Pros: Everything works and works well! 3 year limited warranty, not one year.
Cons: Battery life is limited

PLAN:

I use a TPC in my practice because I like it and patients like it! Technology has never been so intimate, if you allow it. Good medicine is all about relationships and communication. Sitting down with a patient and showing them what is wrong and what we can do to make it right or better is parenting at its best. It’s teaching them on a personal level. If you allow it, a TPC allows this to happen in a very dynamic way.

Biometric Finger Print Reader: Once you have used a finger print reader, you can’t go back. The HP reader is trickier than any other FPR that I have used. Unlike other readers, it concentrates on the tip of your finger.  When you swipe, start the swipe from the crease in your finger tip and finish at the nail. It works great. I use it to log into my computer, my EMR, web forums etc. 

Hand Writing: The HW in Windows 7 really works. It just does.  Personally, I use a third part hand writing program called ritePad http://ritescript.com/Products/ritePenVideos.aspx, because it allows the user to write anywhere on the screen without the obtrusive Tablet Input Panel. Also, ritePen has macros that can speed documentation of Orders, Prescriptions or whatever text you use often and want to template. For me, the ability to use a date and time macro by circling the letters, "dat," is tremendously helpful when charting!  rP works well with the touch screen as well. With rP, I can use my stylus or finger to actually handwrite! I literally can use my EMR with only my finger, thanks to multi-touch technology and rP! The rP toolbar, conveniently enlarges when in the touch mode and shrinks when not using touch.

"The new version 4 of rP blends pen and multi-touch functionality by allowing finger writing on multi-touch screens and use of multi-touch gestures for controlling ritePen UI on Windows 7 multi-touch systems. 

Voice/Dictation: I have DNS 9.5 Medical, but this version does not work with 64 bit windows 7 Professional. Nuance wants $500 (1/3 of retail price) to upgrade to the 10.1 version of DNS Medical that will work with a 64 bit OS. Windows Speech Recognition (WSR), is free and comes with the Operating System and works very well with 4 Gigs of Ram and the internal array microphones. There is no need for an external Mic. Where WSR really exceed flawlessly is navigating MS Applications such as opening software etc.  It’s definitely not as good as DNS out of the box, for medical dictation, but with patience and importing a medical vocabulary WSR works well enough for my needs. I dictate HPIs and read MRI summaries from Radiologists. I don’t dictate pages but instead paragraphs. The EliteBook fan is very quiet even when it is on. Dictation is very sensitive to fan noise and this fan did not interfere with my training or dictation usage. I also installed the WSR Toolkit, developed by e-microphones, Inc., which is a great tool. I use it to read medical documents and improve recognition.

EMR: I use WritePad EMR at www.Writepad.com.  I’ve been using TabletPCs since 1986 in my office. However, recently, I have been using my EMR program on my EliteBook over a Microsoft RDP connection (Remote Desktop Protocol). My EMR is much faster over RDP, than wireless N. Also, if the wifi connection is ever lost on the TPC, there is no corruption of the database with RDP because the data is on the server. rP works fine over an RDP connection but WSR does not play as nice. With the EliteBook 2740, I can use the stylus of my finger to navigate my EMR. Switching between the stylus of finger is smooth and synergistic.

Web Cam: This feature works fine. There is no flash but you can easily take a snapshot of your patient or a wound etc.  Works in both Portrait and Landscape mode.

Keyboard:  I seldom use it but with unique features such as touching a lit volume icon to control volume up, down and mute.  Full-size spill-resistant keyboard w/Enhanced dual pointing devices (touchpad and point stick) with scroll zone. I have no intention of testing the spill feature. When you need a good HPI, you need a good keyboard (assuming you can type)! The convertible Elitebook comes through with a fast twist. The screen auto shifts to portrait and you are ready for the facts.

DICTATION: Lenovo was very good. I think the HP is going to be better because it has a faster CPU and i7 chip and dual array. I used WSR briefly for a few minutes dictating into a medical chart. (I did no training but imported a medical profile from my desktop). It was quite responsive and accurate given my limited dictation. However, when I attempted to install DNS Medical version 9+, it was rejected because my OS is 64 bit. I think DNS 10 is 64 bit compatible. Anyway, I am going to stick with WSR. I was hoping to use both on this machine.
I'm interested in being able dictate and use HW over an RDP connection in my office. RDP is faster and more secure (wifi termination) with respect to opening a database across my local LAN.

Battery: Lousy at best, but I expected that. I have the standard cheap battery. It is a 6 cell. Remember, I keep the screen on full brightness and am on wifi all the time. I'm also pulling data and printing across a network and dictating. All this guzzles energy. One definitely does need two batteries and extra charger or perhaps the large (extra weight) Slice battery if they expect to make it through an 8 hour day. HP offers a single charger unit that you can plant a recharging battery so that when one goes dead you can replace with the other. The Slice battery installs with the existing 6 cell (you use both) and should give a full day. I don’t have the Slice but other reviews state that it is unobtrusive and while ads weight; the balance of the unit is not compromised.

Conclusion: This is a great business machine that will work well in a medical environment with the only caveat being the battery life. This situation can readily be overcome by buying a long lasting Slice battery and or an extra battery and charger. The price of the EliteBook 2740 is under $2000 for fast and powerful machine. From my experience, comparable configuration from other vendors are at least $400 more!

Read more here: http://www.digital-doc.com/C2/2740P.html