Introduction to Tablet PC's

A tablet PC is a laptop in which the display is a touchscreen, or a graphics tablet hybrid. The main difference to a normal laptop is that the user can directly interact with the computer simply using a fingertip, instead of using a mouse or keyboard. Nevertheless a keyboard is in most cases present, as it is still much more convenient to type on a keyboard then on a screen, due to the lack of feedback.

Size
The standard size for a tablet PC is around 12", although larger exist, 12" is the standard that most tablet PC's manufacturers have adopted to. The main reason is due to less power consumption, smaller in size, and lighter in weight. They usually run on 1200×800 resolution.

Software
The most commonly used nowadays is the Windows XP Tablet PC edition by Microsoft, which is a superset of Windows XP Professional. There has been no Tablet PC edition for Windows Vista, as probably if a new version would come out, would be on Windows 7. For running the Apple's Mac OS X, Axiotron have launched a modified version of the Macbook, called Modbook. For Linux, there is ProGear by FrontPath and also TabletKiosk, which runs on SUSE Linux.

Prices
Since this tablet technology is pretty recent, it's obvious that it isn't easy to find a very cheap tablet PC, nevertheless they can be bought from $1,000, up to $4,000 for more high-end models.

Advantages
Light weight - Portable Easy ability to use in unconventional environments, such as lying in bed or standing Can use it as a conventional notebook to save non-character based information, such as diagrams
Disadvantages
High cost Handwriting is considerably slower than typing on a keyboard The screen has a higher risk of damage Their size can also be a disadvantage, as not only the screen is smaller, the keyboard also

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