Tablet PCs improve but sales stay sluggish

By Stephen Ballantyne

Friday 13th February 2004

Microsoft's Tablet PC technology has had something of a mixed reception. It would be good to report that sales of tablet devices have overtaken sales of conventional notebook PCs but sadly this probably won't be happening anytime soon.

It isn't just that Tablet PCs are necessarily more complex and expensive than ordinary notebook PCs; the more serious problem is that they don't appear to have made as much of an impact on the consciousness of would-be notebook buyers as their manufacturers, and Microsoft, might like.

The idea of a relatively small, powerful device that you could either write on like a pad of paper or type on like a notebook PC sounds good on paper.

But maybe the first generation of these devices put some potential users off.

The task of deciphering handwriting on the fly proved to be more than some models could handle, leading to disconcerting effects, such as the flow of virtual ink appearing to dry up mid-sentence.

Such problems have been alleviated by software tweaks and faster mobile processors. There's a good range of reliable Tablet PCs available now, although the main targeted users still appear to be those who, like the AA, have specialised tasks to perform.

Some of the manufacturers producing Tablet PCs are listed below. For the most part these devices are similar to conventional PCs, except for their rotatable touch-sensitive screens, Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system and (usually) built in 802.11 WiFi wireless modems.

Panasonic: The Toughbook line of ruggedised portable computers has proven a useful niche for Panasonic to occupy. The Toughbook 18 puts a 900MHz Pentium M CPU, a 10.4-inch screen and a 40Gb hard drive into a moisture-resistant magnesium alloy case with an integrated carrying handle.

HP: After experimenting with the unconventional Crusoe CPU for its first generation Tablet PCs, with mixed results, HP has settled on trusty Pentium M or Mobile Celeron CPUs for its current TC1100 model. A tough magnesium case and a screen with enough "tooth" to make writing feel more natural are additional indicators of the thought put into HP's second generation Tablet PC.

Acer: Among the outstanding features of the Travelmate C300 is a claimed battery life of up to seven hours not bad for a system with a 1.4GHz Pentium M processor and a 14.1-inch screen. A second battery bay can extend battery life to a potential 13 hours.

Toshiba: The Portégé M200 keeps the Tablet flag flying for the laptop market leader, with a Pentium M with up to 1.7GHz speed and a range of optional docking accessories to allow the Portégé to function as a powerful desktop PC as well as a portable machine.

Still missing from the show: Apple's rumoured touch-sensitive PowerBook utilising its sadly missed Newton technology. Basic tablet-driven handwriting recognition is included in the current version of the Mac OS X operating system, but as Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition software shows, there's more to a tablet computer than just handwriting recognition. Apple may have decided that development costs of an alternative to the Tablet PC are not justified by the market potential.

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