Tablet PC
A tablet PC is a notebook- or slate-shaped mobile computer. Its touchscreen or digitizing tablet technology allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen instead of a keyboard or mouse.
A user can input text using the built-in handwriting recognition, on-screen (virtual) keyboard, speech recognition, or a physical keyboard (if available). Shorthand-like entry methods, which enable pen-driven input at touch-typing speeds, are also available, including AlphaTap and Shark.
Tablet PCs that include a built-in keyboard are called convertibles or hybrids. Ones that are only a screen with pen are called slates; they can use external wireless or USB keyboards.
The most popular convertible tablet PCs are the Acer and Toshiba. The most popular slates are the Motion Computing/Gateway Computers, Fujitsu, and HP/Compaq.
Many Tablet PCs use a Wacom digitizer, which delivers pen-position input to the computer at a fast rate. Tablets with these digitizers project a small magnetic field above the screen that interacts with electronics in the tablet's stylus. The user therefore is able to rest their hand on the screen without affecting the image or mouse pointer; only movement of the stylus affects the mouse pointer. (However, due to interference from other electronics within a tablet PC, many models suffer from "jitter", which makes some tasks difficult, e.g. slowly drawing straight lines, or writing small characters.) UC Logic and Finepoint make similar digitizers.
Tablet PCs became available to the general public with the introduction of Microsoft's Windows Tablet PC Edition in the fall of 2002. Before then they were used in small markets in industry, medicine, and government. Now they are used by students and many professionals.
Most tablet PCs run on the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system. Service Pack 2 includes Tablet PC Edition 2005 and is a free upgrade. Version 2005 brought improved handwriting recognition, and improved the Input Panel, allowing it to be used in almost every application. During CES 2005, Microsoft showed off features planned for a future upgrade. These included allowing users to ink directly on the desktop, enabling handwritten notes with increased visibility.
Running Linux on tablet PCs is another option. For some Linux distributions and some tablets this can be a tedious task unless buying tablet with Linux pre-installed, as on the early Lycoris Desktop/LX Tablet Edition. Linux initially lacked some basic tablet PC applications, but with the advent of the EmperorLinux Raven X41 Tablet [1] with handwriting recognition, Linux Tablets have improved significantly.
Tablets such as the Hitachi VisionPlate are optionally shipped with Linux and can readily be used as wireless X terminals, freeing them from the requirements of actually running applications and, instead, allowing all of the resources of the VisionPlate to be used to display the graphic display portion of an application that is running somewhere on the local or wide area network. This has allowed the tablet to be used as a wireless graphics X terminal in vertical markets such as restaurant point of sale.
Advantages
* Slate tablet PCs (or convertibles in slate mode) do not interrupt line of sight (e.g.: in business meetings) since they lie flat on the table
* Slates can be held in one arm while standing and giving a presentation
* Slates can be used much more 'humanistically', e.g. reading websites while lounging around
Disadvantages
* Convertible Tablet PCs cost roughly $300 more than their non-tablet counterparts, although this premium will fall with time, possibly to $75 within two years.
* There is more strain on the hinge in convertible Tablet PCs, than there are on traditional laptops, which usually have two hinges.
* The size of Tablet PC screens currently peaks at about 14 inches.
