC Versa Litepad since it was first released several months ago, and it's a great machine. The word recog. software is probably about an 8 on a 10-point scale -- not as good as Transcriber on my iPAQ, but if I'm careful about penmanship, it is about 97% accurate (in fact, I wish I could load Transcriber -- would be easier and faster writing with better recognition). Battery life is very good -- I can take notes for well over two hours, and the larger stylus is easy to write with. It has a long cord from the AC adaptor that is mostly unobtrusive, so you can recharge and keep writing. Customers/clients don't mind the Tablet b/c it's slim and looks like a writing pad. Resolution is very good -- increasing font size and icons makes everything quite readable, especially when I'm writing quickly and trying to get speech verbatim. The keyboard is flimsy with poor key travel and spacing, but I rarely use it anyway -- I really use it as a "glorified PDA" mostly. Using a Compact Flash card is great for transferring data b/w machines. Comes with WiFi, but I haven't gone wireless yet. Plugging in a flash card with digital photos from my Canon automatically starts a slide show -- cool feature. Ethernet connection makes it easy to go online. The unit gets warm but not uncomfortable -- especially compared to Toshiba and Compaq's tablets. I'm getting 'burn in' in the lower part of the display -- bummer -- but it's not a big problem. Since I use it primarily for note-taking with clients, I haven't really put it through its paces or exploited all its capabilities, but I'm impressed so far overall and like it better than the other Tablet PCs I tried out (Toshiba, Acer, Compaq). I've also noticed that it takes less effort to write on a Tablet with stylus than with pen on notepad. I've owned two other NEC notebooks and always had good luck. Looks like they've produced another winner. It is pricey, but I notice it's already $700 cheaper than when I bought it when first released.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for scholarly research, June 18, 2004

By 

Jeremiah Leif Johnson "Esotericus" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NEC Versa LitePad Tablet PC (933-MHz Pentium III-M, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive, CD-ROM Drive) (Personal Computers)

As a PhD student, I spend a lot of time in the library and I need a light computer like this to carry with me while I look through books. This is perfect--since it's barely two pounds, you often forget that it's there. With the LitePad, my (now) hand-written notes, papers, and articles are easily within reach whenever I need them; there's no more wishing I had brought more papers with me from home and the like. My Palm used to fulfill a similar function, but I've stopped carrying it now that I have this. I was especially surprised by how accurate the note-to-text feature is: even though it's not perfect, it's still many times better than what we had before. With my handwriting at least, it has about a 90% accuracy rate (usually the words it misses are words in other languages, etc). This machine has changed my life for the better, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone else in academia.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great pc, September 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: NEC Versa LitePad Tablet PC (933-MHz Pentium III-M, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive, CD-ROM Drive) (Personal Computers)

I have had this pc for about one month. I really like it. The handwriting recognition needs some improvement but its incredibly portable and with practice it is very functional. I use PowerPoint presentations and the addon pgm "Ink" is incredible. The high price will limit the acceptance of this type of pc.