Tablets are fine for filling forms, but anything else they’re just not as efficient for me. And making a convertible just means that you are adding extra weight, etc., to a notebook that I rarely need.

I’ve never really used a tablet, but I think they’d be useful for much more than filling out forms. I think they’d be good for Web browing (where you don’t have to do a lot of typing), E-book reading and following RSS feeds. Notice that all of those are basically read-only and don’t rely on writing at all. The ability to hold a tablet like a book instead of a laptop seems useful.

Also, how much weight does a convertible really add? Compared to a true tablet, probably a lot. However, if you compare it to a notebook, I suspect not much at all.

@Zealot:

Such machines are now the betamax of PCs….interesting tech, complete failure.

As Frank said, I see them advertised regularly in the newspaper. They aren’t as popular as notebooks, but they are there.

If you want to see a truly failed technology, look at the UMPC. :D

@Jake_Speed:

But, batteries haven’t changed much. I still think you need more than 4 hours to stay away from the cord.

No, they haven’t changed much, although fuel cells have been rumored to be around the corner for a while.

However, as Frank pointed out, this isn’t a problem that’s unique to tablets. If you want a tablet significantly smaller or lighter than a laptop, you’ll probably get a smaller battery, too, but you can always carry a spare or buy an extended battery.

Of course, you can easily get 8 or more hours of battery life on any electronic device — providing you’re willing to put up with a large enough battery. :D Imagine how much life your phone could get with a laptop battery….

Steve

heck, some schools don’t even teach handwriting to little kids anymore.

so, i don’t think writing is the killer app for tablets. i suggest the iphone offers a much better vision of what a tablet can offer. gesture based interface, sip, always on internet connectivity, add a voip phone and bluetooth and drop the price to less than $500 while retaining all the features of a typical $600 laptop today, and you have a winner platform. so, 18 months from now this is going to be a very interesting choice that will compete with the netbooks of tomorrow.

But, batteries haven’t changed much. I still think you need more than 4 hours to stay away from the cord.

I use it for all my meeting notes in OneNote. ON is my file folder system, along with Outlook. I keep a file for each project and/or customer, and everything goes in there. I comment on and provide feedback for docs and presentations in handwriting. I would think that tablets could make in-roads in corporate if we could solve the cost problem, and the underlying fear that screens will be broken more once you start writing on it, and carrying it screen side open. Most corporate America does not need an 8 hour battery, evidenced by the fact that the lions share are using Dell/Lennova/HP. IMHO

I love the ASUS and the next notebook I get will be a tablet. I don’t use Onenote and I don’t rely on handwriting recognition…if I’m going to enter a lot of data or write a paper, I’m going to use a keyboard. But as a teacher, the tablet helps me grade student papers (students submit their Word documents to me and I write my comments on the paper and email it back to them). When I meet with students, I can make quick notes about my student meetings (I use Phatpad on the tablet).

It took me a while before I was comfortable using the tablet, but now I am a believer.

I would have bought one for myself by now if they weren’t so bloody expensive, though!

However, I would never look to one to be my main work machine, and I don’t think they will ever become one. They are niche or novelty products. I think MS lost a lot of credibility throwing their weight and lots of money behind Tablet PCs and pen computing. Such machines are now the betamax of PCs….interesting tech, complete failure.

Z

My main thing with a tablet is that I am far faster typing than I am writing, and I am a terrible typist. In fact, way back I was using Calligrapher in PocketPC but when I learned about Fitaly I was far, far faster (and more accurate).

Tablets are fine for filling forms, but anything else they’re just not as efficient for me. And making a convertible just means that you are adding extra weight, etc., to a notebook that I rarely need.

They are talking about tablets as something that is a new evolution, I had a “GRID” tablet twenty years ago that operated on windows, it was painfully slow, the OS was barely developed and the battery lasted just over two hours.

Tablets will only become popular if they are extremely fast at handwriting recognition and graphics, have a long battery life and are durable.

These guys really have to get there stuff together, I haven’t tried one recently, but I don’t know a single person who owns one!