M280/CX200X Student Tablet PC Review

Tracy from Student Tablet PC had the opportunity to play around with a Gateway M280 this weekend and despite the load of homework and classes she has to deal with she has posted a very nice review on the tablet. Her overall conclusion: "Overall, the Gateway M280/CX200X makes for a great laptop and a poor tablet"

M280/CX200X Student Tablet PC Review
- from Student Tablet PC


Tracy's review on the PC is harsh but honest and that's what I like! She dissects the notebook and really reviews it from a student's perspective. In a lot of big magazines and review sites you are not able to capture this perspective and it leaves students really wondering how much they can trust those editors. A student's personal review on the tablet is always more valuable then someone getting paid to review it.

The review does hit a sour note with me because I was the reason for a few purchases of Tablet PCs past semester. A few students came to me after they initially saw my X41 tablet and decided they just had to have one as well. One of those students picked up the Gateway CX200, which I find to be very similar to the M280 Tracy reviewed. I worked with the tablet myself and personally just saw it kind of the other end of tablets when comparing it to my own.

My initial feelings like Tracy's that this is enormous! I could not imagine lugging that thing around! After my petite 3.2 lb X41 that thing seemed like a monster. But with the increase in size you did get an increase in real estate or screen space. This I did love! The screen, although not spectacular, did put my screen to shame. I would much rather watch a DVD on that widescreen tablet than my own. However I did noticed that the screen liked to pick up fingerprints more than my own and that made viewing unpleasant at times.

I also didn't like the widescreen format. I really like widescreen on notebooks but either I am not use to the widescreen for a tablet or I just find writing in portrait mode to be unusual with such a long display. This opinion will probably change as much notebooks and probably tablets as well will adopt the widescreen format but I am currently comfortable writing on a tablet with your old fashion standard screen.

I only played with the tablet for brief amounts of time and by no means feel I could write an accurate or fair review on the machine like Tracy but those were my first few impressions when I did have the opportunity to help that individual.

I should also note that I think that the Tablet in the Gateway Ad I posted about earlier is in fact the M280 but I am not positive.

Again, great review Tracy and I think all students can appreciate the opinion of a fellow student!

posted by Jason Dorko at 9:15 AM 0 comments links to this post