Tablet PC blends old, new and very cool
SeattlePI | at | by Mike
Attention technophiles and gadgetheads: If you want to wow your friends, your co-workers or anyone standing within 10 feet of you, then a Tablet PC may be just what you need. When it comes to these new computers -- on sale for the first time today -- one thing is for sure: The cool factor is out of this world. Imagine combining good ol' fashioned tools like the pen and paper with 21st-century laptop technology. That's a Tablet PC -- a fully functional computer that allows you to interact with it via a special pen, allows you to write directly on the screen and transforms your hand-written notes into text.
These new portable computers run on Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system and come in two different forms. There's the "convertible" model, which looks like a regular laptop until you unhinge the screen, rotate it 180 degrees and lay it down flat, face up, on the keyboard. And then there are the super-slim "slate" models. Imagine an Etch A Sketch on steroids -- one that can be connected to a keyboard through a docking station.